Belfast East (Assembly constituency)

Belfast East
Borough Constituency for the Northern Ireland Assembly
Belfast East shown within Northern Ireland
Districts	Belfast, Castlereagh
Current constituency
Created	1973
Assembly Members	Andy Allen Sammy Douglas Judith Cochrane Chris Lyttle Robin Newton Peter Robinson

Belfast East 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 Belfast East UK Parliament constituency, however the boundaries of the two constituencies were slightly different from 1983 to 1986 and 2010 to 2011 as the Assembly boundaries had not caught up with Parliamentary boundary changes and from 1996 to 1997 when members of the Northern Ireland Forum had been 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.

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.

The most high-profile MLA for the constituency is Peter Robinson, the First Minister and leader of the Democratic Unionist Party.

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

Members

Northern Ireland Assembly (1973)

In 1973, elections were held to the Assembly set up under the Sunningdale Agreement. The six members elected from East Belfast were:

Election	MLA (Party)		MLA (Party)		MLA (Party)		MLA (Party)		MLA (Party)		MLA (Party)
1973		Roy Bradford (UUP)		Joshua Cardwell (UUP)		Norman Agnew (UUP)		Eileen Paisley (DUP)		Oliver Napier (Alliance Party)		David Bleakley (Labour)
	Pro-Sunningdale

Note: The columns in this table are used only for presentational purposes, and no significance should be attached to the order of columns. For details of the order in which seats were won at each election, see the detailed results of that election.

Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention (1975)

In 1975, elections were held to a Constitutional Convention which sought (unsuccessfully) to generate a consensus on the future of the province. The six members elected from East Belfast were:

Election	Name (Party)		Name (Party)		Name (Party)		Name (Party)		Name (Party)		Name (Party)
1975		William Craig (Vanguard)		Reg Empey (Vanguard)		Oliver Napier (Alliance Party)		David Bleakley (Labour)		Eileen Paisley (DUP)		Joshua Cardwell (Unionist Party NI)

Note: The columns in this table are used only for presentational purposes, and no significance should be attached to the order of columns. For details of the order in which seats were won at each election, see the detailed results of that election.

Northern Ireland Assembly (1982)

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. East Belfast elected 6 members as follows:

Election	MLA (Party)		MLA (Party)		MLA (Party)		MLA (Party)		MLA (Party)		MLA (Party)
1982		Peter Robinson (DUP)		Denny Vitty (DUP)		Jeremy Burchill (UUP)		Dorothy Dunlop (UUP)		Oliver Napier (Alliance Party)		Addie Morrow (Alliance Party)

Note: The columns in this table are used only for presentational purposes, and no significance should be attached to the order of columns. For details of the order in which seats were won at each election, see the detailed results of that election.

Northern Ireland Forum (1996)

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

Election	Name (Party)		Name (Party)		Name (Party)		Name (Party)		Name (Party)
1996		Peter Robinson (DUP)		Sammy Wilson (DUP)		Reg Empey (UUP)		Jim Rodgers (UUP)		John Alderdice (Alliance Party)

Note: The columns in this table are used only for presentational purposes, and no significance should be attached to the order of columns. For details of the order in which seats were won at each election, see the detailed results of that election.

Northern Ireland Assembly (1998–present)

Election	MLA (Party)		MLA (Party)		MLA (Party)		MLA (Party)		MLA (Party)		MLA (Party)
1998		Peter Robinson (DUP)		Sammy Wilson (DUP)		John Alderdice (Alliance Party)		Reg Empey (UUP)		Ian Adamson (UUP)		David Ervine (PUP)
2003				Robin Newton (DUP)		Naomi Long (Alliance Party)				Michael Copeland (UUP)
January 2007 co-option												Dawn Purvis (PUP)
2007										Wallace Browne (DUP)
July 2010 co-option						Chris Lyttle (Alliance Party)
2011								Michael Copeland (UUP)		Sammy Douglas (DUP)		Judith Cochrane (Alliance Party)
September 2015 co-option								Andy Allen (UUP)

Note: The columns in this table are used only for presentational purposes, and no significance should be attached to the order of columns. For details of the order in which seats were won at each election, see the detailed results of that election.

Elections

Northern Ireland Assembly

2016 Assembly election: Belfast East – 6 Seats
Party		Candidate	% 1st Pref	Count 1	Count 2	Count 3	Count 4	Count 5	Count 6	Count 7	Count 8	Count 9	Count 10	Count 11
	Conservative	Neil Wilson
	UKIP	Jonny Lavery

2011 Assembly election: Belfast East – 6 Seats
Party		Candidate	% 1st Pref	Count 1	Count 2	Count 3	Count 4	Count 5	Count 6	Count 7	Count 8	Count 9	Count 10	Count 11
	DUP	Peter Robinson	28.3%	9,141
	DUP	Robin Newton	7.5%	2,436	4,801
	Alliance	Judith Cochrane	13.4%	4,329	4,432	4,433	4,449	4,498	4,572	4,755
	Alliance	Chris Lyttle	12.9%	4,183	4,307	4,309	4,320	4,331	4,420	4,530	4,572	4,696
	DUP	Sammy Douglas	8.3%	2,668	3,683	3,809	3,820	3,831	3,892	3,941	4,053	4,078	4,455
	UUP	Michael Copeland	6.8%	2,194	2,355	2,357	2,357	2,383	2,437	2,476	2,618	2,625	3,225
	Independent	Dawn Purvis	5.3%	1,702	1,909	1,911	1,926	1,955	2,010	2,094	2,179	2,229	2,320
	PUP	Brian Ervine	4.6%	1,493	1,667	1,670	1,671	1,681	1,761	1,787	1,873	1,884	1,963
	Sinn Féin	Niall Ó Donnghaile	3.2%	1,030	1,037	1,037	1,061	1,070	1,127	1,148	1,149
	UUP	Philip Robinson	2.9%	943	1,130	1,131	1,139	1,142	1,161	1,189	1,294	1,296
	TUV	Harry Toan	2.2%	712	744	744	745	753	801	824
	Green (NI)	Martin Gregg	1.8%	572	614	614	624	649	691
	BNP	Ann Cooper	1.0%	337	355	355	358	365
	SDLP	Magdalena Wolska	0.8%	250	253	253	270	275
	Socialist Party	Thomas Black	0.6%	201	205	205	217
	Workers' Party	Kevin McNally	0.3%	102	107	107
	Independent	Stephen Stewart	0.1%	46	54	54
Electorate: 61,263   Valid: tba   Spoilt: tba (0.00%)   Quota: 4,622   Turnout: 32,828 (53.59%)

2007 Assembly election: Belfast East – 6 Seats
Party		Candidate	% 1st Pref	Count 1	Count 2	Count 3	Count 4	Count 5	Count 6	Count 7	Count 8	Count 9	Count 10
	DUP	Peter Robinson	19.0	5,635
	Alliance	Naomi Long	18.8	5,583
	UUP	Reg Empey	14.0	4,139	4,231.40	4,620.40
	PUP	Dawn Purvis	10.3	3,045	3,113.88	3,307.63	3,336.13	3,403.11	3,455.86	3,611.83	3,654.32	3,842.92	4,208.17
	DUP	Wallace Browne	10.7	3,185	3,416.60	3,453.10	3,462.35	3,488.06	3,541.78	3,607.97	3,608.71	3,709.10	3,734.32
	DUP	Robin Newton	7.9	2,335	3,201.88	3,241.38	3,250.38	3,270.35	3,316.30	3,355.75	3,359.75	3,497.13	3,516.62
	UUP	Michael Copeland	5.3	1,557	1,567.08	1,654.58	1,817.33	1,834.83	1,951.08	2,068.32	2,073.82	2,743.06	2,999.31
	SDLP	Mary Muldoon	2.8	816	816.96	1,020.71	1,036.96	1,097.70	1,115.20	1,306.95	1,902.95	1,933.94
	UUP	Jim Rodgers	2.8	820	884.08	971.08	1,078.08	1,104.55	1,191.03	1,280.77	1,284.27
	Sinn Féin	Niall Ó Donnghaile	3.6	1,055	1,056.44	1,071.94	1,072.44	1,087.69	1,087.69	1,123.94
	Green (NI)	Steven Agnew	2.2	653	658.04	852.04	870.29	983.78	1,064.28
	Conservative	Glyn Chambers	1.4	427	429.88	483.13	494.38	516.13
	Socialist Party	Thomas Black	0.8	225	227.88	246.63	248.13
	Workers' Party	Joseph Bell	0.4	107	107.96	118.46	118.96
	Make Politicians History	Rainbow George	0.2	47	47.24	51.74	52.99
Electorate: 49,757   Valid: 29,629   Spoilt: 244 (0.82%)   Quota: 4,233   Turnout: 29,873 (60.04%)

Northern Ireland Assembly election, 2003
Party		Candidate	1st Pref	Result	Count
	DUP	Peter Robinson	9,254	Elected	1
	UUP	Reg Empey	6,459	Elected	1
	PUP	David Ervine	2,990	Elected	3
	Alliance	Naomi Long	2,774	Elected	6
	UUP	Michael Copeland	2,291	Elected	6
	UUP	Jim Rodgers	1,502	Not elected
	DUP	Robin Newton	1,475	Elected	3
	DUP	Harry Toan	1,403	Not elected
	Sinn Féin	Joseph O'Donnell	1,055	Not elected
	SDLP	Leo Van Es	967	Not elected
	Conservative	Terry Dick	232	Not elected
	Socialist Party	Thomas Black	176	Not elected
	Workers' Party	Joseph Bell	125	Not elected
	Independent	John McBlain	72	Not elected
	Rainbow Dream Ticket	Rainbow George	65	Not elected

Northern Ireland Assembly election, 1998
Party		Candidate	1st Pref	Result	Count
	DUP	Peter Robinson	11,219	Elected	1
	Alliance	John Alderdice	6,144	Elected	1
	UUP	Reg Empey	5,158	Elected	12
	PUP	David Ervine	5,114	Elected	7
	UUP	Ian Adamson	3,447	Elected	15
	UK Unionist	Denny Vitty	1,362	Not elected
	SDLP	Peter Jones	1,025	Not elected
	UUP	Jim Rodgers	1,015	Not elected
	Alliance	Richard Good	1,000	Not elected
	Sinn Féin	Joseph O'Donnell	917	Not elected
	NI Women's Coalition	Pearl Sagar	711	Not elected
	DUP	Sammy Wilson	633	Elected	12
	Ulster Democratic	Robert Girvan	516	Not elected
	DUP	John Norris	373	Not elected
	Labour Party NI	David Bleakley	369	Not elected
	PUP	Dawn Purvis	271	Not elected
	Conservative	Lesley Donaldson	203	Not elected
	Workers' Party	Joseph Bell	79	Not elected
	Natural Law	David Collins	22	Not elected
	Independent	John Lawrence	15	Not elected

1996 Forum

Successful candidates are shown in bold.

Party		Candidate(s)	Votes	Percentage
	DUP	Peter Robinson Sammy Wilson Robert Newton Irene Lewis Wallace Browne	11,270	29.4
	UUP	Reg Empey Jim Rodgers Ian Adamson Alan Crowe	8,608	22.5
	Alliance	John Alderdice Peter Osborne Danny Dow Mervyn Jones Maureen McConnell	7,130	18.6
	PUP	David Ervine Patricia Laverty Rosemary Reynolds John McQuillen Alec Gordon	3,802	9.9
	UK Unionist	Alan Field Maureen Ann McCartney	2,496	6.5
	SDLP	Peter Prendiville Brian Heading	1,299	3.4
	Ulster Democratic	Robert Girvan Jacqueline Upton Ronald Stitt Samuel Walkingshaw Joseph McMaster	1,156	3.1
	Sinn Féin	Michael McVeigh Brid Duffy Anna Doherty	862	2.2
	NI Women's Coalition	Felicity Huston Pearl Sagar Annie Quinn Kate Campbell Karen Snoddy	405	1.1
	Conservative	Ian Donaldson Dorothy Dunlop	291	0.8
	Labour coalition	Gail Haslett Thomas Black Barbara Hawites David Bell Maeve O'Leary	199	0.5
	Democratic Partnership	David Bleakley Edwin Sloan	197	0.5
	Green (NI)	Similda Osoba April McCarthy	161	0.4
	Workers' Party	Joe Bell Marie Mooney	149	0.4
	Ulster Independence	Gavin Boyd Mark Black David McClinton	114	0.3
	Independent DUP	Jean Toad David Kerr	93	0.2
	Democratic Left	Michael Craig June Campion	45	0.1
	Communist Party	Andrew Gibb Sarah Stewart	38	0.1
	Natural Law	Robert Johnstone Richard Johnson Ian Long	13	0.0
	Independent Chambers	Ian Arbuthnot Alan Hay	11	0.0

1982

Assembly Election – 20 October 1982
Party		Candidate	Count 1	Count 2	Count 3	Count 4	Count 5	Count 6	Count 7†	Count 8	Count 9	Count 10
	DUP	Peter Robinson	15319
	UUP	Jeremy Burchill	7345	7345	7345
	Alliance	Oliver Napier	6037	6037	6037	6037	6037
	Alliance	Addie Morrow	2966	3057.35	3061.67	3088.12	3093.21	3401.85	3740	3794	4490	4881
	Vanguard*	William Craig	2274	2805.72	2825.56	2964.48	2988.59	2999.89	3025	3189	3360
	UUP	Dorothy Dunlop	1696	2066.44	2087.40	3270.75	3309.37	3323.35	3347	3512	4565	5981
	UUP	William Johnstone	973	1126.09	1135.85	1377.35	1394.14	1397.56	1408	1520
	SDLP	Peter Prendiville	868	873.04	874.80	875.49	875.49	881.25	1090	1091
	Workers' Party	Francis Cullen	681	696.12	696.76	704.12	706.75	711.85
	UUUP	Reg Empey	503	648.53	655.09	691.43	769.25	772.07	777
	DUP	Sammy Wilson	397	1239.31	3024.43	3044.44	3060.98	3065.30	3081	3259	3400	4170
	DUP	Denny Vitty	235	7583.32
	UUUP	Ben Horan	123	184.74	187.30	198.80
Electorate=74273, valid=39417, spoiled=1275, quota=5632

^†Although all counts were to two decimal places, the local press round up the results after count 6.

^*Craig stood as Vanguard, although the party itself had been disbanded four years before.

1975 Constitutional Convention

1975 Constitutional Convention:Belfast East
Party		Candidate	% 1st Pref	Count 1	Count 2	Count 3	Count 4	Count 5	Count 6	Count 7	Count 8	Count 9	Count 10	Count 11
	Vanguard	William Craig	23.8	11,958
	Alliance	Oliver Napier	12.6	6,341	6,393.00	6,449.00	6,469.40	6,537.40	7,450.40
	Vanguard	Reg Empey	9.3	4,657	6,825.40	6,844.00	6,978.20	7,063.80	7,121.20	7,121.20	8,297.20
	NI Labour	David Bleakley	8.0	3,998	4,059.60	4,417.00	4,473.20	4,548.40	5,556.20	5,714.20	5,864.00	5,885.56	6,257.76	6,924.54
	DUP	Peter Robinson	7.8	3,933	4,165.00	4,173.80	4,209.80	4,253.00	4,283.20	4,283.60	4,672.60	5,156.72	5,201.88	5,792.52
	DUP	Eileen Paisley	7.1	3,606	4,893.60	4,916.60	5,073.00	5,179.60	5,214.40	5,214.40	6,157.80	6,653.68	6,729.86	7,354.86
	Unionist Party NI	Joshua Cardwell	6.1	3,039	3,164.60	3,180.00	3,220.80	3,366.80	3,586.20	3,605.60	3,718.00	3,756.22	6,209.52	7,475.52
	Unionist Party NI	Norman Agnew	5.7	2,863	2,913.40	2,918.20	2,929.60	3,011.80	3,262.40	3,287.60	3,370.80	3,387.46
	UUP	David McNarry	5.2	2,609	2,941.80	2,944.60	2,978.60	3,065.80	3,093.60	3,094.00
	UUP	Roy Bradford	5.1	2,583	2,828.60	2,839.00	2,873.60	2,991.40	3,092.00	3,096.80	3,362.40	3,431.98	3,756.46
	Alliance	Kate Condy	3.0	1,485	1,500.20	1,508.00	1,511.00	1,539.00
	SDLP	Alban Maginness	2.5	1,274	1,278.40	1,286.40	1,287.20	1,293.20
	Independent Unionist	Walter McFarland	1.5	775	885.40	860.80	887.20
	Labour Party NI	Sandy Scott	1.0	530	543.60
	Independent Unionist	William Elliot	1.0	509	591.80	606
Electorate: 78,340   Valid: 50,160   Spoilt: 917 (1.6%)   Quota: 7,166   Turnout: 51,133 (65.3%)

1973

1973 Assembly election:
Party		Candidate	% 1st Pref	Count 1	Count 2	Count 3	Count 4	Count 5	Count 6	Count 7	Count 8	Count 9	Count 10	Count 11	Count 12	Count 13	Count 14	Count 15	Count 16	Count 17	Count 18
	UUP	Roy Bradford	23.2	13,187
	DUP	Eileen Paisley	9.7	5,518.00	5,613.00	5,618.76	5,628.52	5,717.66	5,737.08	5,780.17	6,127.42	6,142.56	6,393.08	6,396.08	7,069.44	7,170.70	7,172.47	8,907.47	8,907.47
	UUP	Joshua Cardwell	8.8	5,001	6,635.00	6,643.38	6,649.38	6,672.90	6,754.40	6,871.78	7,002.74	7,035.68	7,063.44	7,072.20	7,571.96	8,177.96
	Alliance	Oliver Napier	8.7	4,941	5,086.92	5,089.68	5,103.20	5,103.20	5,112.24	5,121.76	5,129.90	6,213.42	6,219.80	7,049.80	7,074.56	7,169.92	7,171.57	7,197.47	7,336.93	7,341.79	7,418.97
	NI Labour	David Bleakley	7.8	4,425	4,710.76	4,743.76	4,866.52	4,874.52	4,899.70	4,932.88	4,953.78	5,043.34	5,053.10	5,878.10	5,993.14	6,108.02	6,111.10	6,155.14	6,368.65	6,389.17	6,690.47
	UUP	Norman Agnew	6.4	3,615	4,562.34	4,565.24	4,568.10	4,571.48	4,635.72	4,763.72	4,832.42	4,860.84	4,878.22	4,922.60	5,096.66	5,733.94	5,758.25	5,842.24	7,197.91	7,229.23	8,027.29
	Vanguard	Tommy Herron	4.4	2,480	2,519.90	2,524.90	2,526.90	2,561.28	2,564.80	2,577.94	2,665.88	2,672.26	2,719.26	2,722.26	3,122.34	3,146.76	3,147.20
	Independent Unionist	William Annon	3.9	2,192	2,248.62	2,252.62	2,254.62	2,293.76	2,298.14	2,306.52	2,455.56	2,465.62	2,517.46	2,528.46
	Vanguard	Jim Rodgers	3.4	1,947	1,972.46	1,974.46	1,975.46	2,068.60	2,070.36	2,076.12	2,152.02	2,154.02	3,133.20	3,134.20	3,509.86	3,550.38	3,550.82	4,492.23	4,683.96	5,386.40
	SDLP	Owen Adams	3.3	1,849	1,850.90	1,856.90	1,857.90	1,858.90	1,858.90	1,858.90	1,859.90	1,865.90	1,865.90
	UUP	Walter Scott	3.2	1,806	2,326.98	2,328.98	2,329.98	2,341.36	2,395.98	2,512.24	2,539.66	2,556.22	2,568.98	2,568.98	2,614.12
	UUP	David McNarry	3.1	1,784	2,145.76	2,145.76	2,148.14	2,155.14	2,306.02	2,504.64	2,544.68	2,558.96	2,580.10	2,583.48	2,642.62	3,182.40	3,199.23	3,237.89
	Vanguard	Thomas Smith	2.3	1,332	1,343.40	1,343.40	1,343.40	1,384.78	1,385.78	1,390.78	1,444.16	1,445.16
	Alliance	Kate Condy	2.2	1,256	1,297.04	1,302.80	1,310.94	1,318.32	1,329.74	1,341.26	1,346.02
	Independent Unionist	Michael Brooks	1.7	983	1,063.56	1,064.56	1,065.56	1,082.56	1,086.94	1,096.70
	UUP	John McKeown	1.5	831	973.88	973.88	974.26	975.26	1,014.60
	UUP	Elsie Logan	0.7	394	573.36	575.36	575.36	579.36
	Ulster Constitution	Lindsay Mason	0.4	202	205.04	205.42	206.42
	Independent Unionist	Samuel Smyth	0.3	189	192.80	193.80	194.80
	NI Labour	John Coulthard	0.2	129	136.22	180.60
	NI Labour	William Gunning	0.2	107	110.42
	Independent	Sarah Hughes		19	19.38
Electorate: 80,421   Valid: 56,784   Spoilt: 917 (1.6%)   Quota: 8,113   Turnout: 57,701 (71.7%)