1982 Northern Ireland Assembly election facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
1982 Northern Ireland Assembly election

← 1975 20 October 1982 1996 →
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All 78 seats to the Northern Ireland Assembly 40 seats were needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Leader James Molyneaux Ian Paisley John Hume Party Ulster Unionist Democratic Unionist Social Democratic and Labour Leader since September 1979 September 1971 November 1979 Leader's seat South Antrim North Antrim Londonderry Last election 19 seats, 25.4% 12 seats, 14.8% 17 seats, 23.7% Seats won 26 21 14 Seat change 7 9 3 Popular vote 188,277 145,528 118,891 Percentage 29.7% 23.0% 18.8% Swing 3.9% 8.2% 4.9%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Oliver Napier Ruairí Ó Brádaigh James Kilfedder Party Alliance Sinn Féin Ulster Popular Unionist Leader since 1972 October 1970 1980 Leader's seat Belfast East None North Down Last election 8 seats, 9.8% Did not stand Did not stand Seats won 10 5 1 Seat change 2 5 1 Popular vote 58,851 64,191 14,916 Percentage 9.3% 10.1% 2.3% Swing 0.5% n/a n/a
Percentage of seats gained by each of the party.
Chief Executive before election None Chief Executive after election None

The 1982 Northern Ireland Assembly elections took place on October 20, 1982. These elections were an attempt to bring back "devolution" and "power-sharing" to Northern Ireland. Devolution means giving local people the power to make their own laws and decisions, instead of everything being decided by the main government. Power-sharing means different political groups work together in the government, even if they have different ideas.

The Northern Ireland Assembly was supposed to help with this. However, it didn't meet very often and didn't achieve much. It officially lasted until 1986.

Election Results and What Happened

The election results showed some interesting changes in Northern Ireland politics.

Key Party Outcomes

The results were a big success for Sinn Féin, a political party that had a new election plan. They won 5 seats in the Assembly. This was a new step for them in elections.

The SDLP was not happy with their results, winning 14 seats. One of their elected members, Seamus Mallon, later lost his seat because he was also a member of another parliament at the same time.

Among the Unionist parties, the UUP gained a clear lead over the DUP. Another party, the United Ulster Unionist Party, didn't do well and stopped existing a couple of years later.

In the middle ground, the Alliance Party did well, winning 10 seats. They even won in areas like North and West Belfast, which was a surprise. The Workers' Party didn't win any seats, even though they got a good number of votes in some areas.

Party		Votes	%	+/-	Seats	%	+/-
	UUP	188,277	29.7	+3.9	26	33.8	+7
	DUP	145,528	23.0	+8.2	21	27.3	+9
	SDLP	118,891	18.8	-4.9	14	18.2	-3
	Sinn Féin	64,191	10.1	N/A	5	6.5	+5
	Alliance	58,851	9.3	-0.5	10	13.0	+2
	Workers' Party	17,216	2.7	+0.5	0	N/A	0
	UPUP	14,916	2.3	-1.2	1	1.3	0
	UUUP	11,550	1.8		0	N/A	0
	Ind U	9,567	1.5	N/A	1	1.3	+1
	Independent SDLP	2,052	0.3	-0.3	0	N/A	0
	Independent	745	0.1	N/A	0	N/A	0
	Ecology	707	0.1	N/A	0	N/A	0
	Newtownabbey Labour	560	0.1	N/A	0	N/A	0
	People's Democracy	442	0.1	N/A	0	N/A	0
	Communist Party	415	0.1	N/A	0	N/A	0
	Ulster Liberal	65	0.0	N/A	0	N/A	0
	Peace	19	0.0	N/A	0	N/A	0
Total		633,120	100	0	78	100	0
Source: Ark

Summary of Votes

This chart shows the percentage of votes each main party received in the election.

Summary of Seats Won

This chart shows how many seats each party won in the Assembly.

This map shows the seats won by each party. *      Ulster Unionist Party: 26 seats *      Democratic Unionist Party: 21 seats *      Social Democratic and Labour Party: 14 seats *      Sinn Féin: 5 seats *      Alliance: 10 seats *      Ulster Popular Unionist Party: 1 seat *      Independent Unionist: 1 seat

See also

• Members of the 1982 Northern Ireland Assembly