Map and diagram by Conal Kelly

This constituency stretches along the coastal strip on the northern side of Belfast Lough and the western side of the North Channel. It takes in the whole of Larne and Carrickfergus district councils, and part of Newtownabbey district council. The DUP hold three Assembly seats to the UUP's two and Alliance's one (the DUP gained from the SDLP and UKUP in 2003; there was no change in 2007). The member of parliament since 2005 is Sammy Wilson (DUP); he defeated Roy Beggs (UUP), who had represented East Antrim since it was created in 1983 (see 1983-92 East Antrim results). The 1995 boundary changes removed only a few Newtownabbey wards from the constituency.

See also the detailed guide from 2007 by "Sammy Morse".

The New Boundaries: East Antrim lost the Cloughfern ward in Newtownabbey (which covers the centre of the borough, including Dunanny Hill itself, though most of the voters are on the Whiteabbey side) and gained the three Moyle wards of Glenaan, Glenariff and Glendun (including the towns of Cushendall and Cushendun) up the coast of the North Channel, basically a knock-on effect of the radial expansion of the Belfast constituencies. This made the new constituency 4.1% more Catholic, and 3.9% less Protestant than the old.

East Antrim's population in the 2001 census was 84,062 (17th of the 18 constituencies).

• The average age was 36.81 (6th highest).
• 13.31% described themselves as Catholic (15th of 18 constituencies); 32.93% as Presbyterian (3rd highest), 17.89% as Church of Ireland (7th highest), 6.90% as Methodist (2nd highest) and 8.97% as members of other Christian denominations (4th highest). 19.74% were "no religion or religion not stated" (4th highest).
• The translation into "Community background" was 15.75% Catholic (15th out of 18), 79.17% Protestants and other Christians (4th highest), 0.36% other religions and philosophies (9th highest) and 4.72% none (4th).

NB that the figures for elections before 2010 are projections onto the new boundaries.
NB also that the Conservatives got 1.3% in 2007, and supported the UUP candidate in 2010.

2010 Westminster election (one seat)

*@Sammy Wilson (DUP) 13,993 (45.9%, -1.0%)
Rodney McCune (UCUNF) 7,223 (23.7%, -1.4%)
Gerry Lynch (Alliance) 3,377 (11.1%, -3.6%)
Oliver McMullan (Sinn Féin) 2,064 (6.8%, +1.4%)
Justin McCamphill (SDLP) 2,019 (6.6%, -0.8%)
Samuel Morrison (TUV) 1,826 (6.0%)
Electorate: 60,204; Total Poll: 30,640 (50.9%); Invalid Votes: 138 (0.5%); Valid Votes: 30,502

* incumbent
@ elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly from this constituency

A solid hold for Wilson, and another place where the TUV failed to break through. A six-seat Assembly election on these votes would get the DUP three seats, the UUP one for sure, and the last two probably going to SF and Alliance, though the UUP would be in with a chance of a second.

2007 Assembly Election (7 March, six seats)

2005 Westminster election (5 May, 1 seat)

@Sammy Wilson (DUP) 15,766 (49.6% +13.6%)
* Roy Beggs (UUP) 8,462 (26.6% -9.8%)
@Sean Neeson (Alliance) 4,869 (15.3% +2.8%)
Daniel O'Connor (SDLP) 1,695 (5.3% -2.0%)
James McKeown (Sinn Fein) 828 (2.6% +0.1%)
David Kerr (Vote for Yourself Rainbow Dream Ticket) 147 (0.5%)

* outgoing MP
@ Member of the Assembly

The DUP's most widely expected gain. These votes, if cast in a six-seat STV election, would give the DUP three seats, the UUP two and Alliance one.

2005 Local Government Election (5 May)

East Antrim is made up of all 15 wards in Larne; all 17 wards in Carrickfergus; 4 of the 25 wards in Newtownabbey (3 of the 7 wards in the University DEA [Jordanstown, Monkstown and Rosstulla], and 1 of the 6 wards in the Macedon DEA [Cloughfern])

Votes cast in 2005 were as follows:

DUP 12579.7 (40.0%)
UUP 7144.7 (22.7%)
Alliance 5279.7 (16.8%)
SDLP 1108.3 (3.5%)
Newtownabbey Ratepayers Association 581.4 (1.8%)
494.5 (1.6%)
UUC 420.6 (1.3%)
PUP 179.5 (0.6%)
Green 46 (0.1%)
Independents 3619 11.5%

Extrapolating from local government elections is tricky because the East Antrim constituency breaches the boundaries of two local electoral areas. However, these votes if cast in a six-seat STV election across the whole East Antrim constituency would be likely to give the DUP three seats, and the UUP and Alliance one each, with the last most likely to go to the UUP.

2003 Assembly election (26 November; six seats)

* Member of 1998-2003 Assembly for East Antrim
# Member of 1998-2003 Assembly for East Belfast

Reaction: The DUP's vote management got them three seats, gaining from Roger Hutchinson and Daniel O'Connor, with the UUP and Alliance incumbents holding on. The final margin of Dawson over O'Connor was a substantial 796 votes, with Dawson's running mate only 14 votes ahead of him; the gap between them had never been as much as 300 votes. The UUP candidates had balanced even better, with never more than 66 votes separating Robinson and McCune, but the numbers weren't there and McCune was eventually eliminated.

East Antrim had lost 10.57% of its electorate in the great electoral register shake-out, varying from 17.96% in the Northland ward of Carrickfergus to 5.27% in Boneybefore, also in Carrickfergus. 10 constituencies lost fewer voters, 7 lost more.

2001 Westminster Election (7 June; 1 seat)

Electorate: 60,897; votes cast: 36,327 (59.6%); spoilt votes: 327 (0.9%)
Valid votes: 36,000; UUP majority 128

* outgoing MP
@ member of the Assembly

This result was a welcome relief to the UUP after several disappointing losses elsewhere, though the narrowness of the result was alarming. If this election had been for six seats to an Assembly, the DUP and UUP would each have won two, and Alliance one; the last seat would have been between a fifth Unionist and the SDLP.

2001 Local Government Election (7 June)

Votes cast in 2001 were as follows:

DUP 10179.5 (29%)
UUP 9280.1 (27%)
Alliance 6219.5 (18%) Best equivalent result in Northern Ireland
SDLP 1320 (4%)
PUP 945.9 (3%)
UUAP 555.9 (2%)
SF 554.3 (2%)
Community Candidates 218.2 (1%)
NIUP 216 (1%)
Newtownabbey Ratepayers Association 108.3 (1%)
Independents 5093.8 (14%)

These votes if cast in a six-seat STV election across the whole East Antrim constituency would have certainly have given the UUP and DUP two seats and Alliance one. The last seat could have gone to anyone.

1998 Assembly Election (25 June; six seats)

* elected in 1996 Forum/talks election from East Antrim

This was a major shock. On the first count it was clear that the UKUP had probably done well enough to take a seat, which in itself was surprising. But as transfers continued, the SDLP candidate, who had started eighth, overtook candidates from first the UUP and then the DUP to take the final place, in an area where he was the SDLP's only local councillor, by 4191 votes to McKee's 4152, a margin of 49 votes, the closest of the whole election.

1997 Local Government Election

UUP 6758 (28%)
DUP 4888.2 (20%)
Alliance 4510.5 (19%)
PUP 991.1 (4%)
SDLP 409 (2%)
Labour 274.7 (1%)
UDP 232.7 (1%)
UKUP 220.0 (1%)
Newtownabbey Ratepayers Association 176.4 (1%)
Northern Ireland Labour 65.5 (0.27%)
Others 5,591.3 (23%)
Total valid 24,117.5 (41% of electorate)

1997 Westminster Election (one seat)

* outgoing MP
ƒ member of the Forum

1996 Forum Election (five seats)

Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) 10,036 (30%); May Steele, Thomas Robinson elected
Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) 9,557 (29%); Jack McKee, May Beattie elected
Alliance Party of Northern Ireland (APNI) 3,957 (12%); Sean Neeson elected
Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) 2,254 (7%)
Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) 2,213 (7%)
United Kingdom Unionist Party (UKU) 2,041 (6%)
Ulster Democratic Party (UDP) 1,141 (3%)
Sinn Féin (SF) 619 (2%)
Northern Ireland Women's Coalition (NIWC) 323 (1%)
Conservative Party (Con) 271 (1%)
Green Party 224 (1%)
Labour (Lab) 218 (1%)
Independent Democratic Unionist Party 107 (0.32%)
Democratic Partnership 102 (0.31%)
Ulster Independence Movement (UIM) 86 (0.26%)
Independent McMullan 81 (0.24%)
Workers Party (WP) 69 (0.21%)
Democratic Left (DL) 33 (0.10%)
Natural Law Party (NLP) 14 (0.04%)
Independent Chambers 5 (0.01%)

Electorate: 57,989; votes cast: 33,403 (57.6%); spoilt votes: 52 (0.1%); valid votes: 33,351

McKee and Neeson had both been elected to the 1982 Assembly for North Antrim.

See also: Full 2003 results from East Antrim | Full 1998 results from East Antrim | The Boundary Commission's Provisional Recommendations | Boundary Commission 2003 | Jim Riley's analysis of votes and seats in the 1998 Assembly election | The constituencies

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.
 

This page has been developed with the support of a project grant from the New Initiatives Fund of the Electoral Commission. However, any views expressed on this page or, in particular, other pages of this website are those of the author and not necessarily shared by The Electoral Commission.

Nicholas Whyte, 3 June 1998; last updated 9 May 2010.