The Elected Authorities (Northern Ireland) Act 1989 is an Act of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...

. It brought in a law that required candidates standing for election in Northern Irish local and Northern Ireland Assembly elections to declare they would not, by word or deed, express support for or approval of proscribed organisations or acts of terrorism (that is to say, violence for political ends). It had the effect of disqualifying numerous candidates in the 1989 Northern Ireland local government elections, particularly 23 candidates of the Republican Sinn Féin (RSF).

Background

In Northern Ireland, elections to local government had historically been dominated by the unionist majority due to Catholic nationalist disincentive to take part in elections. In 1974, in order to encourage more Catholic participation the political wing of the Irish Republican Army,

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 G ...

; which had been designated as a proscribed terrorist organisation by the

Parliament of Northern Ireland The Parliament of Northern Ireland was the home rule legislature of Northern Ireland, created under the Government of Ireland Act 1920, which sat from 7 June 1921 to 30 March 1972, when it was suspended because of its inability to restore ord ...

in 1956, was removed from the list of proscribed organisations. They then started to gain seats in local government. In 1983, following the IRA

Harrods bombing The Harrods bombing refers to the car bomb that exploded outside Harrods department store in central London, England, on Saturday 17 December 1983. Members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army planted the time bomb and sent a warning 37 ...

, the British government considered making Sinn Féin a proscribed organisation again alongside the

Ulster Defence Association The Ulster Defence Association (UDA) is an Ulster loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. It was formed in September 1971 as an umbrella group for various loyalist groups and undertook an armed campaign of almost 24 years as one of t ...

unionist paramilitary group. This proposal had support from the Democratic Unionist Party who claimed Sinn Féin were a front for terrorism and one newspaper called them "...the IRA in drag". A report by Sir George Baker argued against proscription of both groups however, he did make comments suggesting legislation against those using terrorism during elections.

Act

Baker's report was used as grounds for the creation of the Elected Authorities (Northern Ireland) Act 1989. The act required that in order for any candidate to stand for election in Northern Ireland, they were required to make a declaration against terrorism. The full declaration is: "I declare that, if elected, I will not by word or deed express support for or approval of (a) any organisation that is for the time being a proscribed organisation specified in Schedule 2 of the Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act 1978: or (b) acts of terrorism (that is to say violence for political ends) connected with the affairs of Northern Ireland". The act also disqualified anyone who had been imprisoned for longer than three months from standing for elected office in Northern Ireland for five years.

Results

Though the act was primarily aimed at Sinn Féin in lieu of outright proscription, Sinn Féin candidates agreed to sign the declaration. Republican Sinn Féin however called it a " test oath" and refused to sign it. As a result, their candidates were banned from taking part in the 1989 Northern Ireland local elections. They also attempted to run candidates in the

2011 Northern Ireland local elections Elections for local government were held in Northern Ireland on Thursday 5 May 2011, contesting 582 seats in all. European Union and Commonwealth citizens aged 18 or over on election day were entitled to vote. The deadline for voters to register ...

but their nominations were rejected because they again refused to sign the declaration as required by the Act.

References

{{reflist The Troubles (Northern Ireland) United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1989 Emergency laws in the United Kingdom Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom concerning Northern Ireland 1989 in Northern Ireland