Armagh (Assembly constituency)

Armagh was a constituency used for the Northern Ireland Assembly. [ [http://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/carmagh.htm Armagh constituency at ARK] ]

The seat was first used for a Northern Ireland-only election for the Northern Ireland Assembly, 1973. Members were then elected from the constituency to the 1975 Constitutional Convention and the 1982 Assembly. After the Assembly dissolved in 1986, the constituency was not used again, its area being represented by parts of Newry and Armagh and Upper Bann.

It usually shared boundaries with the Armagh UK Parliament constituency, however the boundaries of the two constituencies were slightly different from 1983 to 1986 as the Assembly boundaries had not caught up with Parliamentary boundary changes.

For further details of the history and boundaries of the constituency, see Armagh (UK Parliament constituency).

Members

In 1982 elections were held for an Assembly for Northern Ireland to hold the Secretary of State to account, in the hope that this would be the first step towards restoring devolution. Armagh elected 7 members as follows:

*David Calvert Democratic Unionist Party
*Seamus Mallon Social Democratic and Labour Party
*James McAllister Sinn Féin
*Harold McCusker Ulster Unionist Party
*Hugh News Social Democratic and Labour Party
*Jim Nicholson Ulster Unionist Party
*Mary Simpson Ulster Unionist Party

Changes 1982-1986

*Seamus Mallon of the SDLP was disqualified from the Assembly as he was a member of the Republic of Ireland's Senate. The resulting by-election on April 20 1983 was won by Jim Speers of the Ulster Unionist Party.

In 1975 elections were held to a Constitutional Convention which sought (unsuccessfully) to generate a consensus on the future of the province. The seven members elected from Armagh were:

*Michael Armstrong Ulster Unionist Party
*Alister Black Vanguard Progressive Unionist Party
*Thomas Carson Vanguard Progressive Unionist Party
*Douglas Hutchinson Democratic Unionist Party
*Seamus Mallon Social Democratic and Labour Party
*Hugh News Social Democratic and Labour Party
*Herbert Whitten Ulster Unionist Party

In 1973 elections were held to the Assembly set up under the Sunningdale Agreement. The seven members elected from Armagh were:

*Thomas Carson Vanguard Progressive Unionist Party
*Paddy O'Hanlon Social Democratic and Labour Party
*Douglas Hutchinson Democratic Unionist Party
*Seamus Mallon Social Democratic and Labour Party
*Hugh News Social Democratic and Labour Party
*James Stronge Ulster Unionist Party pro Sunningdale
*Herbert Whitten Ulster Unionist Party pro Sunningdale

Elections

=1982=

References