The Northern Ireland Assembly election has seen 30 women elected as MLAs.

Posted By: May 08, 2016

South Belfast saw four female candidates elected to the six constituency seats.


Story by Damien Edgar @damien_utv, Belfast

That figure represents around a quarter (27.8%) of the 108 seats that were up for grabs at Stormont.

There are four constituencies where representation is made up entirely of men and those are East Antrim, Foyle, North Antrim and North Down.

South Belfast saw the highest amount of women elected, with Paula Bradshaw (Alliance), Claire Hanna (SDLP), Clare Bailey (Greens) and Emma Little Pengelly (DUP) voted in.


The figure represents almost a 50% upturn in women elected in 2011, with 20 being selected as MLAs at the last election.

In terms of party representation, Stormont’s traditional powerhouses had the most women MLAs, Sinn Féin with 10 closely followed by the DUP on eight, the SDLP have four, while Alliance and the UUP had three each, followed by the Green Party with one and one independent MLA.

In March of this year, a report into women in Northern Ireland’s politics, concluded that under-representation was a serious issue which “must be addressed urgently.”

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