122,000 fewer people voted in Assembly poll

The Assembly elections last November were "broadly satisfactory" and the results held to be valid by all the political parties…

The Assembly elections last November were "broadly satisfactory" and the results held to be valid by all the political parties, the Electoral Commission reported yesterday.

However, the commission, an independent body which monitors the democratic process, produced more than 40 recommendations and warned against public disengagement from voting, especially among the young.

Although concluding that widespread electoral fraud was not an issue it was critical of aspects of the polling procedure, the manner in which counts were conducted and the location of some count venues.

The report also cited evidence of media coverage of the election. It found that The Irish Times published 96 articles on the election throughout the campaign, the highest total of any newspaper apart from the Belfast dailies.

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The commission points to the trend for fewer electors to turn out to vote on polling day, a trend shared by many Western democracies.

However, the report found that some 122,000 fewer people voted in the last Assembly election than in 1998, a decrease of some 15 per cent. It added that if the percentage turnout was measured against the total number of adults of voting age, as opposed to those registered and eligible to vote, the figure was a mere 56.2 per cent.

It also concluded that men were more likely to vote than women (71 per cent to 64 per cent) and that those aged 18-24 were nearly twice as unlikely to vote as electors over the age of 55.

"Just not interested in politics" was the most reported reason for not voting, although some 19 per cent were not registered or did not receive a polling card, while a further 6 per cent did not have the correct voter identification.

The electoral commissioner, Mr Karamjit Singh, said the overall drop in turnout was a cause for concern. "We think that uncertainties around these elections and the new voting requirements may partly explain why 122,000 fewer people voted," he said.

"This challenges the traditional view that elections in Northern Ireland always have a high turnout."

Voters in Northern Ireland must present one of four forms of photographic identification, and individual voters must register annually in order to ensure their right to vote.

The head of the Electoral Commission in Northern Ireland, Mr Séamus Magee, said there did not appear to be significant problems over identification. Just under 3,500 people presented out-of-date or invalid identification.

Mr Magee said: "Overall presiding officers reported no significant problems with identification. However, we cannot be sure how many voters did not turn out because they did not possess one of four prescribed forms of identification."

Sinn Féin has hotly contested elements of the commission's findings and returned to its criticism of new voter eligibility rules introduced in advance of last year's election.

Mr Mitchel McLaughlin, the party chairman, disputed the commission finding that electoral fraud was not a major issue.

"The fact is that a massive electoral fraud took place in the lead-up to the election with the preparation of the register," he said. "Due to this well over 100,000 were disenfranchised, and the Electoral Commission themselves indicated that a further 30,000 were disenfranchised through the photo ID requirements.

"This has continued to the point where up to 211,000 people are currently disenfranchised, and we would expect the situation to become even worse when the latest register is published next week."