from William Barratt The Northern Ireland Labour Party has prepared a document giving many details of the election anomalies and malpratices which take place in Ulster. The following is a summary of the main points concerning Stormont elections and local government, The Stormont Parliament The Commons: It was laid down by the Government of Ireland Act, 1920, that
the House. of Commons should consist of 52 members (4 from Queens University and 48 from other constituencies) to be elected by proport= ional representation....The Act also provided that, after the lapse of 3 years, the Northern Ireland Parliament might alter the law. These powers were exercised in 1929, when proportional representation was abolished except in the university seats. The number and boundaries of the seats have remained unchanged since then - a lapse of 36 years - despite massive population movements during the period, These laws were consolidated in the Electoral Law Act, 1962, the Ulster Unionist Government refusing intransigently to accept any amendments put down by Labour and Nationalist M.P.s. The Bill being forced through by the ruthless use of guillotine procedure after several all-night sittings. There are numerous discrepancies between the law governing Stormont elections and those governing Westminster elections. The University vote: 13,763 electors - the graduates of Queens University -
have the right to choose one-thirteenth of the entire House of Commons. The electoral quota for other constituencies is 13,192; but in the University constituency, there is one M.P. for every 3,440 electors, As if this were not enough these are second votes - those gra‘uates who live in Northern Ireland also enjoy the right to vote in the constituency in which they reside. The Business vote: The occupier of business premises in any constituency and, incredibly enough, his spouse also ~ are each entitled to an additional vote in every Stormont election, In 1964, there were 12,663 business votes on the Parliamentary Register, 8,942 of them in Belfast. 1,952 of these are in the Belfast Central constituency. In the 1962 Stormont General Election, the overall majority of the Unionist candidates in the ten seats contested by the Unionists and Northern Ireland Labour was only 5,160. It is evident that the existence of the business vote could easily determine the outcome. Qualification for voting: In order to vote, an elector must be a British
citizen aged 21 or over and must have either been born in Northern Ireland or must have resided in the United Kingdom for a continuous period of 7 years, For Westminster there is no such residential qualification. For Westminster, young voters who attain 21 within 6 months after the qualifying date are entitled to be registered as "Y" voters, and to exercise voting rights after a specified date. No machinery for "Y" voters exists in Northern Ireland elections, Number of seats, and boundaries: Amendments to abolish the 4 University seats
were ruled out of order on the grounds that such a course would have been ultra vires the Government of Ireland Act, There is room for considerable doubt whether this view is correct. Even if it is accepted as correct, however, an enabling Act should be sought from the Westminster Parliament to permit redistribution of the seats. The discrepancies between the numbers of electors in different seats has reached grave
How the Tories keep power in Ulster continued/ proportions. The figures for the three largest and for the three smallest constituencies ares: Biggest 1. Mid-Dowm 41,402. Smallest 1. Dock ‘rt t3g6Ok
2 Carrisk 38,910 2. South Fermanagh 8,799
3. South Antrim 33,133 3, Central 9,719
It is widely believed that the boundaries of some parliamentary constituencies are gerrymandered, While this is not.so evident as in the case of local government boundaries, some of the parliamentary boundaries are = to say the least - peculiar. Administration of elections: The representation of the People Act, in Britain,
provides that candidates should have the right to to use schools for election purposes. A request for similar facilities in the Stormont elections was refused in 1961, despite the almost complete absence of suitable meeting places unconnected with political organisation in country districts of Northern Ireland, The hours of voting for Westminster are 7,00 a.m. to.9.00 peme, but for Stormont 8.30 a.m. to 8.30 psm. As most elections are held on Thursday and Thursday is a day on which many workers are expected to work late, this provision unfairly favours the more leisured classes, The Senate: The Senate of Northern Ireland consists of 24 Senators elected on
the principle of proportional representation by the members of the Commons, and holding office for eight years. There are also two ex-officio Senators, the Lord Mayor of Belfast and the Mayor of Londonderry. The effect of this system has been to intensify the strength of the majority party and to minimise the strength of small parties. In practice, five first preference votes are required to elect one senator; and accordingly no party with less than five seats in the Commons can by itself secure representation in the Senate, Local Government: At present, the law relating to local government elections
contains the most glaring undemocratic and indefensible features to be found in any sector of life in Northern Ireland. Qualification for voting: Apart from business and company votes, only the occu-
pier of a dwelling-house and his spouse are entitled to vote. Their children over 21, their sub-tenants, their lodgers, etc.,. are all disenfrewhised. Of the 891,107 adults who are Westminster electors in Northern Ireland, only 648,417 are entitled to vote in local government, thus meaning that 242,690 have been disenfranchised (or well over one-third). Business and Company votes: Additional voting weight is given to the business
community: the occupier of business premises with a valuation of £10 or over is entitled to a second vote in respect of these premises, and a company may s@cure registration of up to six local government electors - one for each £10 of the rateable value, There were 6,467. business votes and 3,894 company votes, on the local government register for Northern Ireland at February 15th, 1964. (it is curious that there are 1,179 registered company voters in Londonderry, while there are only 651 in Belfast.) Boundaries: There can be no doubt that the manipulation of local government
boundaries takes place in Northern Ireland on a big scale. The glaring example of Derry will suffices 37% of the population is protestant, and with two wards, elects 12 councillors, all Unionist; 63% of the population is Catholic, and with one ward, elects 8 councillors, all Nationalists, The largest ward in Belfast (Pottinger) has 22,728 voters; whilst the smallest (Smithfield) has 3,247 voterss