2003 Northern Ireland Assembly Election
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2003 Northern Ireland Assembly Election
The 2003 Northern Ireland Assembly election was held on Wednesday, 26 November 2003, after being suspended for just over a year. It was the second election to take place since the devolved assembly was established in 1998. Each of Northern Ireland's eighteen Westminster Parliamentary constituencies elected six members by single transferable vote, giving a total of 108 Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs). The election was contested by 18 parties and many independent candidates. The election was originally planned for May 2003, but was delayed by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. Political parties On the unionist side, the Democratic Unionist Party gained ten seats, primarily at the expense of smaller unionist parties, to become the largest party both in seats and votes, with thirty seats. The Ulster Unionist Party increased their vote slightly, despite slipping to third place in first preference votes, and won 27 seats, a net loss of one. Shortly after the e ...
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2nd Northern Ireland Assembly
The Northern Ireland Assembly elected in November 2003 never met as such: Northern Ireland's devolved government and representative institutions had been suspended with the re-introduction of direct rule by the United Kingdom government on 14 October 2002. However, the persons (Members of the Legislative Assembly, MLAs) elected to the Assembly at the 2003 assembly election were called together in a non-legislative capacity, initially under the Northern Ireland Act 2006 and then under the St Andrews Agreement. These bodies failed to form a government before the 2007 election. The following is a list of the members of that second Assembly, including members co-opted after the election to replace those who had resigned or died, and changes in party affiliation. Party strengths Notes Graphical representation File:NIAssembly20031126.svg, At election, 26 Nov 2003 ( Suspended Northern Ireland Assembly) File:NIAssembly20060410.svg, 10 Apr to 25 Sep 2006 (Suspended Northern Irel ...
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Belfast East (Assembly Constituency)
Belfast East (, Ulster Scots: ''Bilfawst East'') is a constituency in the Northern Ireland Assembly. The seat was first used for a Northern Ireland-only election for the Northern Ireland Assembly, 1973. It usually shares boundaries with the Belfast East UK Parliament constituency, however the boundaries of the two constituencies were slightly different from 1983 to 1986 and 2010 to 2011 as the Assembly boundaries had not caught up with Parliamentary boundary changes and from 1996 to 1997 when members of the Northern Ireland Forum had been elected from the newly drawn Parliamentary constituencies but the 51st Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected in 1992 under the 1983–95 constituency boundaries, was still in session. Members were then elected from the constituency to the 1975 Constitutional Convention, the 1982 Assembly, the 1996 Forum and then to the current Assembly from 1998. For further details of the history and boundaries of the constituency, see Belfast East (U ...
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Social Democratic And Labour Party
The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) ( ga, Páirtí Sóisialta Daonlathach an Lucht Oibre) is a social-democratic and Irish nationalist political party in Northern Ireland. The SDLP currently has eight members in the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLAs) and two Members of Parliament (MPs) in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. The SDLP party platform advocates Irish reunification and further devolution of powers while Northern Ireland remains part of the United Kingdom. During the Troubles, the SDLP was the most popular Irish nationalist party in Northern Ireland, but since the Provisional IRA ceasefire in 1994, it has lost ground to the republican party Sinn Féin, which in 2001 became the more popular of the two parties for the first time. Established during the Troubles, a significant difference between the two parties was the SDLP's rejection of violence, in contrast to Sinn Féin's then-support for (and organisational ties to) the Provisional IRA and physica ...
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Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith. Its members founded the revolutionary Irish Republic and its parliament, the First Dáil, during the Irish War of Independence. The party split in the aftermath of the Irish Civil War, giving rise to the two traditionally dominant parties of southern Irish politics: Fianna Fáil, and Cumann na nGaedheal (which became Fine Gael). For several decades the remaining Sinn Féin organisation was small without parliamentary representation. Another split in 1970 at the start of the Troubles led to the Sinn Féin of today, with the other faction eventually becoming the Workers' Party. During the Troubles, Sinn Féin was associated with the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA). For most of that conflict, there were broadcasting bans on Si ...
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Irish Nationalism
Irish nationalism is a nationalist political movement which, in its broadest sense, asserts that the people of Ireland should govern Ireland as a sovereign state. Since the mid-19th century, Irish nationalism has largely taken the form of cultural nationalism based on the principles of national self-determination and popular sovereignty.Sa'adah 2003, 17–20.Smith 1999, 30. Irish nationalists during the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries such as the United Irishmen in the 1790s, Young Irelanders in the 1840s, the Fenian Brotherhood during the 1880s, Fianna Fáil in the 1920s, and Sinn Féin styled themselves in various ways after French left-wing radicalism and republicanism. Irish nationalism celebrates the culture of Ireland, especially the Irish language, literature, music, and sports. It grew more potent during the period in which all of Ireland was part of the United Kingdom, which led to most of the island gaining independence from the UK in 1922. Irish nationalists believ ...
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Arlene Foster
Arlene Isobel Foster, Baroness Foster of Aghadrumsee (née Kelly; born 17 July 1970), is a British broadcaster and politician from Northern Ireland who served as First Minister of Northern Ireland from 2016 to 2017 and from 2020 to 2021 and as Leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) from 2015 to 2021. She was the first woman to hold either position. Foster is a Member of the House of Lords, having previously been a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Fermanagh and South Tyrone from 2003 to 2021. Foster served in the Northern Ireland Executive as Minister of the Environment from 2007 to 2008, Minister for Enterprise and Investment from 2008 to 2015 and Minister for Finance and Personnel from 2015 to 2016. In December 2015, Foster was elected unopposed to succeed Peter Robinson as leader of the DUP. In January 2016, Foster became First Minister of Northern Ireland and shared power with Martin McGuinness. McGuinness resigned as deputy First Minister in Januar ...
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Norah Beare
Norah Beare (born 25 May 1946, Banbridge, County Down) is a former Northern Irish unionist politician who served as a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for Lagan Valley from 2003 to 2007. She was elected as an Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) candidate in the Assembly election of 2003; however, she defected to the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) in 2004 along with Jeffrey Donaldson MP, MLA for Lagan Valley and Arlene Foster, MLA for Fermanagh and South Tyrone. Norah Beare worked for forty years as a secretary in a number of different companies and then became in 1997 the Personal Assistant to Jeffrey Donaldson Sir Jeffrey Mark Donaldson (born 7 December 1962) is a Northern Irish politician who has served as leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) since June 2021. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Lagan Valley since 1997, and leader .... Beare was elected to the Banbridge, County Down council in 2001 as a UUP candidate. On Donaldson's advice ...
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Jeffrey Donaldson
Sir Jeffrey Mark Donaldson (born 7 December 1962) is a Northern Irish politician who has served as leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) since June 2021. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Lagan Valley since 1997, and leader of the DUP in the UK House of Commons since 2019. As of 2022, he is Northern Ireland's longest-serving MP. He is expected to enjoy Christmas lunch with colleague and First Minister Michelle O’Neill, what is expected to break ground on the closing curtains of politics in Northern Ireland for 2022. Donaldson was a member of the Orange Order and served in the Ulster Defence Regiment during the Troubles. He was also the campaign manager for the UUP MP Enoch Powell's successful re-election campaigns in 1983 and 1986. He was the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) candidate for Lagan Valley at the 1997 general election, and was elected as an MP to the House of Commons. He simultaneously represented the same constituency as a Member of the Legislativ ...
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Ulster Unionist Party
The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland. The party was founded in 1905, emerging from the Irish Unionist Alliance in Ulster. Under Edward Carson, it led unionist opposition to the Irish Home Rule movement. Following the partition of Ireland, it was the governing party of Northern Ireland between 1921 and 1972. It was supported by most unionist voters throughout the conflict known as the Troubles, during which time it was often referred to as the Official Unionist Party (OUP). Under David Trimble, the party helped negotiate the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, which ended the conflict. Trimble served as the first First Minister of Northern Ireland from 1998 to 2002. However, it was overtaken as the largest unionist party in 2003 by the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). As of 2022 it is the fourth-largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly, after the DUP, Sinn Féin, and the Alliance Party. The party has been unrepresented in Westmins ...
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Democratic Unionist Party
The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is a unionist, loyalist, and national conservative political party in Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1971 during the Troubles by Ian Paisley, who led the party for the next 37 years. Currently led by Jeffrey Donaldson, it is the second largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly, and is the fifth-largest party in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. The party has been described as right-wing and socially conservative, being anti-abortion and opposing same-sex marriage. The DUP sees itself as defending Britishness and Ulster Protestant culture against Irish nationalism and Irish republicanism; the party is Eurosceptic and supported Brexit. It supports Northern Ireland remaining in the United Kingdom and opposes the unification of Ireland. The DUP evolved from the Protestant Unionist Party and has historically strong links to the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster, the church Paisley founded. During the Troubles, the DUP oppos ...
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Unionism In Ireland
Unionism is a political tradition on the island of Ireland that favours political union with Great Britain and professes loyalty to the United Kingdom, British Monarchy of the United Kingdom, Crown and Constitution of the United Kingdom, constitution. As the overwhelming sentiment of Ireland's Protestantism in Ireland, Protestant minority, following Catholic Emancipation (1829) unionism mobilised to keep Ireland part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and to defeat the efforts of Irish nationalism, Irish nationalists to restore a separate Parliament of Ireland, Irish parliament. Since Partition of Ireland, Partition (1921), as Ulster Unionism its goal has been to maintain Northern Ireland as part of the United Kingdom and to resist a transfer of sovereignty to an United Ireland, all-Ireland republic. Within the framework of a Good Friday Agreement, 1998 peace settlement, unionists in Northern Ireland have had to accommodate Irish nationalists in ...
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Secretary Of State For Northern Ireland
A secretary, administrative professional, administrative assistant, executive assistant, administrative officer, administrative support specialist, clerk, military assistant, management assistant, office secretary, or personal assistant is a white-collar worker person whose work consists of supporting management, including executives, using a variety of project management, communication, or organizational skills within the area of administration. There is a diverse array of work experiences attainable within the administrative support field, ranging between internship, entry-level, associate, junior, mid-senior, and senior level pay bands with positions in nearly every industry. However, this role should not be confused with the role of an executive secretary, cabinet secretary such as cabinet members who hold the title of "secretary," or company secretary, all which differ from an administrative assistant. The functions of a personal assistant may be entirely carried out to ...
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