Cross-community vote

Northern Ireland
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Northern Ireland

A cross-community vote or cross-community support is a form of voting used in the Northern Ireland Assembly according to the provisions of the 1998 Belfast Agreement.[1] It requires the support of both main communities in Northern Ireland, in other words majority of unionists and the majority of nationalist members of the Assembly.[2]

Background

Upon taking their seats members of the Northern Ireland Assembly are required to designate themselves as either "unionist", "nationalist" or "other". MLAs are free to designate themselves as they see fit, the only requirement being that no member may change his or her designation more than once during an Assembly session.[3]

A vote will not automatically require cross-community support. A "Petition of Concern" must first be presented to the Speaker by at least 30 of the 90 members (108 members before 2017). In a cross-community vote the majority of unionists and the majority of nationalist votes are required to pass a motion put to the Assembly.[4]

This was originally set out in the Northern Ireland Act 1998.

Procedure

According to the standing orders of the Assembly, "after the signing of the Roll a Member may enter in the Roll a designation of identity, being Nationalist, Unionist or Other. A Member who does not register a designation of identity shall be deemed to be designated Other for the purposes of these Standing Orders."[5]

Designations

Designations199820032007201120162017
Unionist 58 59 55 56 56 40
Nationalist 42 42 44 43 40 39
Other 8 7 9 9 12 11

Note: These figures include the assumed designation of the Speaker who, having a non-partisan role, does not officially declare a designation.

Parties

List of current and previous assembly parties by designation.

Unionist

DUP
NI Unionist
PUP
UKIP
UK Unionist
UUP
United Unionist Coalition

Nationalist

Sinn Féin
SDLP

Other

Alliance
Green (NI)
NI21[6]
NI Women's Coalition
People Before Profit

See also

Footnotes

    References

    1. ↑ Minority Veto Rights in Power Sharing Systems: Lessons from Macedonia, Northern Ireland and Belgium by Shane Kelleher
    2. ↑ Section 3.7 - Standing Orders of the Northern Ireland Assembly Archived 2008-10-30 at the Wayback Machine. - PDF file from the Assembly website.
    3. ↑ Section 3 - Standing Orders of the Northern Ireland Assembly Archived 2008-10-30 at the Wayback Machine. - PDF file from the Assembly website.
    4. ↑ Section 27 - Standing Orders of the Northern Ireland Assembly Archived 2008-10-30 at the Wayback Machine. - PDF file from the Assembly website.
    5. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-02-12. Retrieved 2015-11-20. Northern Ireland Assembly
    6. ↑ Designated as "Other" following the 2016 election
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