Belfast West (Assembly constituency)

Northern Ireland Assembly constituency infobox
Name = Belfast West
Type = Borough


Year = 1973
AM = Gerry Adams
Alex Attwood
Paul Maskey
Fra McCann
Jennifer McCann
Sue Ramsey
Districts = Belfast, Lisburn

Belfast West 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 West 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 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.

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

Members

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

*Gerry Adams — Sinn Féin
*Alex Attwood — Social Democratic and Labour Party
*Paul Maskey — Sinn Féin
*Fra McCann — Sinn Féin
*Jennifer McCann — Sinn Féin
*Sue Ramsey — Sinn Féin

The six MLAs for the constituency elected [ [http://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/03wb.htm West Belfast 2003 ] ] in the 2003 election were:

*Gerry Adams — Sinn Féin
*Alex Attwood — Social Democratic and Labour Party
*Bairbre De Brun — Sinn Féin
*Diane Dodds — Democratic Unionist Party
*Michael Ferguson — Sinn Féin
*Fra McCann — Sinn Féin

Changes
* Bairbre De Brun resigned from the Assembly and was replaced by Sue Ramsay (also Sinn Féin) with effect from November 29 2004. [ [http://www.niassembly.gov.uk/members/constits/const_bw03.htm The Northern Ireland Assembly ] ]
* Michael Ferguson died on September 24 2006.

In the 1998 election the six MLAs elected [ [http://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/98wb.htm West Belfast 1998 ] ] were:

*Gerry Adams — Sinn Féin
*Alex Attwood — Social Democratic and Labour Party
*Bairbre De Brun — Sinn Féin
*Joe Hendron — Social Democratic and Labour Party
*Alex Maskey — Sinn Féin
*Sue Ramsey — Sinn Féin

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

*Gerry Adams — Sinn Féin
*Annie Armstrong — Sinn Féin
*Joe Hendron — Social Democratic and Labour Party
*Alex Maskey — Sinn Féin
*Dodie McGuinness — Sinn Féin

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. West Belfast elected 4 members as follows:

*Gerry Adams — Sinn Féin
*Will Glendinning — Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
*Joe Hendron — Social Democratic and Labour Party
*Thomas Passmore — Ulster 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 six members elected from West Belfast were:

*John Laird — Ulster Unionist Party
*Paddy Devlin — Social Democratic and Labour Party
*Bob Cooper — Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
*Joe Hendron — Social Democratic and Labour Party
*Hugh Smyth — independent Unionist
*Jean Coulter — Ulster Unionist Party

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

*John Laird — Ulster Unionist Party anti Sunningdale
*Paddy Devlin — Social Democratic and Labour Party
*Bob Cooper — Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
*Desmond Gillespie — Social Democratic and Labour Party
*Hugh Smyth — independent Unionist
*Jean Coulter — Vanguard Progressive Unionist Party

Elections

=2007=

=1996 Forum=

Successful candidates are shown in bold. [ [http://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/96wb.htm 1996 Candidates - West Belfast] , Northern Ireland Elections]

=1973=

References

* [http://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/awb.htm Northern Ireland ELECTIONS: West Belfast]
* [http://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/cwb.htm Northern Ireland ELECTIONS: West Belfast 1973-82]