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First
and Deputy First Ministers designate, David Trimble and Seamus Mallon
shake hands after their election, 1 July 1998 |
Four
weeks after an all-Ireland majority of 85.4 per cent voted in joint referenda
in favour of the Good Friday Agreement, elections took place on the 25 June
1998 for the new Northern Ireland Assembly. The 108-member Assembly was
elected using a proportional representation system, the single transferable
vote (STV).
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| Six
Members of the Legislative Assembly were elected from each of the existing
18 Westminster constituencies. The results were announced on 26 June. The
UUP won 28 seats, the SDLP 24, the DUP 20, SF 18, Alliance 6, UKUP 5, PUP
2, NIWC 2 and Independent anti-agreement unionists 3. Elections to the Assembly
are to take place every four years with the next on 1 May 2003. |
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| On
1 July the Assembly met in shadow form (without legislative power) for the
first time at Castle Buildings on the Stormont estate to elect the First
and Deputy First Ministers designate. Using the Parallel Consent voting
procedure, the Assembly elected Ulster Unionist Leader David Trimble and
SDLP Deputy Leader Seamus Mallon as First and Deputy First Ministers. In
his acceptance speech, Trimble made a conciliatory gesture towards republicans.
Recalling the murder of his colleague and friend Edgar Graham, Trimble told
republicans that his party accepted that people could change. Later in the
year Trimble stood the old Unionist slogan of a "Protestant government
for a Protestant people" on its head. In highlighting the inclusive
model of governance enshrined in the Agreement, he described the Assembly
as a "pluralist parliament for a pluralist people". |
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| Having
elected its leaders the Assembly adjourned until 14 September when it would
return to resolve standing orders and working practices and make the necessary
preparations for the North-South Ministerial Council and the setting up
of the Executive. |
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