North Antrim (Assembly constituency)
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "North_Antrim_(Assembly_constituency)".

North Antrim Northern Ireland Assembly County constituency
North Antrim shown within Northern Ireland
First Used:	1973
Assembly Members:	Robert Coulter Daithi McKay Declan O'Loan Ian Paisley Ian Paisley Jr Mervyn Storey
Districts:	Ballymena, Ballymoney, Moyle

North Antrim is a constituency in the Northern Ireland Assembly.

The seat was first used for a Northern Ireland-only election for the Northern Ireland Assembly, 1973. It usually shares boundaries with the North Antrim UK Parliament constituency, however the boundaries of the two constituencies were slightly different from 1983 to 1986 as the Assembly boundaries had not caught up with Parliamentary boundary changes. In 1996 members of the Northern Ireland Forum were elected from the newly drawn Parliamentary constituencies but the 51st Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected in 1992 under the 1983-95 constituency boundaries, was still in session. However the boundaries of North Antrim were not changed in the 1996-1997 redistribution.

Members were then elected from the constituency to the 1975 Constitutional Convention, the 1982 Assembly, the 1996 Forum and then to the current Assembly from 1998.

For further details of the history and boundaries of the constituency, see North Antrim (UK Parliament constituency).

Members

The six MLAs for the constituency elected in the 2007 election are:

• Robert Coulter — Ulster Unionist Party
• Daithi McKay — Sinn Féin
• Declan O'Loan — Social Democratic and Labour Party
• Ian Paisley — Democratic Unionist Party
• Ian Paisley Jr — Democratic Unionist Party
• Mervyn Storey — Democratic Unionist Party

The six MLAs for the constituency elected in the 2003 election were:

• Robert Coulter — Ulster Unionist Party
• Sean Farren — Social Democratic and Labour Party
• Philip McGuigan — Sinn Féin
• Ian Paisley — Democratic Unionist Party
• Ian Paisley Jr — Democratic Unionist Party
• Mervyn Storey — Democratic Unionist Party

In the 1998 election the six MLAs elected were:

• Robert Coulter — Ulster Unionist Party
• Sean Farren — Social Democratic and Labour Party
• Gardiner Kane — Democratic Unionist Party
• James Leslie — Ulster Unionist Party
• Ian Paisley — Democratic Unionist Party
• Ian Paisley Jr — Democratic Unionist Party

Changes 1998-2003

• Gardiner Kane resigned from the Democratic Unionist Party and contested the 2003 election as an independent Unionist.

In the 1996 election to the Northern Ireland Peace Forum, 5 Forum members were elected from North Antrim. They were as follows:

• Robert Coulter — Ulster Unionist Party
• Sean Farren — Social Democratic and Labour Party
• Joe Gaston — Ulster Unionist Party
• Ian Paisley — Democratic Unionist Party
• Ian Paisley Jr — Democratic Unionist Party

In 1982 elections were held for an Assembly for Northern Ireland to hold the Secretary of State to account, in the hope that this would be the first step towards restoring devolution. North Antrim elected 8 members as follows:

• Jim Allister — Democratic Unionist Party
• Roy Beggs — Ulster Unionist Party
• Cecil Cousley — Democratic Unionist Party
• Sean Farren — Social Democratic and Labour Party
• Joe Gaston — Ulster Unionist Party
• Jack McKee — Democratic Unionist Party
• Séan Neeson — Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
• Ian Paisley Democratic Unionist Party

In 1975 elections were held to a Constitutional Convention which sought (unsuccessfully) to generate a consensus on the future of the province. The seven members elected from North Antrim were:

• David Allen — Vanguard Progressive Unionist Party
• Ken McFaul — Democratic Unionist Party
• Ian Paisley — Democratic Unionist Party
• Clifford Smyth — Democratic Unionist Party
• John Turnley — Social Democratic and Labour Party
• Hugh Wilson — Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
• William Wright — Vanguard Progressive Unionist Party

In 1973 elections were held to the Assembly set up under the Sunningdale Agreement. The seven members elected from North Antrim were:

• John Baxter — Ulster Unionist Party (pro Sunningdale Agreement)
• James Craig — Democratic Unionist Party
• William Craig — Vanguard Progressive Unionist Party
• John O'Hagan — Social Democratic and Labour Party
• David McCarthy — Ulster Unionist Party (pro Sunningdale Agreement)
• Ian Paisley — Democratic Unionist Party
• Hugh Wilson — Alliance Party of Northern Ireland

Changes 1973-1974

• David McCarthy was killed in a car crash. The subsequent by-election on June 20, 1974 was won by Clifford Smyth of the Democratic Unionist Party

Elections

2007

2003

1998

1996 Forum

Successful candidates are shown in bold.¹

1982

1975 Constitutional Convention

1974 by-election to the 1973 Assembly

1973

References

1. ^ 1996 Candidates - North Antrim, Northern Ireland Elections