This is a list of the 90 members of the sixth
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 ...
, the unicameral devolved legislature of
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
. The
election
An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office.
Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...
took place on 2 March 2017, with counting finishing the following day; voter turnout was estimated at 64.8%.
Only five (rather than six)
MLAs
The Max Launch Abort System (MLAS) was a proposed alternative to the Maxime Faget-invented "tractor" launch escape system (LES) that was planned for use by NASA for its Orion (spacecraft), Orion spacecraft in the event an Ares I malfunction du ...
were elected from each of the 18
constituencies
An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other polity ...
, following the
. The reduction negatively affected Unionist candidates whose
bloc lost its majority for the first time in the history of the Assembly. The
SDLP
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 Irela ...
was also negatively impacted, losing its only West Belfast seat.
Incumbent
Speaker
Speaker may refer to:
Society and politics
* Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly
* Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture
* A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially:
** I ...
Robin Newton
Robin Gray Newton (born 21 December 1945) is a Unionist politician from Northern Ireland representing the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). He was a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for East Belfast from 2003 to 2022, and was a j ...
informally convened the Assembly on 22 March to pay tribute to the former
deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness
James Martin Pacelli McGuinness ( ga, Séamus Máirtín Pacelli Mag Aonghusa; 23 May 1950 – 21 March 2017) was an Irish republican politician and statesman from Sinn Féin and a leader within the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) during ...
, who had died the day before.
However, with the DUP and Sinn Féin unable to agree to form their mandatory coalition government, the Assembly did not formally convene. On 27 April, talks were paused until after a
snap general election on 8 June, with a deadline of 29 June 2017 for the parties to reach agreement, but this deadline was repeatedly extended over the next three years. The DUP, Sinn Féin and other parties finally agreed terms on 10 January 2020.
Party strengths
Graphical representation
File:NIAssembly20170302.svg, As elected, 2 March 2017
File:Sixth (NI) Assembly.svg, 9 May 2018
File:NI Assembly 5 Jan 2020.svg, Current composition, from 10 January 2019
File:NIAssembly20200111.svg, Current composition following the election of the Speaker from Sinn Féin, 11 January 2020
''Parties arranged roughly on the nationalist-unionist spectrum''
MLAs by party
† Co-opted to replace an elected MLA
‡ Changed affiliation during the term
MLAs by constituency
† Co-opted to replace an elected MLA
‡ Changed affiliation during the term
Changes since the election
† Co-options
‡ Changes in affiliation
Notes
References
{{Northern Ireland Assembly
Lists of members of the Northern Ireland Assembly