West Belfast

Details of each count in 1998 election

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 also results of all West Belfast elections 1993-2003.

Stage 2: Of Adams' 9078 votes, 3649 transferred to Ramsey, 1800 to de Brún, 1432 to Maskey and 591 to Ferguson, thus 7472 (82.31%) to the other SF candidates; 1051 (11.58%) to Attwood (SDLP); 104 (1.15%) to McGuinness (Alliance); 68 (0.75%) to Cahillane (Socialist); 66 (0.73%) to Lowry (WP); 19 (0.21%) to Smyth (PUP); 15 (0.17%) to Dalzell-Sheridan (UKUP); 8 (0.09%) to Ferris (DUP); 7 (0.08%) to Kennedy (NLP); and 4 (0.04%) to McGimpsey (UUP) with 264 (2.91%) non-transferable.

Stage 4: Of Hendron's 6140 votes, 5030 (81.92%) transferred to Attwood (SDLP); 512 to Ramsey, 124 to Maskey, 113 to Ferguson and 72 to de Brún, thus 512 (8.34%) to the SF candidates; 194 (3.16%) to Lowry (WP); 94 (1.53%) to Smyth (PUP); 59 (0.96%) to McGimpsey (UUP); 15 (0.24%) to Ferris (DUP); and 6 (0.10%) to Dalzell-Sheridan (UKUP) with 230 (3.75%) non-transferable.

Stage 9: Of the 2095 votes transferred to Ramsey from Ferguson, 1923 transferred to de Brún (enough to elect her) and 123 to Maskey, thus 2046 (97.66%) to the other SF candidates; 24 (1.15%) to Attwood (SDLP) and none to McGimpsey (UUP) with 25 (1.19%) non-transferable.

Stage 10: Of the 2046 votes transferred to de Brún from Ramsey (and Ferguson), 1894 (92.57%) transferred to Maskey (SF); 11 (0.54%) to Attwood (SDLP); and none to McGimpsey (UUP) with 141 (6.89%) non-transferable.

The failure of even one Unionist candidate to win a seat was not all that surprising given recent voting patterns. A strong result for Sinn Féin in their strongest constituency.

Full 1998 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..

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