2023 Northern Ireland local elections

Local elections are scheduled to be held in Northern Ireland on 18 May 2023, two weeks after elections in England.[2] The last local elections in Northern Ireland were held in 2019.

2023 Northern Ireland local elections
18 May 2023
All 11 districts, 462 council seats
  First party Second party Third party
 
Doug Beattie.png
Leader Jeffrey Donaldson Michelle O'Neill[n 1] Doug Beattie
Party DUP Sinn Féin Ulster Unionist
Seats before 114 104 74
  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
Colum Eastwood MLA.JPG
Naomi Long 2021.png
GPNI
Leader Colum Eastwood Naomi Long Malachai O'Hara
Party SDLP Alliance Green (NI)
Seats before 56 53 7
  Seventh party Eighth party Ninth party
  Jim Allister Eamonn McCann Gemma Brolly
Leader Jim Allister Eamonn McCann[n 2] Gemma Brolly
Party TUV People Before Profit Aontú
Seats before 7 5 2
The 11 council areas across Northern Ireland.

The elections were delayed by two weeks to avoid overlapping with the coronation of King Charles III.[3]

Electoral system

Northern Ireland uses the single transferable vote (STV) electoral system to elect members of local councils and members of the Northern Ireland Assembly. Voters rank candidates in order of preference by marking 1, 2, 3, etc. to the names of candidates on a ballot paper and can rank as many or as few candidates as they like or just vote for one candidate.[4]

These are the second Northern Irish elections and the first local election at which people are able to register to vote online.[5]

Background

At the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election, Sinn Féin became the biggest political party in the Assembly for the first time. It was also the first time that the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) didn't assume the position of First Minister-designate since 2007. Due to the terms outlined in the Good Friday Agreement, the largest nationalist party and the largest unionist party must be in government together. The Executive, Northern Ireland's government, is not currently sitting as the DUP has refused to enter government due to the Northern Ireland Protocol, an agreement between the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom (UK) that governs the unique customs and immigration issues at the border between Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. This move has proved controversial, with the Vice President of Sinn Féin and First Minister-designate, Michelle O'Neill saying that it's "totally unacceptable" for the DUP to refuse to enter the Executive amid a crisis. The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) has accused the DUP of treating voters with contempt and "making our electoral process look like a bad joke"[6] and Naomi Long, leader of the Alliance Party, said DUP Assembly Members should not be allowed to claim their salary while they prevented the Assembly from functioning.[7]

Council Seats Largest party (elected in 2019) Details
Prior Post
Belfast 60 Sinn Féin (18) Details
Ards & North Down 40 DUP (14)[lower-alpha 1] Details
Antrim & Newtownabbey 40 DUP (14) Details
Lisburn & Castlereagh 40 DUP (15)[lower-alpha 2] Details
Newry, Mourne & Down 41 Sinn Féin (16) Details
Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon 41 DUP (11) Details
Mid & East Antrim 40 DUP (15)[lower-alpha 3] Details
Causeway Coast & Glens 40 DUP (14)[lower-alpha 4] Details
Mid Ulster 40 Sinn Féin (17) Details
Derry City & Strabane 40 Sinn Féin (11) Details
SDLP (11)
Fermanagh & Omagh 40 Sinn Féin (15) Details

Opinion polling
Date(s)
conducted		 Pollster Client Sample
size		 DUP U SF N APNI O UUP U SDLP N TUV U Green O Other Lead
11–21 Apr 2023 Institute of Irish Studies University of Liverpool/Irish News 1,013 23% 29.8% 14.5% 12.8% 8.3% 5.0% 2.7% 4.9% 6.8%
3 May 2019 2019 local elections N/A 24.1% 23.2% 11.5% 14.1% 12.0% 2.2% 2.1% 8.2% 0.9%

Notes
  1. The leader of Sinn Féin is Mary Lou McDonald, who sits as a TD in the Irish Dáil Éireann for Dublin Central. O'Neill is the leader of the party in Northern Ireland.
  2. People Before Profit has a collective leadership but for the purposes of registration to the UK Electoral Commission Eamonn McCann is registered as the party's leader in Northern Ireland.[1]
  1. Reduced to 12 due to defections.
  2. Reduced to 14 due to defections.
  3. Increased to 16 due to defections
  4. Reduced to 13 due to defections.

References
  1. "Registration Summary". The Electoral Commission. Archived from the original on 4 June 2016. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
  2. "Local government elections in Northern Ireland". www.electoralcommission.org.uk. Retrieved 19 May 2022.
  3. "NI council election moved to avoid coronation clash". BBC News. 21 December 2022. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
  4. "The Electoral Office of Northern Ireland - EONI". www.eoni.org.uk. Retrieved 29 July 2022.
  5. "Party leaders vote as polling in local government election enters final hours". 18 May 2023 – via www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk.
  6. Breen, Suzanne (13 May 2022). "DUP leader accused of treating voters with 'contempt' as Emma Little-Pengelly returns to fill Donaldson's seat at Stormont". Belfast Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 29 July 2022.
  7. Carroll, Rory (13 May 2022). "DUP condemned for paralysing Stormont as protocol row deepens". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 July 2022.


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