2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election

2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election
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All 90 seats to the Northern Ireland Assembly
Turnout63.61% (Decrease1.2%)
  First party Second party Third party
 
Michelle O'Neill at the Foyle Assembly election launch 2022 (cropped).jpg
Jeffrey Donaldson election infobox.jpg
Naomi_Long_MLA.jpg
Leader Michelle O'Neill[n 1] Jeffrey Donaldson Naomi Long
Party Sinn Féin DUP Alliance
Leader since 23 January 2017[n 2] 30 June 2021 26 October 2016
Leader's seat Mid Ulster Lagan Valley (resigned)[a] Belfast East
Last election 27 seats, 27.9% 28 seats, 28.1% 8 seats, 9.1%
Seats won 27 25 17
Seat change Steady Decrease3 Increase9
Popular vote 250,388 184,002 116,681
Percentage 29.0% 21.3% 13.5%
Swing Increase1.1% Decrease6.7% Increase4.5%

  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
Doug Beattie.png
Colum Eastwood SDLP Conference 2023.jpg
JimAllister (cropped).jpg
Leader Doug Beattie Colum Eastwood Jim Allister
Party UUP SDLP TUV
Leader since 17 May 2021 14 November 2015 7 December 2007
Leader's seat Upper Bann Did not stand[b] North Antrim
Last election 10 seats, 12.9% 12 seats, 11.9% 1 seat, 2.6%
Seats won 9 8 1
Seat change Decrease1 Decrease4 Steady
Popular vote 96,390 78,237 65,788
Percentage 11.2% 9.1% 7.6%
Swing Decrease1.7% Decrease2.9% Increase5.0%

  Seventh party
 
Eamonn McCann (cropped).jpg
Leader Eamonn McCann[n 3]
Party People Before Profit
Leader since N/A
Leader's seat Did not stand
Last election 1 seat, 1.8%
Seats won 1
Seat change Steady
Popular vote 9,798
Percentage 1.1%
Swing Decrease0.6%


First Minister and
deputy First Minister
before election

vacant positions

First Minister and
deputy First Minister

Michelle O'Neill (SF) &
Emma Little-Pengelly (DUP)

The 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election was held on 5 May 2022. It elected 90 members to the Northern Ireland Assembly. It was the seventh assembly election since the establishment of the assembly in 1998. The election was held three months after the Northern Ireland Executive collapsed due to the resignation of the First Minister, Paul Givan of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), in protest against the Northern Ireland Protocol.[2]

In the sixth assembly, elected in 2017, eight parties had Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs): the DUP, latterly led by Jeffrey Donaldson; Sinn Féin, led by Michelle O'Neill; the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), latterly led by Doug Beattie; the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), led by Colum Eastwood; Alliance, led by Naomi Long; the Greens, led by Clare Bailey; People Before Profit (PBP), which has a collective leadership; and the Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV), led by Jim Allister.

Sinn Féin became the largest party, marking the first time an Irish nationalist/republican party won the most seats in an assembly election in Northern Ireland, and has the right to nominate Northern Ireland's first nationalist First Minister. The DUP's vote share dropped almost 7% and it lost three seats; despite this, unionists won two more seats than nationalists—37 seats to 35—and a marginally higher share of the vote.[3] Alliance made large gains, as the only party to gain seats at the election, overtaking the UUP and the SDLP to become the third-largest party in the Assembly. The Greens lost both seats they held before the election and were unrepresented in the Assembly for the first time since 2003.[4][5]

As Northern Ireland's government is based on power-sharing, the DUP (the largest unionist party) was required to nominate a deputy First Minister for the Executive to be formed and the Assembly to conduct business; however, they refused to do so due to their opposition to the Northern Ireland Protocol and post-Brexit trading arrangements.[6] It wasn't until 31 January 2024 that the DUP and UK Government announced a deal had been struck to revive the Executive,[7] and on 3 February 2024 the Assembly swore in Sinn Fein First Minister Michelle O'Neill and DUP deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly.[8]


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  1. ^ "Registration Summary". The Electoral Commission. Archived from the original on 4 June 2016. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
  2. ^ "DUP: NI First Minister Paul Givan announces resignation". BBC News. 3 February 2022. Retrieved 21 February 2024.
  3. ^ "NI election results 2022: The assembly poll in maps and charts". BBC News. 8 May 2022. Retrieved 9 May 2022.
  4. ^ McClements, Freya; Graham, Seanín; Hutton, Brian; Moriarty, Gerry (7 May 2022). "Assembly election: Sinn Féin wins most seats as parties urged to form Executive". The Irish Times. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
  5. ^ "NI election results 2022: Sinn Féin wins most seats in historic election". BBC News. 7 May 2022. Retrieved 10 May 2022.
  6. ^ "NI election 2022: DUP blocks new NI government in Brexit protest". BBC News. 9 May 2022. Retrieved 10 May 2022.
  7. ^ Piper, Elizabeth; Young, Sarah (1 February 2024). "UK unveils DUP deal to restore Northern Ireland government". Reuters.
  8. ^ Ferguson, Amanda; Thomas, Natalie (4 February 2024). "Northern Ireland appoints Irish nationalist as First Minister in historic shift". Reuters. Retrieved 21 February 2024.