Elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly are held every four years. Elections were held on 5 May 2011.
In October 2010 the Northern Ireland Office Minister of State, Hugo Swire MP, declared that elections to the 26 councils in Northern Ireland would also take place on 5 May 2011. A UK-wide referendum on the voting system used to elect MPs to the House of Commons was also held on this day.
5 May elections and referendum results
Report on Northern Ireland Assembly election
We have published our report into the Northern Ireland Assembly election held on 5 May 2011. The report calls for improvements to election counts in Northern Ireland.
Election results
Votes from the Assembly elections were counted from 8am on Friday 6 May and in the local elections from 9am on Monday 9 May.
Elections in Northern Ireland are run on a constituency by constituency basis. This means verified results are not collected centrally. However, results are available from other sources including the BBC. You can also find out more about elections in Northern Ireland on 5 May from the Electoral Office for Northern Ireland.
Referendum results
The result of the UK-wide referendum on the voting system used to elect MPs to the House of Commons was declared on 7 May 2011, delivering a 'no' to changing the voting system. View the result
Pre-election seminars for candidates and agents
In partnership with the Electoral Office for Northern Ireland and Royal Mail, we ran a number of pre-election seminars for candidates and their agents taking part in the 2011 Northern Ireland Assembly and local government elections.
You can download the presentations from the seminar here:
- Briefing from the Chief Electoral Officer for Northern Ireland (PPT)
- Campaign spending and reporting (PPT)
- Royal Mail presentation on campaign literature and freepost (PPT)
Instructions and guidance for combined polls on 5 May 2011
The Chief Counting Officer issued instructions for running the UK referendum on 5 May 2011. We also published our guidance for those administering elections scheduled for the same day.
Producing forms for 5 May polls
We published the wording for all forms required by electoral administrators to enable people to cast their vote. Our materials included PDF examples and instructions on how forms should be designed.
Public information for 5 May 2011 elections and UK referendum
In early April, we distributed booklets to all households across the UK with information about the elections and referendum taking place on 5 May.
About the Northern Ireland Assembly and local government
The Northern Ireland Assembly is made up of 108 Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs). The voting system used is the single transferable vote system (STV). Six MLAs are elected in each of the 18 UK Parliamentary constituencies in Northern Ireland.
There are 26 local councils in Northern Ireland and 582 councillors. Each local council is responsible for providing a range of public services including waste management, sports and leisure facilities and tourism.
Electoral Office for Northern Ireland
Elections in Northern Ireland are administered centrally by the Chief Electoral Officer for Northern Ireland who is both the returning officer and registration officer for all elections in Northern Ireland.
