Maps by Conal Kelly and Nicholas Whyte

This constituency takes in the western quarter of Belfast City Council and the Twinbrook and Poleglass estates in Lisburn District Council. The member of parliament is Gerry Adams (SF leader), who was first elected in 1983, defeating the previous incumbent (Gerry Fitt, former SDLP leader but by then an Independent Socialist). Adams retained the seat in 1987 but lost it narrowly to Joe Hendron (SDLP) in 1992. However he regained it convincingly in 1997. The constituency was slightly expanded in 1983 and rather more in 1995 (see the 1983-1992 election results).

See also results of all West Belfast elections 1993-2003.
 

			Surplus Adams		Exclude Kerr, Ayers, MacVicar & Lowry		Exclude Smyth & McGimpsey		Exclude Hendron
Gerry Adams	SF	6199	-1505	4694	0	4694	0	4694	0	4694
Alex Attwood	SDLP	3667	129.6	3796.6	104.44	3901.04	55.24	3956.28	2140	6096.28
Bairbre De Brun	SF	4069	407.52	4476.52	18.44	4494.96	9.24	4504.2	161.48	4665.68
Fra McCann	SF	4263	74.16	4337.16	23.72	4360.88	2.48	4363.36	161.64	4525
Michael Ferguson	SF	3849	63.84	3912.84	8.72	3921.56	23.56	3945.12	54.88	4000
Diane Dodds	DUP	2544	0	2544	87	2631	1513.24	4144.24	112	4256,24
Sue Ramsey	SF	2988	685.2	3673.2	26.48	3699.68	6.24	3705.92	62.92	3768.84
Joe Hendron	SDLP	2583	71.28	2654.28	195.44	2849.72	259	3108.72	-3108.72	-
Chris McGimpsey	UUP	1170	4.56	1174.56	124	1298.56	-1298.56	-		-
Hugh Smyth	PUP	813	1.68	814.68	48	862.68	-862.68	-		-
John Lowry	WP	407	3.84	410.84	-410.84	-		-		-
John MacVicar	Ind	211	0.24	211.24	-211.24	-		-		-
Kathryn Ayers	Alliance	75	3.12	78.12	-78.12	-		-		-
David Kerr	Ulster Third Way	16	0	16	-16	-		-		-
			59.96	59.96	79.96	139.92	292.24	432.16	415.8	847.96

Stage 2: Of Adams' 6199 votes, 2855 went to Ramsey, 1698 to De Brun, 309 to McCann and 266 to Ferguson, thus 5128 (82.7%) to his SF running-mates; 540 to Attwood and 297 to Hendron, thus 837 (13.5%) to the SDLP; 19 (0.3%) to McGimpsey (UUP); 16 (0.3%) to Lowry (WP); 13 (0.2%) to Ayers (Alliance); 7 (0.1%) to Smyth (PUP); 1 (0.02%) to MacVicar (Ind); with none to either Dodds (DUP) or Kerr (Ulster Third Way) and 178 (2.9%) non-transferable.

			Surplus Attwood		Surplus De Brun		Surplus McCann
Gerry Adams	SF	4694	0	4694	0	4694	0	4694
Alex Attwood	SDLP	6096.28	-1402.28	4694	0	4694	0	4694
Bairbre De Brun	SF	4665.68	564	5229.68	-535.68	4694	0	4694
Fra McCann	SF	4525	380	4905	0	4905	-211	4694
Michael Ferguson	SF	4000	117	4117	229	4346	102.6	4448.6
Diane Dodds	DUP	4256.24	16	4272.24	2	4274.24	2.85	4277.09
Sue Ramsey	SF	3768.84	155	3923,84	161	4084.84	105.45	4190.29
		847.96	170.28	1018.24	143.68	1161.92	0.1	1162.02

Stage 6: Of the 2140 votes transferred from Hendron to Attwood (both SDLP), 564 went on to De Brun, 380 to McCann, 155 to Ramsey and 117 to Ferguson, thus 1216 (56.8%) to SF; and 16 (0.7%) to Dodds (DUP) with 908 (42.4%) non-transferable.

Stage 7: Of the 564 votes transferred from Hendron to Attwood and then on to De Brun (so from SDLP to SF), 229 went on to Ferguson and 161 to Ramsey, thus 390 (69.1%) to the continung SF candidates; and 2 (0.4%) to Dodds (DUP) with 172 (30.5%) non-transferable.

Stage 8: Of the 380 votes transferred from Hendron to Attwood and then on to McCann, 111 went on to Ramsey and 108 to Ferguson, thus 219 (57.6%) to the continuing SF candidates; and 3 (0.8%) to Dodds with 158 (41.6%) non-transferable.

See also: Jim Riley's analysis of votes and seats in the 1998 Assembly election | The constituencies | Single Transferable Vote | The political parties | Useful books and links

Full 2003 results for each seat: East Belfast | North Belfast | South Belfast | West Belfast | East Antrim | North Antrim | South Antrim | North Down | South Down | Fermanagh and South Tyrone | Foyle | Lagan Valley | East Londonderry | Mid Ulster | Newry and Armagh | Strangford | West Tyrone | Upper Bann

Other sites based at ARK: ORB (Online Research Bank) | CAIN (Conflict Archive on the INternet) | Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey

Your comments, please! Send an email to me at nicholas.whyte@gmail.com..

Compiled by Nicholas Whyte, 12 April 2004.