Armagh (Assembly constituency)

Armagh was a constituency used for the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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

Northern Ireland Assembly (1973)

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

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

Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention (1975)

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:

Election	Name (Party)		Name (Party)		Name (Party)		Name (Party)		Name (Party)		Name (Party)		Name (Party)
1975		Hugh News (SDLP)		Seamus Mallon (SDLP)		Herbert Whitten (UUP)		Michael Armstrong (UUP)		Douglas Hutchinson (DUP)		Thomas Carson (Vanguard)		Alistair Black (Vanguard)

Note: The columns in this table are used only for presentational purposes, and no significance should be attached to the order of columns. For details of the order in which seats were won at each election, see the detailed results of that election.

Northern Ireland Assembly (1982)

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:

Election	MLA (Party)		MLA (Party)		MLA (Party)		MLA (Party)		MLA (Party)		MLA (Party)		MLA (Party)
1982		Jim McAllister (Sinn Féin)		Hugh News (SDLP)		Seamus Mallon (SDLP)		Mary Simpson (UUP)		Jim Nicholson (UUP)		Harold McCusker (UUP)		David Calvert (DUP)
1983 by-election						Jim Speers (UUP)

Note: The columns in this table are used only for presentational purposes, and no significance should be attached to the order of columns. For details of the order in which seats were won at each election, see the detailed results of that election.

• David Calvert Democratic 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.

Elections

1982

Assembly Election – 20 October 1982
Party		Candidate	Count 1	Count 2	Count 3	Count 4	Count 5	Count 6	Count 7	Count 8	Count 9	Count 10	Count 11	Count 12	Count 13	Count 14
	UUP	Harold McCusker	19547
	SDLP	Seamus Mallon	8528
	UUP	Jim Nicholson	2590	7155	7156	7384	7472	7472	8137
	Sinn Féin	Jim McAllister	5182	5188	5230	5247	5248	7717	7720	7721	8090
	UUP	Mary Simpson	721	3838	3838	4147	4360	4361	4857	5126	5220	5221	8212
	DUP	David Calvert	2661	3110	3110	3124	3873	3873	4845	4868	4887	4887	5135	5310	9459
	SDLP	Hugh News	2871	2883	3256	3578	3580	3778	3781	3781	5460	5566	5570	5571	5576	5607
	SDLP	Paddy O'Hanlon	4231	4239	4501	4688	4691	4799	4800	4801	5199	5245	5252	5254	5255	5288
	DUP	Douglas Hutchinson	2333	2894	2894	2915	3630	3631	4259	4280	4297	4298	4741	5016
	UUP	Jim Speers	1836	3438	3438	3538	3623	3625	3858	3953	3981	3982
	Workers' Party	Tom French	2826	2850	2872	3270	3272	3470	3494	3494
	UUUP	Alistair Black	2014	2873	2873	2941	3096	3096
	Sinn Féin	Jim O'Hagan	3042	3049	3072	3088	3088
	DUP	Woolsey Smith	1716	2028	2028	2039
	Alliance	William Jeffrey	1806	1942	1958
Electorate=95610, valid=61904, spoiled=2078, quota=7739

source:

1975

1975 Constitutional Convention: Armagh
Party		Candidate	% 1st Pref	Count 1	Count 2	Count 3	Count 4	Count 5	Count 6	Count 7	Count 8	Count 9
	SDLP	Seamus Mallon	-	8,999
	UUP	Michael Armstrong	-	8,802
	DUP	Douglas Hutchinson	-	7,746
	UUP	Herbert Whitten	-	4,843	4,843	5,198	5,240	5,242	5,276	5,381	5,383	7,021
	Vanguard	Thomas Carson	-	5,974	5,974	6,225	6,367	6,371	6,388	6,439	6,448	6,885
	Vanguard	Alistair Black	-	5,435	5,435	6,064	6,180	6,188	6,213	6,283	6,287	6,789
	SDLP	Hugh News	-	3,303	4,261	4,261	4,261	4,327	4,375	5,074	6,140	6,457
	SDLP	Paddy O'Hanlon	-	4,710	5,095	5,095	5,095	5,190	5,206	5,678	6,243	6,361
	Unionist Party NI	John Maginnis	4.7	2,797	2,798	2,860	2,867	2,870	3,002	3,838	3,856
	Republican Clubs	Malachy McGurran	-	2,577	2,650	2,650	2,650	3,587	3,602	3,761
	Alliance	Michael Connolly	-	1,742	1,781	1,787	1,788	1,806	2,828
	Alliance	Brian English	-	1,307	1,318	1,327	1,328	1,332
	Republican Clubs	Patrick Houlahan	-	617	636	636	637
	Republican Clubs	Thomas Moore	-	536	546	546	546
Electorate: 90,640   Valid: 59,388   Spoilt: 2,011 (3.3%)   Quota: 7,424   Turnout: 61,399 (67.7%)

1973

1973 Assembly election: Armagh
Party		Candidate	% 1st Pref	Count 1	Count 2	Count 3	Count 4	Count 5	Count 6	Count 7	Count 8	Count 9	Count 10	Count 11	Count 12
	SDLP	Paddy O'Hanlon	13.4	8,219
	SDLP	Seamus Mallon	13.0	7,995
	UUP	Herbert Whitten	11.2	6,891	6,891.24	7,127.30	7,127.58	7,208.62	7,284.62	8140.62
	Vanguard	Thomas Carson	11.1	6,866	6,866.66	6,936.66	6,936.74	6,955.86	7,432.86	7,505.86	7,810.86
	UUP	James Stronge	7.1	4,335	4,336.44	4,458.56	4,458.72	4,524.72	4,537.78	5,235.84	5,383.84	5,526.94	8,693.94
	SDLP	Hugh News	7.7	4,731	5,163.30	5,278.40	5,564.96	5,670.04	5,672.08	5,677.18	5,677.18	5,677.73	5,688.79	5,691.03	7,832.03
	DUP	Douglas Hutchinson	7.4	4,552	4,552.12	4,598.18	4,598.50	4,612.50	4,821.50	4,902.56	6,620.56	6,644.76	6,887.40	7,237.40	7,431.40
	Vanguard	Frederick Crowe	4.0	2,465	2,465.12	2,492.12	2,492.24	2,503.28	3,639.34	3,689.34	4,168.34	4,190.89	4,447.37	4,904.33	5,093.33
	Alliance	Michael Connolly	4.2	2,572	2,589.70	2,763.38	2,780.06	4,268.62	4,275.72	4,292.72	4,302.72	4,304.37	4,329.30	4,630.34
	UUP	Alexander Greer	4.3	2,630	2,630.36	2,689.42	2,689.56	2,762.60	2,771.66	3,603.80	3,697.80	3,869.95
	DUP	Thomas Willey	4.3	2,616	2,616	2,639.06	2,639.14	2,642.14	2,726.14	2,773.14
	UUP	Robert James Mitchell	4.2	2,571	2,571.42	2,625.48	2,625.84	2,653.84	2,673.64
	Vanguard	Samuel McCammick	3.3	2,018	2,018.30	2,034.36	2,034.48	2,040.52
	Alliance	Howard McNally	2.7	1,637	1,642.58	1,940.60	1,945.54
	NI Labour	Thomas Newell	1.7	1,044	1,053.90
	Independent	Robert Murphy	0.4	238	244
Electorate: 89,056   Valid: 61,400   Spoilt: 1,955 (3.1%)   Quota: 7,676   Turnout: 63,355 (71.1%)