The Single Transferable Vote (STV)

The Single Transferable Vote is a system of proportional representation that allows voters to vote for individual candidates (as opposed to party lists) in order of preference. Voters rank the candidates in order of preference; first preference votes are the first to be looked at, and the votes are then transferred if necessary from candidates who have either been comfortably elected or who have done so badly that they are eliminated from the election.

In Northern Ireland this is the voting system used for elections to local councils, the Assembly, and the European Parliament. It is used for all elections in the Irish Republic, Malta, and Australia (although single-member constituencies are prevalent in Australia, apart from state level elections in Tasmania and the ACT).

The Electoral Reform Society of Great Britain and Ireland and the Proportional Representation Society of Australia web-sites describe the operations (and perceived advantages of) the single transferable vote system. The Centre for Voting and Democracy looks at the issue in the US context. See also reviews of how the system works in practice in other countries: Malta (by John Lane), the Irish Republic (by Michael Gallagher),and Tasmania (official Tasmanian parliament publication). For a good overview of these, if you have access to an academic library, you should hunt down D.M. Farrell, M. Mackerras and I. McAllister's "Designing Electoral Institutions - STV Systems and their Consequences" in Political Studies, 44 (1996) 24-43. Brian Wichmann has collected a lot of information about the voting system here, and more for the Electoral Reform Society here.

See also: The Boundary Commission's Provisional Recommendations | Boundary Commission 2003 | Jim Riley's analysis of votes and seats in the 1998 Assembly election | Gerrymandering | The constituencies | The political parties | The NI Executive | Useful books and links

Results from 1996 to 2001 for each seat: East Belfast | North Belfast | South Belfast | West Belfast | East Antrim | North Antrim | South Antrim | North Down | South Down | Fermanagh and South Tyrone | Foyle | Lagan Valley | East Londonderry | Mid Ulster | Newry and Armagh | Strangford | West Tyrone | Upper Bann

Surveys of each recent election: 2004 European | 2003 Assembly | 2001 Westminster | 2001 local govt | 2000 S Antrim | 1999 European | 1998 Assembly | 1997 local govt | 1997 Westminster | 1996 Forum | 1995 N Down | 1994 European | 1993 local govt | 1992 Westminster | 1989 European | 1989 local govt | 1987 Westminster | 1986 by-elections | 1985 local govt | 1984 European | 1983 Westminster | 1982 Assembly | 1981 local govt | 1979 European | 1979 Westminster | 1977 local govt | 1975 Convention | Oct 1974 Westminster | Feb 1974 Westminster | 1973 Assembly | 1973 local govt | Summary of all Northern Ireland elections since 1973 | Brief summary of election results 1997-2003

Historical pieces: Westminster elections 1885-1910 | The 1918 election | Dáil elections since 1918 | Westminster elections since 1920 | Senate of Southern Ireland 1921 | Irish Senate elections in 1925 | Northern Ireland House of Commons | Northern Ireland Senate

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

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Nicholas Whyte, 18 June 1999, last modified 9 September 2006.