Armagh (Assembly constituency)

Coordinates: 54°20′53″N 6°39′22″W / 54.348°N 6.656°W / 54.348; -6.656 Armagh was a constituency used for the Northern Ireland Assembly.^[1]

The seat was first used for a Northern Ireland-only election for the Northern Ireland Assembly, 1973. Members were then elected from the constituency to the 1975 Constitutional Convention and the 1982 Assembly. After the Assembly dissolved in 1986, the constituency was not used again, its area being represented by parts of Newry and Armagh and Upper Bann.

It usually shared boundaries with the Armagh UK Parliament constituency, however the boundaries of the two constituencies were slightly different from 1983 to 1986 as the Assembly boundaries had not caught up with Parliamentary boundary changes.

For further details of the history and boundaries of the constituency, see Armagh (UK Parliament constituency).

Members

In 1982 elections were held for an Assembly for Northern Ireland to hold the Secretary of State to account, in the hope that this would be the first step towards restoring devolution. Armagh elected 7 members as follows:

David Calvert Democratic Unionist Party
Seamus Mallon Social Democratic and Labour Party
Jim McAllister Sinn Féin
Harold McCusker Ulster Unionist Party
Hugh News Social Democratic and Labour Party
Jim Nicholson Ulster Unionist Party
Mary Simpson Ulster Unionist Party

Changes 1982-1986

Seamus Mallon of the SDLP was disqualified from the Assembly as he was a member of the Republic of Ireland's Senate. The resulting by-election on April 20, 1983 was won by Jim Speers of the Ulster Unionist Party.

In 1975 elections were held to a Constitutional Convention which sought (unsuccessfully) to generate a consensus on the future of the province. The seven members elected from Armagh were:

Michael Armstrong Ulster Unionist Party
Alistair Black Vanguard Progressive Unionist Party
Thomas Carson Vanguard Progressive Unionist Party
Douglas Hutchinson Democratic Unionist Party
Seamus Mallon Social Democratic and Labour Party
Hugh News Social Democratic and Labour Party
Herbert Whitten Ulster Unionist Party

In 1973 elections were held to the Assembly set up under the Sunningdale Agreement. The seven members elected from Armagh were:

Thomas Carson Vanguard Progressive Unionist Party
Paddy O'Hanlon Social Democratic and Labour Party
Douglas Hutchinson Democratic Unionist Party
Seamus Mallon Social Democratic and Labour Party
Hugh News Social Democratic and Labour Party
James Stronge Ulster Unionist Party pro Sunningdale
Herbert Whitten Ulster Unionist Party pro Sunningdale

Elections

1982

Assembly Election – 20 October 1982
Party		Candidate	Count 1	Count 2	Count 3	Count 4	Count 5	Count 6	Count 7	Count 8	Count 9	Count 10	Count 11	Count 12	Count 13	Count 14
	UUP	Harold McCusker	19547
	SDLP	Seamus Mallon	8528	8528
	Sinn Féin	Jim McAllister	5182	5188	5230	5247	5248	7717	7720	7721	8090
	SDLP	Paddy O'Hanlon	4231	4239	4501	4688	4691	4799	4800	4801	5199	5245	5252	5254	5255	5288
	Sinn Féin	Jim O'Hagan	3042	3049	3072	3088	3088
	SDLP	Hugh News	2871	2883	3256	3578	3580	3778	3781	3781	5460	5566	5570	5571	5576	5607
	Workers' Party	Tom French	2826	2850	2872	3270	3272	3470	3494	3494
	UUP	Jim Nicholson	2590	7155	7156	7384	7472	7472	8137
	DUP	David Calvert	2661	3110	3110	3124	3873	3873	4845	4868	4887	4887	5135	5310	9459
	DUP	Douglas Hutchinson	2333	2894	2894	2915	3630	3631	4259	4280	4297	4298	4741	5016
	UUUP	Alistair Black	2014	2873	2873	2941	3096	3096
	UUP	Jim Speers	1836	3438	3438	3538	3623	3625	3858	3953	3981	3982
	Alliance	William Jeffrey	1806	1942	1958
	DUP	Woolsey Smith	1716	2028	2028	2039
	UUP	Mary Simpson	721	3838	3838	4147	4360	4361	4857	5126	5220	5221	8212
Electorate=95610, valid=61904, spoiled=2078, quota=7739

source:^[2]

1975

Constitutional Convention Election – 1 May 1975
Party		Candidate	Count 1	Count 2	Count 3	Count 4	Count 5	Count 6	Count 7	Count 8	Count 9
	SDLP	Seamus Mallon	8999
	UUP	Michael Armstrong	8802	8802
	DUP	Douglas Hutchinson	7746	7746	7746
	Vanguard	Thomas Carson	5974	5974	6225	6367	6371	6388	6439	6448	6885
	Vanguard	Alistair Black	5435	5435	6064	6180	6188	6213	6283	6287	6789
	UUP	Herbert Whitten	4843	4843	5198	5240	5242	5276	5381	5383	7021
	SDLP	Paddy O'Hanlon	4710	5095	5095	5095	5190	5206	5678	6243	6361
	SDLP	Hugh News	3303	4261	4261	4261	4327	4375	5074	6140	6457
	Unionist Party NI	John Maginnis	2797	2798	2860	2867	2870	3002	3838	3856
	Republican Clubs	Malachy McGurran	2577	2650	2650	2650	3587	3602	3761
	Alliance	Michael Connolly	1742	1781	1787	1788	1806	2828
	Alliance	Brian English	1307	1318	1327	1328	1332
	Republican Clubs	Patrick Houlahan	617	636	636	637
	Republican Clubs	Thomas Moore	536	546	546	546
Electorate=90640, valid=59388, spoiled=2011, quota=7424

source:^[3]

1973

1973 Assembly election: Armagh
Party		Candidate	% 1st Pref	Count 1	Count 2	Count 3	Count 4	Count 5	Count 6	Count 7	Count 8	Count 9	Count 10	Count 11	Count 12
	SDLP	Paddy O'Hanlon	13.4	8,219
	SDLP	Seamus Mallon	13.0	7,995	7,995	7,995
	UUP	Herbert Whitten	11.2	6,891	6,891.24	7,127.30	7,127.58	7,208.62	7,284.62	8140.62	8140.62
	Vanguard	Thomas Carson	11.1	6,866	6,866.66	6,936.66	6,936.74	6,955.86	7,432.86	7,505.86	7,810.86	7,810.86	7,810.86	7,810.86	7,810.86
	SDLP	Hugh News	7.7	4,731	5,163.30	5,278.40	5,564.96	5,670.04	5,672.08	5,677.18	5,677.18	5,677.73	5,688.79	5,691.03	7,832.03
	DUP	Douglas Hutchinson	7.4	4,552	4,552.12	4,598.18	4,598.50	4,612.50	4,821.50	4,902.56	6,620.56	6,644.76	6,887.40	7,237.40	7,431.40
	UUP	James Stronge	7.1	4,335	4,336.44	4,458.56	4,458.72	4,524.72	4,537.78	5,235.84	5,383.84	5,26.94	8,693.94
	UUP	Alexander Greer	4.3	2,630	2,630.36	2,689.42	2,689.56	2,762.60	2,771.66	3,603.80	3,697.80	3,869.95
	DUP	Thomas Willey	4.3	2,616	2,616	2,639.06	2,639.14	2,642.14	2,726.14	2,773.14
	Alliance	Michael Connolly	4.2	2,572	2,589.70	2,763.38	2,780.06	4,268.62	4,275.72	4,292.72	4,302.72	4,304.37	4,329.30	4,630.34
	UUP	Robert James Mitchell	4.2	2,571	2,571.42	2,625.48	2,625.84	2,653.84	2,673.64
	Vanguard	Frederick Crowe	4.0	2,465	2,465.12	2,492.12	2,492.24	2,503.28	3,639.34	3,689.34	4,168.34	4,190.89	4,447.37	4,904.33	5,093.33
	Vanguard	Samuel McCammick	3.3	2,018	2,018.30	2,034.36	2,034.48	2,040.52
	Alliance	Howard McNally	2.7	1,637	1,642.58	1,940.60	1,945.54
	NI Labour	Thomas Newell	1.7	1,044	1,053.90
	Independent	Robert Murphy	0.4	238	244
Electorate: 89,056 Valid: 61,400 Spoilt: 1,955 (3.1%) Quota: 7,676 Turnout: 63,355 (71.1%)

References

Northern Ireland Assembly

Assembly	Speaker Assembly Commission Acts Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) Parliament Buildings

Committees	Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister Agriculture and Rural Development Culture, Arts and Leisure Education Employment and Learning Enterprise, Trade and Investment Environment Finance and Personnel Health, Social Services and Public Safety Regional Development Social Development

Constituencies	Belfast East Belfast North Belfast South Belfast West East Antrim East Londonderry Fermanagh and South Tyrone Foyle Lagan Valley Mid Ulster Newry and Armagh North Antrim North Down South Antrim South Down Strangford Upper Bann West Tyrone

Parties	Current: Alliance Democratic Unionist Green NI21 Sinn Féin Social Democratic and Labour Traditional Unionist Voice UKIP Ulster Unionist

Elections	1998 2003 2007 2011 Next

Procedure	Cross-community vote

See also	Good Friday Agreement St Andrews Agreement