Northern Ireland Assembly election, 1998

Northern Ireland Assembly election, 1998

1996 ← members 25 June 1998 → 2003 members

All 108 seats to the Northern Ireland Assembly 55 seats needed for a majority   First party Second party Third party   Leader David Trimble John Hume Ian Paisley Party Ulster Unionist SDLP Democratic Unionist Leader since 8 September 1995 28 November 1979 30 September 1971 Leader's seat Upper Bann Foyle North Antrim Last election 30 seats (24.2%) 21 seats (21.4%) 24 seats (18.8%) Seats won 28 24 20 Seat change 2 3 4 Popular vote 172,225 177,963 145,917 Percentage 21.3% 22.0% 18.5% Swing 2.9% 0.6% 0.3%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Gerry Adams John Alderdice Robert McCartney Party Sinn Féin Alliance UK Unionist Leader since 13 November 1983 3 October 1987 1995 Leader's seat Belfast West Belfast East North Down Last election 17 seats (15.5%) 7 seats (6.5%) 3 seats (3.7%) Seats won 18 6 5 Seat change 1 1 2 Popular vote 142,858 52,636 36,541 Percentage 16.7% 5.6% 4.5% Swing 1.2% 0.9% 0.8%

Percentage of seats gained by each of the party.

First Minister before election New position Elected First Minister David Trimble Ulster Unionist

The first elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly were held on 25 June 1998. Six members were elected by Single Transferable Vote from each of Northern Ireland's eighteen Westminster Parliamentary constituencies, giving a total of 108 MLAs, or Members of the Legislative Assembly.

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Results

The result was (first preference votes only):

	Party	Leader	Seats	% of seats	Votes	% of vote	Rank
	Ulster Unionist	Trimble, DavidDavid Trimble	28	25.9%	172,225	21.28%	2
	SDLP	Hume, JohnJohn Hume	24	22.2%	177,963	21.99%	1
	Democratic Unionist	Paisley, IanIan Paisley	20	18.5%	145,917	18.03%	3
	Sinn Féin	Adams, GerryGerry Adams	18	16.7%	142,858	17.65%	4
	Alliance	Alderdice, JohnJohn Alderdice	6	5.6%	52,636	6.50%	5
	UK Unionist	McCartney, RobertRobert McCartney	5	4.6%	36,541	4.52%	6
	Independent Unionist		3	2.8%	24,339	3.00%	7
	Progressive Unionist	Smyth, HughHugh Smyth	2	1.9%	20,634	2.55%	8
	NI Women's Coalition	McWilliams, MonicaMonica McWilliams	2	1.9%	13,019	1.61%	9
	Ulster Democratic	McMichael, GaryGary McMichael	0		8,651	1.07%	10
	Independent		0		5,392	0.69%	*
	Labour Party NI	Curran, MalachiMalachi Curran	0		2,729	0.34%	11
	Workers' Party	French, TomTom French	0		1,989	0.25%	12
	Conservative	Hague, WilliamWilliam Hague	0		1,835	0.23%	13
	Ulster Independence	Ross, HughHugh Ross	0		1,227	0.15%	17
	Natural Law	Anderson, JamesJames Anderson	0		832	0.10%	18
	Socialist Party	Higgins, JoeJoe Higgins	0		789	0.10%	19
	Green (NI)		0		710	0.09%	20
Total			108	100.0%	786,132	100.0%

All parties with over 500 votes listed. Electorate: 1,178,556; Turnout: 823,565 (69.88%); Spoiled votes: 13,248; Valid: 810,317.

¹ Independent candidates were ranked 14, 15 and 16; other independents won fewer than 500 votes.

Votes summary

Popular vote
SDLP			21.96%
Ulster Unionist			21.25%
DUP			18.14%
Sinn Féin			17.63%
Alliance			6.5%
United Kingdom Unionist			4.51%
Progressive Unionist			2.55%
Women's Coalition			1.61%
Ulster Democratic			1.07%
Independent			3.51%
Other			1.27%

Seats summary

Parliamentary seats
SDLP			22.22%
Ulster Unionist			25.93%
DUP			18.52%
Sinn Féin			16.67%
Alliance			5.56%
United Kingdom Unionist			4.63%
Progressive Unionist			1.85%
Women's Coalition			1.85%
Independent			2.78%

Details

Although the SDLP won the most first preference votes, the Ulster Unionists won the most seats in the Assembly. This has been attributed^{[citation needed]} 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)

See also

• Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly elected in 1998
• Northern Ireland Assembly