The 1998 Northern Ireland Assembly election took place on Thursday, 25 June 1998. This was the first election to the new devolved

Northern Ireland Assembly sco-ulster, Norlin Airlan Assemblie , legislature = 7th Northern Ireland Assembly, Seventh Assembly , coa_pic = File:NI_Assembly.svg , coa_res = 250px , house_type = Unicameralism, Unicameral , hou ...

. Six members from each of Northern Ireland's eighteen Westminster Parliamentary constituencies were elected by

single transferable vote Single transferable vote (STV) is a multi-winner electoral system in which voters cast a single vote in the form of a ranked-choice ballot. Voters have the option to rank candidates, and their vote may be transferred according to alternate p ...

, giving a total of 108 Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs).

Results

Details

Although the SDLP won the most first preference votes, the Ulster Unionists won the most seats in the Assembly. This has been attributed to several reasons, including: * Slightly different turnouts across the province, with the result that in the more staunchly unionist east fewer votes were required to elect an MLA than in the SDLP's heartlands in the west. * The Ulster Unionists proved better at "vote balancing" whereby in the rounds of transfers their candidates were less likely to be eliminated earlier on. * The Ulster Unionists proved better at attracting transfers from other parties (and due to the vote balancing mentioned above, were more likely to be in a position to benefit from this)

References

Manifestos

''It's Time For Tomorrow... Together''
Alliance
''Your Best Guarantee for the Future of Northern Ireland''
Democratic Unionist Party

Northern Ireland Conservatives

Northern Ireland Women's Coalition
''For Real Change – Building a New Ireland''
Sinn Féin

Social Democratic and Labour Party

Ulster Unionist Party

Workers' Party of Ireland {{DEFAULTSORT:Northern Ireland Assembly Election, 1998 1998 elections in the United Kingdom

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

June 1998 events in the United Kingdom 1998 elections in Northern Ireland

Results

Details

See also

References

Manifestos