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 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: Th ...

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: ** I ...

, 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 b ...

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: ** I ...

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 sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being Mexico, constituting ...

, 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 politica ...

, 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

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