Northern Ireland Forum

The Northern Ireland Forum for Political Dialogue was a body set up in 1996 as part of a process of negotiations that eventually led to the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.

1996 Northern Ireland Forum election

30 May 1996
All 110 seats to the Northern Ireland Forum 56 seats were needed for a majority
Leader David Trimble Ian Paisley John Hume Party UUP DUP SDLP Leader since 8 September 1995 30 September 1971 28 November 1979 Leader's seat Upper Bann North Antrim Foyle Seats won 30 24 21 Popular vote 181,829 141,413 160,786 Percentage 24.2% 18.8% 21.4%   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 West Belfast East Belfast North Down Seats won 17 7 3 Popular vote 116,377 49,176 27,774 Percentage 15.5% 6.5% 3.7%   Leader Hugh Smyth Gary McMichael Monica McWilliams Pearl Sagar Party PUP Ulster Democratic NI Women's Coalition Leader since 1979 1994 1996 Leader's seat Top-up seat Top-up seat Top-up seats Seats won 2 2 2 Popular vote 26,082 16,715 7,731 Percentage 3.5% 2.2% 1.0%
Percentage of seats gained by each of the party
Chief Executive before election None Elected Chief Executive None

The forum was elected, with five members being elected for each Westminster Parliamentary constituency for Northern Ireland, under the D'Hondt method of party-list proportional representation. There was also a "topup" of two seats for the ten parties polling most votes; this ensured that two loyalist parties associated with paramilitary groups were represented. See members of the Northern Ireland Forum for a complete list.

Results

The results of the election were:

  Ulster Unionist Party: 30 seats

  Democratic Unionist Party: 24 seats

  Social Democratic and Labour Party: 21 seats

  Sinn Féin: 17 seats

  Alliance: 7 seats

  UKUP: 3 seats

  Ulster Democratic: 2 seats

  NI Women's Coalition: 2 seats

  Labour: 2 seats

  PUP: 2 seats

Party		Votes	Vote %	List seats	Top-up seats	Total seats	Seats %
	UUP	181,829	24.2	28	2	30	27.3
	SDLP	160,786	21.4	19	2	21	19.1
	DUP	141,413	18.8	22	2	24	21.8
	Sinn Féin	116,377	15.5	15	2	17	15.5
	Alliance	49,176	6.5	5	2	7	6.4
	UK Unionist	27,774	3.7	1	2	3	2.7
	PUP	26,082	3.5	0	2	2	1.8
	Ulster Democratic	16,715	2.2	0	2	2	1.8
	NI Women's Coalition	7,731	1.0	0	2	2	1.8
	Labour coalition	6,425	0.9	0	2	2	1.8
	Green (NI)	3,647	0.5	0	0	0
	NI Conservatives	3,595	0.5	0	0	0
	Workers' Party	3,530	0.5	0	0	0
	Ulster Independence	2,125	0.5	0	0	0
	Democratic Left	1,215	0.2	0	0	0
	Democratic Partnership	1,046	0.1	0	0	0
	Independent McMullan	927	0.1	0	0	0
	Independent Chambers	567	0.1	0	0	0
	Natural Law	389	0.1	0	0	0
	Independent DUP	388	0.1	0	0	0
	Independent Arthur Templeton	350	0.1	0	0	0
	Independent Voice	204	0.0	0	0	0
	Communist Party	66	0.0	0	0	0
	Ulster Christian Democrats	31	0.0	0	0	0
Total		745,296

All parties shown.

Note: The Democratic Unionist Party was listed on the ballot paper as "Democratic Unionist Party DUP Ian Paisley"

List candidates

Top-up candidates were elected from lists supplied by each party. The highest-placed candidates who had not already won election through a constituency won the top-up seats. In the table below, the top-up candidates elected through the regional list are shown in bold, while candidates elected in constituencies are shown in italics. Candidates in normal type were not elected.

Party		Regional list candidates[1]
	UUP	David Trimble, John Taylor, John Gorman, Antony Alcock, Jack Allen, Fred Parkinson, Josias Cunningham, Dennis Rogan, James Cooper, Jim Nicholson
	SDLP	John Hume, Seamus Mallon, Eddie McGrady, Joe Hendron, Jonathan Stephenson, Dorita Field, Margaret Ellen, Patricia Walsh, Marietta Farrell, Rosaleen Hughes, Anne McQuillan
	DUP	Ian Paisley, Peter Robinson, William McCrea, Nigel Dodds, Sammy Wilson, Gregory Campbell, Eric Smyth, Ruth Allen, Harry Smith, William McClure
	Sinn Féin	Lucilita Bhreatnach, Pat Doherty, Rita O'Hare, Gerry Adams, Martin McGuinness, Bairbre de Brún, Mitchel McLaughlin, Gearóid Ó hEára, Joe Cahill, Dodie McGuinness
	Alliance	John Alderdice, Seamus Close, Sean Neeson, Steve McBride, Eileen Bell, Anne Gormley, Elizabeth McCaffrey, Mary Clark-Glass, Susan O'Brien, Wendy Watt
	UK Unionist	Robert McCartney, Cedric Wilson, Conor Cruise O'Brien, Patrick Roche, Ronnie Crawford, Alan Field, Valerie Kinghan, Stephen Nicholl, Graeme Jardin, Freda Woods
	PUP	Hugh Smyth, David Ervine, Billy Hutchinson, William Smith, David Kirk, Patricia Laverty, Dawn Purvis, Edward Kinner, Gusty Spence, Winston Churchill Rea
	Ulster Democratic	Gary McMichael, John White, David Adams, Joe English, Tommy Kirkham, David Nicholl, Robert Girvan, Thomas English, Ester McCracken English, Elizabeth Cathcart McIlwaine
	NI Women's Coalition	Monica McWilliams, Pearl Sagar, Anne Campbell, Kathleen Fearon, Sheila Fairon, Joan Cosgrove, Diane Greer, Brenda Callaghan, Felicity Huston, Mairead Abraham
	Labour coalition	Malachi Curran, Hugh Casey, Mark Langhammer, John McLaughlin, Lucy Simpson, Peter Hadden, Margaret Lawrence, Fionnuala Harbinson, Michael Duffy, David Morrison
	Green (NI)	Paddy McEvoy, Peter Emerson, Jenny Jones, Nuala Ahern, Molly Scott, Robin Harper
	NI Conservatives	Barbara Finney, Esmond Birnie
	Workers' Party	Tom French, John Lowry, Marian Donnelly, Ellen Rush, Margaret Smith, Tommy Owens, Brendan Heany, Eilish Duffy, Vivian Hutchinson, Michael McCorry
	Ulster Independence	Hugh Ross, Josephine Fulton-Challis, Sandra Jones, Walter Millar, David Kerr, Dierdre Speer-White, Ken Kerr, Donal Casey, Kenneth McClinton, Norman McLelland
	Democratic Left	Mary McMahon, Seamus Lynch, Patrick John McClean, Gerry Cullen, Veronica McEneaney, Frank McElroy, Teresa McVeigh, Jean Craig, Mary Vernon, Monica Hynds
	Democratic Partnership	David Bleakley, Paul Smyth, Maureen McCaughan, Adrian McKinney, Pearl Snowden, Edwin Sloan, Charles McKee, William Lewis, Erin Tunney
	Independent McMullan	Oliver McMullan, John Robb, John McDowell, Wesley H. Holmes, William Dunbar, William Cunning, Helen Craig, Philip Dugdale, Charles Maunsell, Sinead McMullan
	Independent Chambers	Alan Chambers, Joseph Coggle, Mary Chambers, James Arbuthnot, Robert Irvine, Violet Chambers, Linda Chambers, William Chambers, Ruth Patty, Pearl Brown
	Natural Law	James Anderson, Thomas Mullins, Richard Johnson, John Patrick Lyons, John Small
	Independent DUP	Thomas Henry O'Brien, William Baxter, Cecil Braniff, Tara Martin Alexandra, Stuart William O'Brien
	Independent Arthur Templeton	N/A
	Independent Voice	Andrew Thompson, Sarah Thompson, Bernard McGrath, Susan McGrath, Edward Phillips, Trevor Richards, Christopher Carter, Fidelma Carter, Betty Carter, Susan Carter
	Communist Party	N/A
	Ulster Christian Democrats	N/A

Votes summary

Popular vote Ulster Unionist   24.17% SDLP   21.37% DUP   18.8% Sinn Féin   15.47% Alliance   6.54% United Kingdom Unionist   3.69% Progressive Unionist   3.47% Ulster Democratic   2.22% Women's Coalition   1.03% Labour   0.85% Independent   0.3% Other   2.09%

Seats summary

Parliamentary seats Ulster Unionist   27.27% SDLP   19.09% DUP   21.82% Sinn Féin   15.45% Alliance   6.36% United Kingdom Unionist   2.73% Progressive Unionist   1.82% Ulster Democratic   1.82% Women's Coalition   1.82% Labour   1.82%

References

1. http://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/96cands.htm

Bibliography

• Northern Ireland (Entry to Negotiations, etc) Act 1996
• The 1996 Forum Elections and the Peace Process by Nicholas Whyte

External links

• Official site
• Outline Results