A cross-community vote or cross-community support is a form of
voting
Voting is a method by which a group, such as a meeting or an electorate, can engage for the purpose of making a collective decision or expressing an opinion usually following discussions, debates or election campaigns. Democracies elect holde ...
used in the
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 ...
according to the provisions of the 1998
Good Friday Agreement
The Good Friday Agreement (GFA), or Belfast Agreement ( ga, Comhaontú Aoine an Chéasta or ; Ulster-Scots: or ), is a pair of agreements signed on 10 April 1998 that ended most of the violence of The Troubles, a political conflict in No ...
. It requires the support of both main communities in Northern Ireland, in other words majority of
unionists ''and'' the majority of
nationalist
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...
members of the Assembly.
Among other reasons, it arises when the petition of concern procedure is invoked.
Background
Upon taking their seats
members
Member may refer to:
* Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon
* Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set
* In object-oriented programming, a member of a class
** Field (computer science), entries in ...
of the Northern Ireland Assembly are required to designate themselves as either "unionist", "nationalist" or "other".
Members may change their designation of identity only if they become a member of a (different) political party or they cease to be a member of any political party.
The election of the
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:
** In ...
, appointment of the Minister of Justice, any changes to the standing orders and the adoption of certain money bills must all occur with cross-community support.
This was originally set out in the
Northern Ireland Act 1998
__NOTOC__
The Northern Ireland Act 1998 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which allowed Westminster to devolve power to Northern Ireland, after decades of direct rule.
It renamed the New Northern Ireland Assembly, established by ...
.
Petition of concern
Votes in the assembly do not ordinarily require cross-community support. However, if a "petition of concern" is raised successfully about proposed legislation or executive action, the
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:
** In ...
must call a cross-community vote. For a petition to be raised successfully, at least 30 of the 90 members must sign the petition. In a cross-community vote, the majority of unionists' ''and'' the majority of nationalists' votes are each required to pass a motion put to the assembly.
, petitions of concern have been tabled 159 times since 1998; they have been used on
same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same Legal sex and gender, sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being ...
, abortion and censure of politicians.
Section 42 of the 1998 Act declares that
However Standing Order 28 on Petitions of Concern does not mention this committee and () no such committee has been established.
Arising from the
St Andrews Agreement
The St Andrews Agreement ( ga, Comhaontú Chill Rímhinn; Ulster Scots: ''St Andra's 'Greement'', ''St Andrew's Greeance'' or ''St Andrae's Greeance'') is an agreement between the British and Irish governments and Northern Ireland's political ...
, an "Assembly and Executive Review Committee" was set up. Among its
Terms of Reference
Terms of reference (TOR) define the purpose and structures of a project, committee, meeting, negotiation, or any similar collection of people who have agreed to work together to accomplish a shared goal.
Terms of reference show how the object in ...
, the committee was to consider "provisions for voting on an Ad Hoc Committee on Conformity with Equality Requirements prior to the vote on a Petition of Concern." It also "considered the possibilities of restricting Petition of Concern to certain key areas, changing the 30 MLA threshold, and alternatives to Petitions of Concern (e.g. a weighted majority vote). There was no consensus on any of the issues.".
Procedure
According to the standing orders of the assembly, "after the signing of the Roll a Member may enter in the Roll a designation of identity, being Nationalist, Unionist or Other. A Member who does not register a designation of identity shall be deemed to be designated Other for the purposes of these Standing Orders."
Designations
''Note: These figures include the assumed designation of the Speaker who, having a non-partisan role, does not officially declare a designation. Note also the effect of the
Reduction of Numbers Act, which partly accounts for the significant changes in 2017.''
Parties
List of current and previous assembly parties by designation.
Unionist
Nationalist
Other
See also
*
Consociationalism
Consociationalism ( ) is a form of democratic power sharing. Political scientists define a consociational state as one which has major internal divisions along ethnic, religious, or linguistic lines, but which remains stable due to consultation a ...
*
Demography and politics of Northern Ireland
Since 1998, Northern Ireland has devolved government within the United Kingdom. The government and Parliament of the United Kingdom are responsible for reserved and excepted matters. Reserved matters are a list of policy areas (such as civil av ...
Footnotes
References
External links
*
"The Nature of the British-Irish Agreement"by Brendan O´Leary
Northern Ireland Act 1998*
*
*
{{Northern Ireland Assembly
Northern Ireland Assembly
Northern Ireland peace process
Parliamentary procedure
Power sharing