Northern Ireland

Fewer than one in 12 voters crossing the nationalist-unionist divide

Just four per cent of Catholics and two per cent of Protestants gave their first preference vote to an "opposite bloc" party last year, a survey has found. Picture by Rui Vieira/PA Wire
Just four per cent of Catholics and two per cent of Protestants gave their first preference vote to an "opposite bloc" party last year, a survey has found. Picture by Rui Vieira/PA Wire Just four per cent of Catholics and two per cent of Protestants gave their first preference vote to an "opposite bloc" party last year, a survey has found. Picture by Rui Vieira/PA Wire

FEWER than one in 12 voters gave a preference to a party across the traditional nationalist-unionist divide in last May's assembly election, a survey has suggested.

Nearly 2,500 people filled out mock ballot papers for the Electoral Reform Society (ERS) reflecting how they voted in their constituencies.

The results were published amidst a row within the UUP after leader Mike Nesbitt said he would give his second preference vote to the SDLP.

Several party colleagues have said they will not follow suit and will instead give preferences to other unionist candidates.

Just four per cent of Catholics and two per cent of Protestants gave their first preference vote to an "opposite bloc" party last year, according to the survey.

Moving down the ballot paper, just eight per cent of any preferences from Catholics were given to a unionist party, while only six per cent of preferences by Protestants were for nationalists.

However, parties deemed as "cross-community" received votes from one in five voters.

A third of all preferences were for candidates from parties outside the 'big four' of the SDLP, Sinn Féin, UUP and DUP, which the society said represented a "window for diversity that simply wouldn't be there without Northern Ireland’s proportional voting system".

The average voter expressed preferences for between three and four candidates on their ballot paper.

The research and analysis was conducted by academics from Queen’s University Belfast, the University of Bristol and the University of Oxford.

Professor John Garry from Queen’s said: "While Protestant and Catholic voters do tend to vote for 'their' respective blocs, the evidence from this study is that STV (single transferable vote) offers voters an opportunity - of which a modest number avail - to transfer to the political centre and other blocs with lower preferences."

The report will be formally launched at an event in Belfast next month.