Northern Ireland: The Devolved Legislature and Administration
The Legislature
The Northern Ireland Assembly is composed of 108 members elected by single transferable vote. The Assembly has full legislative powers on most economic and social matters. The Assembly sits at Parliament Buildings, Stormont Estate, in Belfast. Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) meet to debate issues and introduce laws to support the people of Northern Ireland. Each MLA represents her or his constituency, and there are 6 MLAs for each constituency. On matters of key importance, it votes by the special threshold of “cross-community support”, which is defined (in the Agreement and in the 1998 Act) as either:
- parallel consent – an overall majority plus a majority of unionists and a majority of nationalists (sometimes called “50:50:50”); or
- weighted majority – an overall majority of 60% plus at least 40% of the designated Nationalists voting and 40% of the designated Unionists voting.
The Executive
The Northern Ireland Executive is an inclusive power-sharing Executive, chaired by a First Minister and deputy First Minister (who hold office jointly and are required to act jointly in all matters) and includes ten other Ministers appointed by the d’Hondt process in proportion to the parties’ strength in the Assembly.
The First Minister and deputy First Minister aslo jointly head the department called the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister, which is responsible for such issues as equality, poverty and good community relations. Other Ministers head departments covering the following broad areas:
- Agriculture & Rural Development – including fisheries
- Culture, Arts & Leisure
- Education
- Employment and Learning – including further and higher education
- Enterprise, Trade & Investment
- Environment – including local government
- Finance & Personnel
- Health and Social Services
- Regional Development – including transport
- Social Development – including social security and benefits
- Justice - including policing and justice functions. Will be established imminently
Elections in Northern Ireland
Elections in Northern Ireland take place as follows:
- Westminster – last held 5 May 2005 – 18 constituencies.
- European Parliament – every five years as in rest of UK– three MEPs are returned for the single Northern Ireland Euro-constituency. The last election held in June 2009.
- Northern Ireland Assembly – every four years – first held 25 June 1998 – six members are returned from each of the 18 Westminster Parliamentary constituencies. The last election was held on 7 March 2007.
- 26 district councils (but soon to be 11 following the Review of Public Administration ) – held every four years - last held 5 May 2005. However, due to the large scale restructuring of local government in Northern Ireland, the Secretary of State has agreed to postpone the next local elections in Northern Ireland to 2011.
Westminster elections are held using the first-past-the-post voting system as in Great Britain. All other elections in Northern Ireland are conducted by proportional representation (PR) under the single transferable vote system (STV). Electoral law and procedures in Northern Ireland are broadly similar as elsewhere in the United Kingdom. However, there are a range of differences relating to voting systems, the role of the Chief Electoral Officer and anti-fraud measures. More information can be found on the Electoral Office for Northern Ireland's Website.
Northern Ireland
Scotland
Wales
