At the May 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election, there were 239 constituency candidates who had to submit a spending return, listing details of what they spent during the election campaign. The dataset includes the headline figures for the spending incurred and donations received by candidates at the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election. We publish these figures to enhance transparency and to provide voters with information on donations to candidates’ election campaigns and their spending and to ensure that this information can be seen together in one place. The full individual candidate returns are available for public scrutiny from the Electoral Office of Northern Ireland (EONI) for a period of two years after an election.

The returns include the total the candidate spent, as well as a breakdown of how much they spent on things like advertising, transport and public meetings. They also include any donations the candidate received above £50 during the regulated period.

The data taken from the spending returns reflects what candidates and their agents submitted to the EONI. We publish this information exactly as it appears on the candidate’s return so that there is an accurate record of what was reported. Spending limits vary between constituencies and differ between single or joint candidates in the same constituency.

The EONI has sent us the returns submitted to them for inclusion in this dataset. Where information is missing, this may be because the EONI didn’t send them on to us, or because the candidate didn’t submit their return to the EONI, or because the return did not include all the information it was to.

Information about candidate spending data for previous devolved elections is available online in the National Archive.