The European election in Northern Ireland

Abstract

Since 1979 Northern Ireland, unlike the rest of the United Kingdom, has elected its three MEPs on a Province‐wide basis by the single transferable vote form of proportional representation, one of the biggest elections of its kind. Unlike parliamentary elections, European elections in Northern Ireland have been typified by a higher turnout than the rest of the United Kingdom, with a fair balance in the political represention of the unionist and nationalist communities and a very high proportion of voters seeing their first choice candidate being elected to the European Parliament. In this election nearly 49% of Northern Ireland's electors cast a valid vote, a fraction down on 1989, but of those who did 81.9% saw their preferred candidate elected to the European Parliament. This compares with only 48% who helped elect a candidate in Britain and on a much lower turnout. Mr Patsy McGlone, former general secretary of Northern Ireland's Social Democratic and Labour Party explains what happened.