Are elections a simple cross in a box?
While deciding what candidate or perhaps the candidate’s party to vote for, the mechanics of using your vote for the Westminster UK Elections require one cross in the box.
European, Northern Ireland Assembly and Council Elections use a form of proportional representation, but in Northern Ireland the system is the Single Transferable Vote.
Below we have set out the basic mechanics of the voting procedures, for detailed information you can look at the links on our Links Page
2011 is going to be a very important electoral year in Northern Ireland, the next elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly are due, as well as Council Elections.
This means that there will be over 500 seats on offer, and probably a few thousand prospective candidates standing. Particularly as there is an end of politicians “Double – Jobbing” as an MP/MEP/MLA/Councillor, or at the least a reduction in the proportion of salary or allowances paid.
“No-one, irrespective of how talented they may be, can for any significant time be a full-time representative in two places.”
This would be a logistical nightmare to contact all prospective candidates, so we have gone down the route of offering the political parties and their candidates, a Platform for motorcycle policy issues.
BikersRVoters is simply enabling politicians – to have a platform for their electoral agendas – pre and post elections – regarding motorcycling and enabling bikers to get their message to politicians.
Westminster Elections
Northern Ireland has 18 constituencies – that’s a potential for 18 MPs (Member Of Parliament) to represent the Northern Ireland electorate in Parliament. The voting system is one person one vote, the candidate with the most votes is elected - they do not need to get more than half of the votes cast. In the 2010 General Election in the Fermanagh & South Tyrone constituency the votes were recounted three times, with the winning candidate having a majority of just four votes. If there is a tie then a candidate is selected by the drawing of lots. The method of drawing lots for the MP to become elected would be by chance, such as tossing a coin or picking a name out of a hat. Now some may say……………………… View list of Northern Ireland MPs as elected at the General Election 6th May 2010 – Click Here |
The last general election was held on Thursday 6th May 2010, by convention all General Elections in the UK are held on a Thursday.
Northern Ireland Assembly Elections
The Northern Ireland Assembly consists of 108 elected Members – MLAs (Member of the Legislative Assembly) who represents their constituency – six from each of the 18 Westminster constituencies. The voting system is a lot more complicated using a form of proportional representation called the Single Transferable Vote (STV) – see below. If the voting system seems complicated or confusing, then there is the actual working of the assembly, its powers and functions – procedures – the three primary mechanisms to ensure effective power – sharing: Organisation – Departmental Committees – Standing Committees. While us folks, not up on the hill at Stormont, do not see the workings of the assembly, or do not fully understand them, the assembly is what we have. Ongoing dialogue and our presentation, pre and post elections, of the issues that matter to motorcyclists, it (the Assembly) is all we have got to rely on to get a better deal! |
The last elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly took place in 2007, unless the Assembly is dissolved early, elections should occur once in every four years on the first Thursday in May, so our calculations put the next elections for the assembly to occur in May 2011.
European Elections
Therefore the next election is due in 2014. The UK is divided into twelve electoral regions with between three and ten MEPs (Member of the European Parliament) representing each region. Northern Ireland is one of these electoral regions with 3 elected MEPs representing the “citizens” of Northern Ireland. All MEPs in the European Parliament are elected under some form of proportional representation, in Northern Ireland the system is the Single Transferable Vote – see below. At the last European Elections 9 candidates stood for election while the Single Transferable Voting system allows voters to vote for individual candidates (as opposed to party lists). You cannot tell us that the vote fell down the lines of anything other than party voting! |
Elections to the European Parliament are held every five years, the last elections took place on Thursday 4 June 2009.
Northern Ireland Council Elections
However the scheduled 2009 elections for Northern Irelands 26 councils was postponed until 2011 to reflect a new proposed new local government structure which is supposed to reduce the number of local councils from 26 to 11 by 2011, this has also now been postponed. The number of councillors varies from council to council depending largely on the size of the council area. For example Belfast City Council has 9 District Electoral Areas and 51 Councillors while Larne Borough Council has 3 District Electoral Areas and 16 Councillors and Omagh District Council has 3 District Electoral Areas and 21 Councillors. Whatever way you count the numbers, that’s a lot of making up of the minds of voters! |
Council Elections were last held in May 2005 – Councillors are elected for a four-year term of office under the Single Transferable Vote, the same system as the European Elections and the Northern Ireland Assembly Elections.
Proportional Representation – Single Transferable Vote
Your ballot paper lists the name of each candidate, their party name, party logo and their address. When voting you will be ranking the candidates in order of preference, a “1” next to your first choice, a “2” next to your second, and so on. You can rank as few or as many candidates as you like. To be elected a candidate must reach a set amount of votes known as the quota. The votes are counted in stages. In the first stage only first preferences are counted. Anyone who reaches the quota is elected. Any votes received over the quota are not needed by the elected candidate and so are transferred to the second preference. If not enough candidates have then reached the quota, the candidate with the lowest number of votes is eliminated and all of their votes are passed to the next preference on the ballot papers. This process is repeated until: Northern Ireland Assembly – six candidates have been elected. European Parliament - three candidates have been elected. Councils – enough candidates have been elected to fill each seat in the ward – District Electoral Area. Simples? |
This system allows voters to vote for individual candidates (as opposed to party lists) in order of preference and is used for elections to local councils, the Assembly, and the European Parliament.
SourceInformation above has been sourced from various places which we believe is correct at time of publishing. For detailed information you can look at the links on our Links Page 6th April 2010 |
