Map and diagram by Conal Kelly

This constituency is the rural north-eastern corner of Northern Ireland. It takes in the whole of Ballymena, Ballymoney and Moyle district councils. The member of parliament has been Rev Ian Paisley (DUP leader) since he first won the seat, defeating the UUP incumbent, in 1970. The DUP hold three Assembly seats here, and the UUP, SDLP and Sinn Fein one each (Sinn Fein won their seat from the UUP in 2003). The constituency shrank considerably in the 1983 boundary review, losing territory to East and South Antrim, but was untouched in the latest round of changes. See 1983-1992 North Antrim results, 1973-1982 North Antrim results and 1950-1970 North Antrim results.

See also the detailed guide by "Sammy Morse".

The New Boundaries: North Antrim lost the three Moyle wards of Glenaan, Glenariff and Glendun (including the towns of Cushendall and Cushendun), to East Antrim, basically a knock-on effect of the radial expansion of the Belfast constituencies. This made the new constituency 2.7% less Catholic, and 2.6% more Protestant than the old.

North Antrim's population in the 2001 census was 101,437 (5th of the 18 constituencies).

• The average age was 36.97 (5th highest).
• 27.68% described themselves as Catholic (12th of 18 constituencies); 38.51% as Presbyterian (highest in Northern Ireland), 12.43% as Church of Ireland (12th highest), 1.62% as Methodist (11th highest) and 7.58% as members of other Christian denominations (7th highest). 12.00% were "no religion or religion not stated" (10th highest).
• The translation into "Community background" was 30.04% Catholic (12th out of 18), 67.67% Protestants and other Christians (6th highest), 0.23% other religions and philosophies (14th highest) and 2.06% none (10th).

NB that the figures for elections before 2010 are projections onto the new boundaries.
NB also that the UUP supported a Conservative candidate in 2010 (hence change of colour in above table).

2010 Westminster election (one seat)

@Ian Paisley [jr] (DUP) 19,672 (46.4%, -10.2%)
Jim Allister (TUV) 7,114 (16.8%)
@Daithi McKay (Sinn Féin) 5,265 (12.4%, -1.8%)
Irwin Armstrong (UCUNF) 4,634 (10.9%, -4.1%)
Declan O'Loan (SDLP) 3,738 (8.8%, -2.2%)
Jayne Dunlop (Alliance) 1,368 (3.2%, +0.1%)
Lyle Cubitt (Independent) 606 (1.4%)
Electorate: 73,338; Total Poll: 42,579 (58.1%); Invalid Votes: 182 (0.4%); Valid Votes: 42,397

@ elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly from this constituency

This was the TUV's best result in Northern Ireland, but leader Jim Allister failed to make the necessary breakthrough. On these figures he would win a seat in an Assembly election, and the DUP would win three; Sinn Féin would win one and the last would probably go to the UUP, the SDLP losing out.

2007 Assembly Election (7 March, six seats)

2005 Westminster election (5 May, 1 seat)

*@ Ian Paisley (DUP) 25,156 (54.8% +4.9%)
@Philip McGuigan (Sinn Fein) 7,191 (15.7% +5.9%)
Rodney McCune (UUP) 6,637 (14.5% -6.5%)
@Sean Farren (SDLP) 5,585 (12.2% -4.6%)
Jayne Dunlop (Alliance) 1,357 (3.0% +0.4%)
Turnout 46,226

* outgoing MP.
@ Member of the Assembly

These votes, if cast in a six-seat STV election, would give the DUP three seats and the UUP and SF one each, with the last seat between the SDLP and a fourth DUP candidate.

2005 Local Government Election (5 June)

DUP 22,086 (48.6%)
UUP 8,388 (18.4%)
Sinn Fein 6,527 (14.4%)
SDLP 5,650 (12.4%)
Independents 2,329 (5.1%)
Alliance 404 (0.9%)
PUP 94 (0.2%)

It is easy enough to extrapolate from the local council elections because the North Antrim constituency includes three whole district councils. If the same votes had been cast in a six-seat STV election, the DUP would have won three seats, and the UUP, SF and the SDLP one each.

2003 Assembly election (26 November; six seats)

Reaction: The UUP lost a seat to Sinn Fein. On the final count James Currie was 930 votes behind Sean Farren, with an undistributed SF surplus of 197 which would have widened the distance.

2001 Westminster Election (7 June; 1 seat)

Electorate: 74,451; votes cast: 49,545 (66.5%); spoilt votes: 328 (0.6%)
Valid votes: 49,217; DUP majority 14,224

* outgoing MP
@ Member of the Assembly

Not a surprising result. A six-seat Assembly election on these figures would give the DUP three seats, and the UUP and SDLP one each, with the last seat between the DUP and UUP.

2001 Local Government Election (7 June)

DUP 19774 (41%) Best equivalent result in Northern Ireland
UUP 11905 (24%)
SDLP 8644 (18%)
SF 2513 (5%)
Alliance 317 (1%)
PUP 206 (0.4%)
NIUP 186 (0.4%)
Independents 5097 (10%)
Total valid votes 48642

It is easy enough to extrapolate from the local council elections because the North Antrim constituency includes three whole district councils. If the same votes had been cast in a six-seat STV election, the DUP would have won three seats, the UUP two and the SDLP one.

1998 Assembly Election (25 June; six seats)

* elected in 1996 Forum/talks election from North Antrim

Not a very surprising result, though a good one for the DUP. Their third candidate finished on 5,818 votes to SF's 5,154, but with an undistributed UUP surplus of 480 to be taken into account the final margin was pretty comfortable.

1997 Local Government Election

Ulster Unionist Party 11,954 votes (32%)
Democratic Unionist Party 11,839 votes (32%)
Social Democratic and Labour Party 7,565 votes (20%)
Sinn Féin 962 votes (3%)
Alliance Party of Northern Ireland 447 votes (1%)
Ulster Party 184 votes (1%)
Progressive Unionist Party 180 votes (1%)
Women's Coalition 66 votes (0.19%)
Others 4,188 votes (11%)
Total valid votes 37,385 (51.42% of the electorate)

1997 Westminster Election (one seat)

* outgoing MP
ƒ Member of the Forum

1996 Forum Election (five seats)

Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) 16,448 (37%); Ian Paisley sr, Ian Paisley jr elected Best result for DUP in Northern Ireland
Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) 11,195 (25%); Robert Coulter, Joe Gaston elected
Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) 7,185 (16%); Sean Farren elected
Sinn Féin (SF) 2,579 (6%)
Alliance Party of Northern Ireland (APNI) 2,518 (6%)
United Kingdom Unionist Party (UKU) 1,185 (3%)
Ulster Democratic Party (UDP) 768 (2%)
Independent McMullan 670 (2%)
Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) 665 (1%)
Northern Ireland Women's Coalition (NIWC) 272 (1%)
Conservative Party (Con) 259 (1%)
Labour (Lab) 187 (0.42%)
Ulster Independence Movement (UIM) 167 (0.38%)
Green Party 150 (0.34%)
Democratic Partnership 114 (0.26%)
Workers Party (WP) 60 (0.13%)
Democratic Left (DL) 40 (0.09%)
Natural Law Party (NLP) 14 (0.03%)
Independent Chambers 13 (0.03%)

Electorate: 71,799; votes cast: 44,560 (62.0%); spoilt votes: 71 (0.1%); valid votes: 44,489

Ian Paisley Sr had been elected to the old Northern Ireland House of Commons in 1970 representing the Bannside constituency; he was elected to the 1973 Assembly, the 1975 Convention, and the 1982 Assembly from North Antrim.

See also: Full 1998 results from North 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.