The Assembly has three primary mechanisms to ensure effective power-sharing: • in appointing ministers to the Executive (except for the Minister of Justice), the
D'Hondt method is followed so that ministerial portfolios are divided among the parties in proportion to their strength in the Assembly. This means that all parties with a significant number of seats are entitled to at least one minister; • certain resolutions must receive "
cross community support", or the support of a minimum number of MLAs from both communities, to be passed by the Assembly. Every MLA is officially designated as either nationalist, unionist or other. The election of the
speaker, 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. The election of the First and deputy First Ministers previously occurred by parallel consent but the positions are now filled by appointment; and • Most votes taken by the Assembly can be made dependent on cross-community support if a
petition of concern is presented to the speaker. A petition of concern may be brought by 30 or more MLAs, with at least two parties or independent members who were elected to the Assembly as independents in the most recent election being represented among the petitioners. Petitions may not be brought on resolutions relating to sanctions of members, on votes relating to the general principles of a bill rather than specific provisions or passage, and matters relating to the full implementation of paragraph 2.2.4 of Annex B of Part 2 of The New Decade, New Approach Deal as specified in the standing orders of the Assembly. In cases where a petition is properly filed, a vote on proposed legislation will only pass if supported by a weighted majority (60%) of members voting, including at least 40% of each of the nationalist and unionist designations present and voting. Effectively this means that, provided enough MLAs from a given community agree, that community (or a sufficiently large party in that community) can exercise a veto over the Assembly's decisions. The purpose is to protect each community from legislation that would favour the other community. The Assembly has the power to call for witnesses and documents, if the relevant responsibility has been transferred to its remit. Proceedings are covered by privilege in
defamation law. ==Composition== The Assembly's composition is laid down in the
Northern Ireland Act 1998. It initially had 108 members (MLAs) elected from 18 six-member constituencies on the basis of
universal adult suffrage and the
single transferable vote. Under the
Assembly Members (Reduction of Numbers) Act (Northern Ireland) 2016 the number of MLAs per constituency was reduced from 6 to 5, leaving a total of 90 seats. This took effect at the March 2017 election. The constituencies used are the same as those used for elections to the United Kingdom Parliament at Westminster. The
Northern Ireland Act 1998 provides that, unless the Assembly is dissolved early, elections should occur once every four years on the first Thursday in May. The
Northern Ireland (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2014 was passed to bring the Northern Ireland Assembly into line with the other devolved legislatures and to extend each Assembly term to five years instead of four. The second election to the Assembly was delayed by the UK government until 26 November 2003. The Assembly is dissolved shortly before the holding of elections on a day chosen by the
Secretary of State. After each election the Assembly must meet within eight days. The Assembly can vote to dissolve itself early by a two-thirds majority of the total number of its members. It is also automatically dissolved if it is unable to elect a
First Minister and deputy First Minister (effectively joint first ministers, the only distinction being in the titles) within six weeks of its first meeting or of those positions becoming vacant. There have been six
elections to the Assembly since 1998.
Designations The Assembly uses a
consociational system. Each MLA is free to designate themselves as "Nationalist", "Unionist", or "other", as they see fit, the only requirement being that no member may change their designation more than once during an Assembly session. The system has been criticised by some, in particular the cross-community
Alliance Party, as entrenching
sectarian divisions. Alliance supports ending the official designation of identity requirement and the taking of important votes on the basis of an ordinary
super-majority, as does the largest unionist party, the
DUP.
Executive and Opposition Which parties can appoint ministers to the
Northern Ireland Executive is determined by a combination of mandatory coalition, the D'Hondt method and cross-community support, depending on the role, as explained above. Coalitions of between three and five parties have governed over the Assembly's history. The Executive of the Sixth Assembly was formed on 11 January 2020. Unlike the
United Kingdom Parliament and the
Oireachtas (Irish Parliament), the Assembly had no provision for an
official opposition to hold governing parties to account until legislation was passed in 2016. A party may now form or join an
Assembly Opposition, granting it additional speaking, scrutiny and funding rights, if it was entitled to Ministerial roles under the D'Hondt method and declined them, or if it wins 8% or more of the seats. This opportunity was qualified for and taken by the UUP and SDLP following the 2016 election. Even within the Executive, however, the parties (which have collectively held large majorities in the Assembly) have frequently voted against each other due to political and/or policy differences.
Historical participation Alongside independents, a total of 15 parties have held seats in the Assembly since 1998:
Unionist: •
Ulster Unionist Party •
Democratic Unionist Party •
Progressive Unionist Party •
UK Independence Party •
Traditional Unionist Voice •
NI21 •
United Unionist Coalition •
UK Unionist Party •
Northern Ireland Unionist Party Nationalist: •
Social Democratic and Labour Party •
Sinn Féin Other: •
Alliance Party of Northern Ireland •
Green Party Northern Ireland •
People Before Profit •
Northern Ireland Women's Coalition Election results and changes The course of the Assembly saw a marked shift in party allegiance among voters. At the 2003 election, the
DUP and
Sinn Féin displaced the more moderate
UUP and
SDLP as the largest parties in the unionist and nationalist blocks. The parties only agreed to share power after four years of negotiations and a new election. The DUP, Sinn Féin, SDLP and UUP have remained the largest parties in the Assembly and so far the only ones entitled to ministerial roles in the Executive under the D'Hondt method. However, there has been growing support for parties designated "Other". The centrist
Alliance party secured the roles of Speaker from 1998 to 2007 and Minister of Justice from 2010 to 2016 (and again from 11 January 2020) thanks to cross-community support, and has seen an increase in its seat wins from 6 to 8. While the
NI Women's Coalition disbanded in 2003, two leftist parties, the
Green Party in Northern Ireland and
People Before Profit, won their first seats, in 2007 and 2016, respectively. A rapidly shifting landscape of smaller unionist parties has also been a feature of the Assembly. In 1999 the
UK Unionist Party lost four of its five MLAs, disagreeing over a protest against Sinn Féin. The four formed the
NI Unionist Party, which again suffered a split and won no seats in the 2003 election. That election also saw the electoral demise of a loose trio of independently elected unionists who had united as the
United Unionist Coalition. Minor unionist parties flourished again after the 2011 election, which saw the disappearance of the
PUP from the Assembly and the election of the
TUV, a splinter group from the DUP opposed to the St Andrews Agreement. In 2012, a suspended UUP member became
UKIP's first MLA, and in 2013, two UUP MLAs resigned to form the progressive
NI21, which later split. Of these only the TUV survived the 2016 and 2017 elections. Disagreements within the Executive precipitated the resignation of the UUP in 2015, and following the 2016 election they and the SDLP formed the first Assembly Opposition. The row also saw Alliance relinquish its Justice role, joining the Greens, PBPA and TUV in unofficial opposition. Independent unionist Claire Sugden gained the cross-community support needed to take over the Ministry of Justice. A 5th Executive was formed on 11 January 2020 following the 2017 election results, which saw the unionist block lose its Assembly majority for the first time. The usual four largest parties had won enough seats to win ministerial roles under D'Hondt (the DUP three, Sinn Féin two and the SDLP and UUP one each provided neither of them choose to enter opposition). With the reduction in the number of Assembly seats, the
8% threshold now amounts to eight rather than nine seats, qualifying Alliance to enter official opposition had they chosen to so, which they did not. The Greens retained their two seats and the TUV and Claire Sugden their single seats, while People Before Profit now held only one seat. The 6th Executive, formed on 3 February 2024, is notable in several respects: Sinn Féin became the largest party in the 2022 election and took the role of First Minister as well as both economic portfolios, and the SDLP for the first time did not qualify for any seats in the Executive, instead forming the Official Opposition. which McCallister subsequently left. The UUP withdrew from the Executive in September 2015, and so the 2011–2016 Assembly closed with an unofficial opposition consisting of the UUP (now with 14 seats), alongside now-independent unionist John McCallister and four minor parties with one seat each: NI21, Green Party, Traditional Unionist Voice and UKIP. •
Traditional Unionist Voice (1 seat) •
Green Party in Northern Ireland (1 seat) •
United Kingdom Independence Party (1 seat from 2012) •
NI21 (2 seats from 2013, reduced to 1 from 2014) •
Ulster Unionist Party (from 2015, 14 seats) The first official opposition, forming after the
2016 election, comprised: •
Ulster Unionist Party (16 seats) •
Social Democratic and Labour Party (12 seats) Alliance also left government and joined three smaller parties in unofficial opposition: •
Alliance Party of Northern Ireland (8 seats) •
Green Party in Northern Ireland (2 seats) •
People Before Profit (2 seats) •
Traditional Unionist Voice (1 seat) With the reduction in the number of Assembly seats at the 2017 election, the 8% threshold now amounts to eight rather than nine seats, qualifying Alliance to enter official opposition if they choose.-->
Election results by constituency Some parties, which rarely or never won seats in the same constituency, are grouped together for ease of reading. For further clarity, see footnotes on headers.
Co-options Vacancies between Assembly elections are filled by co-option. A by-election is still available as an option if the nominated person cannot take his or her seat but none have been held. The possibility of by-elections or co-options was established by the Northern Ireland Act 1998. In 2001, the
Northern Ireland Office introduced a system of substitutes as the preferred option. Under a further change made in 2009, a political party leader directly nominates a new MLA if his or her party won that seat at the previous election. Independent MLAs can continue to use substitutes. When Sinn Féin MLA
Michael Ferguson died in September 2006, no substitutes were available. Sinn Féin was allowed to use his vote in the Assembly (despite his death) and no by-election was held. His seat remained vacant until the
2007 Northern Ireland Assembly election.
Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the
Oireachtas (Irish Parliament), uses the same
single transferable vote system for elections as the Assembly but does allow
by-elections to fill vacancies. This method is also used for the seats chosen by election in the upper house,
Seanad Éireann. ==Organisation==