Loading AI tools
Northern Ireland MLAs 2017 to 2022 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is a list of the 90 members of the sixth Northern Ireland Assembly, the unicameral devolved legislature of Northern Ireland. The election took place on 2 March 2017, with counting finishing the following day; voter turnout was estimated at 64.8%.[1]
6th Northern Ireland Assembly | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||
Overview | |||||||||
Legislative body | Assembly | ||||||||
Jurisdiction | Northern Ireland | ||||||||
Meeting place | Parliament Buildings, Stormont | ||||||||
Term | 2 March 2017 – 27 March 2022 | ||||||||
Election | 2017 assembly election | ||||||||
Government | Executive of the 6th Assembly | ||||||||
Members | 90 | ||||||||
Speaker | Alex Maskey | ||||||||
First Minister | Arlene Foster / Paul Givan | ||||||||
Deputy First Minister | Michelle O'Neill | ||||||||
Sessions | |||||||||
|
Only five (rather than six) MLAs were elected from each of the 18 constituencies, following the Assembly Members (Reduction of Numbers) Act (Northern Ireland) 2016.[2] The reduction negatively affected Unionist candidates whose bloc lost its majority for the first time in the history of the Assembly. The SDLP was also negatively impacted, losing its only West Belfast seat.[3]
Incumbent Speaker Robin Newton informally convened the Assembly on 22 March to pay tribute to the former deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, who had died the day before.[4]
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,[5] 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.[6]
Party | Designation | Mar 2017 election |
Mar 2022 end | |
---|---|---|---|---|
● | Democratic Unionist Party | Unionist | 28 | 26 |
● | Sinn Féin | Nationalist | 27 | 26 |
● | Social Democratic and Labour Party | Nationalist | 12 | 12 |
● | Ulster Unionist Party | Unionist | 10 | 10 |
● | Alliance Party of Northern Ireland | Other | 8 | 7 |
Green Party Northern Ireland | Other | 2 | 2 | |
Traditional Unionist Voice | Unionist | 1 | 1 | |
People Before Profit | Other | 1 | 1 | |
Independent | Other | 0 | 1 | |
Independent Unionist | Unionist | 1 | 3 | |
Speaker[n 1] | None | 0 | 1 | |
Totals by Designation | Unionist | 40 | 40 | |
Nationalist | 39 | 38 | ||
Other | 11 | 11 | ||
None | 0 | 1 | ||
Total | 90 | 90 | ||
● = Northern Ireland Executive |
Parties arranged roughly on the nationalist-unionist spectrum
† Co-opted to replace an elected MLA
‡ Changed affiliation during the term
† Co-opted to replace an elected MLA ‡ Changed affiliation during the term
Date | Constituency | Name | Previous affiliation | New affiliation | Circumstance | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
9 May 2018 | South Down | Jim Wells | DUP | Ind. Unionist | DUP whip withdrawn from Jim Wells following criticisms of the party leadership.[21] | ||
11 January 2020 | Belfast West | Alex Maskey | Sinn Féin | Speaker | Alex Maskey elected Speaker of the Assembly at its first sitting. | ||
2 March 2020 | Lagan Valley | Trevor Lunn | Alliance | Independent | Trevor Lunn resigned from Alliance due to "internal difficulties".[22] | ||
1 July 2021 | North Down | Alex Easton | DUP | Ind. Unionist | Alex Easton resigned from the DUP following changes in the party leadership.[23] |
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.