South Belfast

Details of each count in 1998 election

map 1 map 2
Maps by Conal Kelly and Nicholas Whyte

This constituency takes in the southern quarter of Belfast City Council and adjacent parts of Castlereagh District Council. The member of parliament has been Rev Martin Smyth (UUP) since a 1982 by-election caused by the IRA assassination of the previous incumbent. The constituency was expanded a little in 1983 and rather more in 1995.

		Stage 1	Exclude Dixon, Black, Lynn, Lomas, Anderson, Cusack		Exclude Dillon		Exclude Adams
Michael McGimpsey	UUP	4938	94	5032	151	5183	175	5358
Alasdair McDonnell	SDLP	4956	83	5039	3	5042	17	5059
Mark Robinson	DUP	2872	68	2940	544	3484	145	3629
Esmond Birnie	UUP	2875	105	2980	85	3065	434	3499
Monica McWilliams	NIWC	3912	141	4053	14	4067	45	4112
Carmel Hanna	SDLP	3882	41	3923	4	3927	27	3954
Steve McBride	APNI	4086	101	4187	16	4203	33	4236
Myreve Chambers	DUP	2449	56	2505	506	3011	194	3205
Ernie Purvis	PUP	2112	75	2187	43	2230	491	2721
Sean Hayes	SF	2605	22	2627		2627	26	2653
Jim Clarke	UUP	1720	73	1793	123	1916	141	2057
David Adams	UDP	1745	51	1796	59	1855	-1855
Grant Dillon	UKUP	1496	83	1579	-1579
William Dixon	Ind U	437	-437
Boyd Black	Labour	231	-231
Paddy Lynn	WP	176	-176
Roger Lomas	Conservative	97	-97
James Anderson	NLP	73	-73
Niall Cusack	Labour	62	-62

non-transferable			83	83	31	114	127	241

		Stage 4	Exclude Clarke		Exclude Hayes		Exclude Purvis
Michael McGimpsey	UUP	5358	540	5898		5898		5898
Alasdair McDonnell	SDLP	5059	14	5073	890	5963		5963
Mark Robinson	DUP	3629	150	3779	2	3781	570	4351
Esmond Birnie	UUP	3499	890	4389	3	4392	875	5267
Monica McWilliams	NIWC	4112	45	4157	518	4675	402	5077
Carmel Hanna	SDLP	3954	14	3968	823	4791	60	4851
Steve McBride	APNI	4236	95	4331	43	4374	242	4616
Myreve Chambers	DUP	3205	109	3314	4	3318	192	3510
Ernie Purvis	PUP	2721	102	2823	32	2855	-2855
Sean Hayes	SF	2653	1	2654	-2654
Jim Clarke	UUP	2057	-2057

non-transferable		241	97	338	339	677	514	1191

		Stage 7	Exclude Chambers		Surplus Robinson		Surplus McDonnell
Michael McGimpsey	UUP	5898		5898		5898		5898
Alasdair McDonnell	SDLP	5963		5963		5963	-145.00	5818
Mark Robinson	DUP	4351	2173	6524	-706	5818		5818
Esmond Birnie	UUP	5267	614	5881		5881		5881
Monica McWilliams	NIWC	5077	41	5118	120	5238	39.27	5277.27
Carmel Hanna	SDLP	4851	15	4866	25	4891	91.63	4982.63
Steve McBride	APNI	4616	54	4670	156	4826	6.46	4832.46
Myreve Chambers	DUP	3510	-3510

non-transferable		1191	613	1804	405	2209	7.64	2216.64

Stage 9: Of the 2173 votes transferred to Robinson from Chambers, it is most likely that 301 had further preferences between the remaining three candidates (though mathematically it could also have been 602). In that case 156 (7.18%) went to McBride (Alliance); 120 (5.52%) to McWilliams; and 25 (1.15%) to Hanna (SDLP) with 1872 (86.15%) non-transferable.

Stage 10: Of the 890 votes transferred to McDonnell from Hayes, 539 (60.56%) further transferred to Hanna (SDLP); 231 (25.96%) to McWilliams (NIWC); and 38 (4.27%) to McBride (Alliance) with 82 (9.21%) non-transferable.

A bitterly disappointing result for Alliance, whose Steve McBride came third in terms of first preference votes but was overtaken by four other candidates. This was always the most likely place for the Women's Coalition to break through.

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..

Nicholas Whyte, 15 October 2000; modified 16 February 2002.

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