Map and diagram by Conal Kelly

This constituency takes in the south-eastern coastal strip of Belfast Lough, including the whole of North Down District Council and Donaghadee in Ards District Council. The member of parliament is Lady Sylvia Hermon (UUP); in the 2001 election she defeated the UKUP leader, Bob McCartney, who himself had first won the seat in a 1995 by-election caused by the death of Sir James Kilfedder, the leader of the Ulster Popular Unionist Party, who had represented North Down since the 1970s. The UUP hold two Assembly seats here, as do the DUP, with the other two occupied by the Greens and the Alliance Party (the Greens gained McCartney's seat in 2007, the DUP gained seats from the UUP and Women's Coalition in 2003). The constituency was greatly reduced in size in 1983 and again altered in 1995. See 1983-1995 North Down results, 1973-82 North Down results and 1950-1970 North Down results. The boundary commission has left North Down unchanged.

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

North Down's population in the 2001 census was 85,992 (16th of the 18 constituencies).

• The average age was 39.52 (2nd highest).
• 9.20% described themselves as Catholic (17th of 18 constituencies); 31.68% as Presbyterian (4th highest), 19.37% as Church of Ireland (5th highest), 6.25% as Methodist (3rd highest) and 8.49% as members of other Christian denominations (5th highest). A massive 24.62% were "no religion or religion not stated" (highest in Northern Ireland).
• The translation into "Community background" was 11.68% Catholic (17th out of 18), 81.63% Protestants and other Christians (2nd highest), 0.52% other religions and philosophies (2nd highest) and 6.17% none (highest in Northern Ireland).

* A small part of the constituency did not vote in the 2001 local government election (see below).

2010 Westminster election

The only successful UUP candidate in 2005, Lady Sylvia Hermon, has declared that she will not be a candidate for the joint UUP and Conservative ticket in the coming election. If she decides to contest the election as an independent, she must have a fairly good chance, depending slightly on which of the smaller parties decides to support her whether formally or informally. Otherwise, the DUP look the strongest of the other parties; but appearances in North Down can often be deceptive.

2007 Assembly Election (7 March, six seats)

2005 Westminster election (5 May, 1 seat)

*Lady Sylvia Hermon (UUP) 16,268 (50.4% -5.6%)
@Peter Weir (DUP) 11,324 (35.1%)
David Alderdice (Alliance) 2,451 (7.6%)
Liam Logan (SDLP) 1,009 (3.1% -0.3%)
Julian Robertson (Conservative) 822 (2.5% +0.3%)
Chris Carter (Independent) 211 (0.7%)
Janet McCrory (Sinn Fein) 205 (0.6% -0.2%)

* outgoing MP.
@ Member of the Assembly.

A big relief for the UUP who would otherwise have been left with no Westminster seats - but Lady Hermon clearly owes her victory to Alliance tactical votes. These results, projected to a six-seat STV election, would give the UUP three and the DUP two, with the last probably going to Alliance.

2005 Local Government Election

The constituency comprises the whole of North Down Council and 3 of the 6 wards of the Ards East DEA of Ards Council (Donaghadee North, Donaghadee South and Millisle). Votes cast in 2005 were:

DUP 11,034 (34.3%)
UUP 7,343.5 (22.8%)
Alliance 4,958 (15.4%)
Independent 3,180 (9.9%)
Green 2,639 (8.2%)
Women's Coalition 738 (2.3%)
UKUP 734 (2.3%)
PUP 651 (2.0%)
SDLP 526 (1.6%)
Conservative 353 (1.1%)

If these votes were cast in a six-seat STV election, the DUP would have two seats and the UUP and Alliance one each; the last two would be most likely to go to the UUP and the Green Party.

2003 Assembly election (26 November; six seats)

2001 Westminster Election (7 June; 1 seat)

Electorate: 63,212; votes cast: 37,377 (59.1%); spoilt votes: 188 (0.5%)
Valid votes: 37,189; UUP majority 7,324

* outgoing MP
@ member of the Assembly

 This eagerly anticipated gain for the UUP was facilitated by the decision of Alliance candidate Stephen Farry to withdraw from the race in order to help defeat McCartney. If this had been a six-seat Assembly election, the UUP would have won four and UKUP two.
I received the news that McCartney had lost in a small radio studio packed with guests of varying political hues, all of whom were delighted. Danny Morrison commented that he had never thought the day would come that he would be cheering on the wife of the former Chief Constable of the RUC.

2001 Local Government Election (7 June)

UUP 8883 (27%)
Alliance 5718 (18%)
DUP 4631 (14%)
UKUP 3034 (9%) Best equivalent result in Northern Ireland
PUP 1167 (4%)
NIWC 1166 (4%) Best equivalent result in Northern Ireland
Conservatives 551 (2%) Best equivalent result in Northern Ireland
NIUP 188 (1%)
Independents 7159 (22%)

Including notional votes from Ards East would boost the UUP and DUP fractionally and diminish the votes for the others a little less. The UUP should win two seats in an STV election, and Alliance and the DUP one each. The last two are anybody's.

1998 Assembly Election (25 June; six seats)

Also available: details of each count with analysis of surplus transfers.
 

*Robert McCartney (UKU) 8,188 #Sir John Gorman (UUP) 4,719  *Alan McFarland (UUP) 4,653  #Eileen Bell (Alliance) 3,669  *Peter Weir (UUP) 2,775  Marietta Farrell (SDLP) 2,048  Jane Morrice (NIWC) 1,808  Gavin Walker (Alliance) 1,699  Alan Graham (DUP) 1,558  Alan Chambers (Ulster Ind) 1,382  Stewart Currie (PUP) 1,376  Brian Wilson (Ind) 1,327  *St Clair McAlister (DUP) 1,013  Leonard Fee (C) 337  Tom Lindsay (UDP) 265  Vanessa Baird-Gunning (Lab) 212  Elizabeth Roche (UKU) 173  Christopher Carter (Ulster's Independent Voice) 72  Andrea Gribben (NLP) 39

UUP 12,147 (32.55%) 3 seats      Best result for UUP in Northern Ireland UKU 8,361 (22.41%) 1 seat Alliance 5,368 (14.39%) 1 seat DUP 2,571 (6.89%)  SDLP 2,048 (5.49%)  NIWC 1,808 (4.85%) 1 seat Ulster Ind 1,382 (3.70%)  PUP 1,376 (3.69%)  Ind 1,327 (3.56%)  C 337 (0.90%)  UDP 265 (0.71%)  Lab 212 (0.57%)  UIV 72 (0.19%)  NLP 39 (0.10%)  Electorate: 62,942  Votes cast: 37,874 (60.2%); spoilt votes: 561 (1.5%)  Valid votes 37,313; quota: 5,331

* elected in 1996 Forum/talks election from North Down
# elected in 1996 Forum/talks election as a 'top-up' candidate.

The poor performance of the DUP, as well as the success of the Women's Coalition and the UUP's third seat, were all major surprises here in perhaps the most volatile constituency in Northern Ireland. The SDLP's good performance was not enough to prevent them being eliminated; their transfers pulled Jane Morrice of the Women's Coalition ahead of the DUP. The last seat went to Peter Weir of the UUP, who finished with 4,751 votes to Alan Graham's 4,443 (Sir John Gorman's undistributed surplus of 15 votes would have slightly widened the gap.)

1997 Local Government Election

Ulster Unionist Party 5,273.6 (25%)
Alliance Party of Northern Ireland 4,460 (21%) Best equivalent result for Alliance in Northern Ireland
Democratic Unionist Party 2,228.8 (11%)
United Kingdom Unionist Party 1,865.6 (9%)
Conservative Party 1,372 (7%)
Progressive Unionist Party 871 (4%)
Ulster Democratic Party 131 (1%)
Others 4,633 (22%)
Total valid 20,835 (33.19% of electorate)

1997 Westminster Election (one seat)

1996 Forum Election (five seats)

Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) 9,270 (26%) 2 seats (Peter Weir, Alan McFarland elected)
United Kingdom Unionist Party (UKUP) 7,579 (21%) 1 seat (Robert McCartney elected)
Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) 6,699 (18%) 1 seat (St Clair McAlister elected)
Alliance Party of Northern Ireland (APNI) 6,186 (17%) 1 seat (Sir Oliver Napier elected)
Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) 1,798 (5%)
Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) 1,694 (5%)
Ulster Democratic Party (UDP) 651 (2%)
Northern Ireland Women's Coalition (NIWC) 496 (1%)
Conservative Party (Con) 444 (1%)
Independent Chambers 334 (1%)
Green Party 283 (1%)
Sinn Féin (SF) 275 (1%)
Labour (Lab) 171 (0.47%)
Independent Democratic Unionist Party 97 (0.27%)
Democratic Left (DL) 95 (0.26%)
Workers Party (WP) 60 (0.17%)
Ulster Independence Movement (UIM) 49 (0.14%)
Ulster's Independent Voice (UIV) 49 (0.14%)
Natural Law Party (NLP) 15 (0.04%)

Electorate: 62,810; votes cast: 36,271 (57.7%); spoilt votes: 26 (0.0%); valid votes: 36,245 

Napier had been elected to the 1973 Assembly, the 1975 Convention and the 1982 Assembly from East Belfast; McCartney was elected in 1982 for North Down.

See also: Full 2003 results from North Down | Full 1998 results from North Down | 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 7 October 2007.