NI election 2022: An essential guide to voting and the assembly
- Published
Voters in Northern Ireland will go to the polls to elect the assembly on 5 May.
The election for the Northern Ireland Assembly comes a few months after the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) resigned from the first minister role, causing the executive to collapse.
The election result could trigger months of uncertainty and negotiations over who leads the executive.
Anyone who is a British, Irish or Commonwealth citizen, or a citizen of any other EU country, is eligible to vote.
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What is the Northern Ireland Assembly and what does it do?
The assembly was set up in 1998 as one of the conditions of the Good Friday Agreement peace deal which ended decades of violence and created a devolved administration for Northern Ireland where the largest parties are all entitled to govern together.
There are 90 members of the legislative assembly (MLAs) who are elected at least every five years from parties belonging to one of three blocs: unionists, nationalists and non-aligned.
Five MLAs are elected in each of the 18 constituencies using a system called the single transferable vote (STV), which ranks candidates by preference.
Ten members of the assembly also form its executive - and it's those 10 that collectively need to govern together in a mandatory coalition.
The biggest party from the largest of the unionist/nationalist blocs nominates the first minister, and the largest party from the second-largest bloc nominates the deputy first minister.
The other eight roles are divided up based on how many seats each party has in the assembly - except the minister of justice, who is elected by the assembly.
What could happen at the election?
For the first time ever, a nationalist party may have a realistic chance of becoming the largest party in the assembly.
Sinn Féin has been the second-biggest party since 2003 but it is confident of winning more seats than the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) this time around.
The DUP is running fewer candidates this time than it did at the last assembly election.
It performed poorly by its own standards in other recent elections, including the 2019 UK general election when it lost two seats.
It could be at risk losing votes to its unionist rivals the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) and the more hard-line Traditional Unionist voice (TUV).
Meanwhile the other main nationalist party the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) is hoping it can hold on to its position as the third-biggest party and is targeting seats such as Strangford in a bid to increase its tally of 12.
But it's no longer as black and white as "unionism versus nationalism"; certainties about the way people vote also seem to be changing.
In 2019, the bloc of non-aligned parties, such as the Alliance Party and the Green Party, increased their vote share at local, UK and European elections and are confident of continuing the trend.
This could prompt calls to change the power-sharing system created in 1998, which was designed to ensure unionists and nationalists govern together.
The Alliance Party, for example, wants the executive to be a voluntary coalition, which would involve major changes to the Good Friday Agreement.
What does that mean for the future of Northern Ireland's government?
Despite their names, the roles of first and deputy minister are equal: one cannot exist without the other and a first minister cannot take office unless a deputy first minister is also nominated.
The largest party gets to nominate the first minister - if that was Sinn Féin, it would be a huge symbolic blow to the DUP, which has held that position since 2007.
If that happened, many people would view it as a boost for Sinn Féin's long-running campaign for a referendum on Northern Ireland leaving the UK and uniting with the Republic of Ireland, although Sinn Féin has said its main priority after the election is dealing with the cost of living crisis.
Unionists say most voters remain unlikely to support Irish unity.
The DUP has refused to specifically say whether it would nominate a deputy first minister to serve alongside a Sinn Féin first minister. Not nominating would be a bid to try to stop Sinn Féin claiming it has won a big victory by becoming first minister.
If an agreement over who takes those roles cannot be reached, the assembly can continue to exist and the other ministers who held office before the election - such as the health minister and education minister - can stay in post for up to six months.
If a solution cannot be found after that time, there would either need to be further negotiations or a fresh election.
But to complicate matters further, even if the DUP was the largest party and was entitled to the first minister position, its leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson has said he does not want to govern unless changes are made to the Northern Ireland Protocol.
Could the election affect the Northern Ireland Protocol?
In 2024, the assembly will vote on whether to keep elements of the Northern Ireland Protocol - the part of the Brexit deal that creates a trade border in the Irish Sea in order to prevent a hardening of the Irish land border.
The protocol keeps Northern Ireland in the EU single market for goods and means EU customs rules are enforced at its ports.
Unionist parties strongly oppose the protocol as they say it has undermined Northern Ireland's place within the United Kingdom.
Nationalist parties, along with the Alliance Party and Green Party, broadly support the protocol and have indicated they would vote to keep it.
If the assembly voted against keeping Articles 5-10 - which cover areas such as the movement of goods into Northern Ireland - then the EU and the UK government would have two years to come up with a new deal to prevent a hard border on the island of Ireland.
How does voting work?
Northern Ireland uses single transferable vote (STV) and people can vote for as many or as few candidates as they want in order of preference.
Once counting begins a quota is set for the number of votes a candidate needs to get elected.
All the first preference votes are counted and any candidates who meet the quota are elected. Meanwhile the candidate with the least votes is knocked out and their votes are transferred to other candidates based preferences given to them by voters.
This continues until either five candidates meet the quota or there are only five candidates left.
When will we know the results?
Counting starts at 09:00 GMT on Friday 6 May and the first results could be declared from lunchtime. The final results could be known by the end of that day, but it's possible counting will pause overnight and start again on Saturday morning, with final results likely by Saturday afternoon.
Once the new assembly is elected it must meet within eight days and will be asked to nominate a first and deputy first minster.
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