South Antrim by-election

21 September 2000

map

The by-election held on 21 September 2000 as a result of the death of the UUP's Clifford Forsythe was won by the Rev William McCrea (DUP).

Full results

William McCrea	DUP	11601	37.95%
David Burnside	UUP	10779	35.26%
Donovan McClelland	SDLP	3496	11.44%
Martin Meehan	SF	2611	8.54%
David Ford	Alliance	2031	6.64%
David Collins	Nat Law	49	0.16%

DUP majority of 822. The turnout was 43%.

South Antrim election results, 1996-2000

	DUP	UUP	UKUP	PUP	Oth U	Alliance	Oth	SDLP	SF
2000	37.95%	35.26%				6.64%	0.16%	11.44%	8.54%
1998a	20.12%	29.95%	9.91%	3.51%		8.59%	2.89%	17.69%	7.33%
1997lg	13%	40%	1%	3%	2%	10%	10%	18%	2%
1997w		57%		9%		12%	1%	16%	6%
1996f	24%	30%	5%	4%	4%	8%	5%	15%	5%

I ran a predictions contest for this election. Only six out of twenty-four entrants expected McCrea to win; the median entry gave the UUP 35% (almost exactly right), the DUP 31% (7% too low), the SDLP 16% (5% too high), SF 11% (2% too high), Alliance 9% (2% too high) and the Natural Law Party 0% (correct within the usual margin of error). The winner of the contest, with an average error of 1.7% for each party, was David Boothroyd.

See also: South Antrim results 1996-2001 |

Other sites based at ARK: ORB (Online Research Bank) | CAIN (Conflict Archive on the INternet) | Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey

Your comments, please! Send an email to me at nicholas.whyte@gmail.com.

Nicholas Whyte, 5 September 2000; last modified 16 February 2002.

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