Map and diagram by Conal Kelly

This constituency takes in the largely rural south-eastern corner of Northern Ireland, including most of Down District Council, the eastern part of Newry and Mourne District Council, and a small part of Banbridge District Council. The MP has been SDLP party leader Margaret Ritchie since 2010; she succeeded Eddy McGrady (SDLP), who had defeated Enoch Powell (UUP) in 1987. The SDLP hold two Assembly seats, as do Sinn Fein, with the other two held by the UUP and DUP (Sinn Fein gained a seat from the SDLP in 2003). The constituency lost the Ballynahinch area to Strangford in the 2009 changes, having previously lost the Dromore area to Lagan Valley and Saintfield to Strangford in the 1995 revision. See the 1983-1992 South Down results, the 1973-84 South Down results and the 1950-1970 South Down results.

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

South Down's population in the 2001 census was 104,658 (2nd of the 18 constituencies).

• The average age was 34.84 (13th highest).
• 61.99% described themselves as Catholic (6th of 18 constituencies); 14.79% as Presbyterian (11th highest), 7.28% as Church of Ireland (2nd lowest), 0.62% as Methodist (lowest) and 4.62% as members of other Christian denominations (13th highest). 10.58% were "no religion or religion not stated" (12th highest).
• The translation into "Community background" was 66.34% Catholic (5th out of 18), 31.82% Protestants and other Christians (15th highest), 0.16% other religions and philosophies (16th highest) and 1.69% none (12th).

NB that the figures for elections before 2010 are projections onto the new boundaries.
NB also that the Conservatives got 0.8% in 2007 (on the old boundaries) and supported the UUP in 2010.

2010 Westminster election (one seat)

@Margaret Ritchie (SDLP) 20,648 (48.5%, +1.7%)
@Caitriona Ruane (Sinn Féin) 12,236 (28.7%, +1.7%)
@Jim Wells (DUP) 3,645 (8.6%, -7.5%)
@John McCallister (UCUNF) 3,093 (7.3% -1.5%)
Ivor McConnell (TUV) 1,506 (3.5%)
Cadogan Enright (Green) 901 (2.1%)
David Griffin (Alliance) 560 (1.3%, ±0%)
Electorate: 70,784; Total Poll: 42,840 (60.5%); Invalid Votes: 251 (0.6%); Valid Votes: 42,589

@ elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly from this constituency

The SDLP's new leader, Margaret Ritchie, can feel content that she actually improved the SDLP vote here. If cast in a six-seat Assembly election, these votes would give the SDLP three seats, SF two and the DUP one, thus an SDLP gain from the UUP.

2007 Assembly Election (7 March, six seats)

2005 Westminster election (5 May, 1 seat)

*Eddie McGrady (SDLP) 21,557 (44.7% -1.6%)
@Caitriona Ruane (Sinn Fein) 12,417 (25.8% +6.1%)
@Jim Wells (DUP) 8,815 (18.3% +3.3%)
@Dermot Nesbitt (UUP) 4,775 (9.9% -7.7%)
Julian Crozier (Alliance) 613 (1.3% +/- 0.0.%)

* outgoing MP.
@ Member of the Assembly

If these votes were cast in a six-seat STV election, the SDLP would win three seats, and SF and the DUP one each. The last seat would be most likely to go to SF.

2005 Local Government Election (5 May)

SDLP 16,290.1 (34.5%)
Sinn Fein 11,396.2 (24.1%)
UUP 7,417.5 (15.7%)
DUP 7,231.8 (15.3%)
Green 1,650.8 (3.5%)
Alliance 535.2 (1.1%)
WP 97 (0.2%)
Independents 2,622 (5.6%)

These votes, if cast in a six-seat STV election, would porbably give the SDLP and SF two seats each, and the UUP and DUP one each.

2003 Assembly election (26 November; six seats)

Initial reaction: One of several seats where SF gained from the SDLP. On the final count, 542 votes of Nesbitt's surplus of 1847 (originally votes from Jim Donaldson) went fairly evenly split between the SDLP candidates, 17 evenly between the two SF candidates, and the other 1288 non-transferable. Had the SDLP candidates got twice as much from the UUP they would both have been ahead of SF's Clarke for the last seat. As it was Margaret Ritchie edged out incumbent Eamonn O'Neill by the second smallest margin of the election, 36 votes.

South Down had lost 9.54% of its electorate in the great electoral register shake-out, varying from 17.60% in the Bracken and Kilbroney ward of Newry and Mourne to 4.55% in the Rathfriland ward of Banbridge. 6 constituencies lost fewer voters, 11 lost more.

2001 Westminster Election (7 June; 1 seat)

Electorate: 73,519; votes cast: 52,648 (71.6%); spoilt votes: 574 (1.0%)
Valid votes: 52,074; SDLP majority 13,858

* outgoing MP
@ Member of the Assembly

No surprise in the result, though again the increase in the SF vote was striking. A six-seat Assembly election here would give the SDLP three seats and the other three big parties one each.

2001 Local Government Election (7 June)

SDLP 20450.7 (40%)
SF 10235.8 (20%)
UUP 9820.0 (19%)
DUP 6933.2 (14%)
UKUP 193.5 (0.4%)
WP 115 (0.2%)
NIUP 9 (0.02%)
Independents 3388.6 (7%)
Total valid 51145.8

Extrapolating from the local government elections is very difficult because the South Down constituency breaches no less than four local electoral area boundaries. If we make some reasonable adjustments, we get the figures above for the whole South Down constituency. These would give the SDLP three seats, and Sinn Fein, the UUP and the DUP one each.

1998 Assembly Election (25 June; six seats)

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

Not a surprising result, but a good one for the SDLP in what is now their second strongest constituency. As in neighbouring Newry and Armagh, the UUP won only one seat despite having held this constituency at Westminster until 1987. Hugh Carr, the runner-up, was almost a thousand votes adrift of his running-mate Eamonn O'Neill (by 5,187 to 6,163) with surpluses of 53 votes from Bradley and 833 from Wells left undistributed.

1997 Local Government Election

Social Democratic and Labour Party 17,515.1 (43%)
Ulster Unionist Party 10,176.9 (25%)
Sinn Féin 4,015.2 (10%)
Democratic Unionist Party 3,899.2 (10%)
Alliance Party of Northern Ireland 1419.8 (3%)
Women's Coalition 430 (1%)
Labour 327 (1%)
Workers Party 210 (1%)
Green Party 113 (0.28%)
Others 2,330 (6%)
Total valid 40708.5 (57.91%)

1997 Westminster Election (one seat)

1996 Forum Election (five seats)

Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) 20,220 (43%) 3 seats (Edward McGrady, Hugh Carr, Margaret Ritchie elected)
Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) 10,379 (22%) 1 seat (Dermot Nesbitt elected)
Sinn Féin (SF) 6,142 (13%) 1 seat (Mick Murphy elected)
Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) 5,060 (10%)
Alliance Party of Northern Ireland (APNI) 1,685 (4%)
Labour (Lab) 927 (2%)
Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) 497 (1%)
Northern Ireland Women's Coalition (NIWC) 464 (1%)
Ulster Democratic Party (UDP) 404 (1%)
Green Party 251 (1%)
Conservative Party (Con) 197 (0.42%)
Workers Party (WP) 162 (0.35%)
Ulster Independence Movement (UIM) 130 (0.28%)
Democratic Partnership 117 (0.25%)
Democratic Left (DL) 65 (0.14%)
Natural Law Party (NLP) 30 (0.06%)
Independent Chambers 18 (0.04%)

Electorate: 69,035; votes cast: 46,891 (67.9%); spoilt votes: 143 (0.3%); valid votes: 46,748

McGrady had been elected to the 1973 Assembly, the 1975 Convention, and the 1982 Assembly from South Down.

See also: Full 2003 results from South Down | Full 1998 results from South 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 8 May 2010.