SDLP spent nearly 10 times as much as Sinn Féin in Assembly elections

THE SDLP spent nearly 10 times as much as Sinn Féin in last year's Assembly elections and still ended up being beaten into second place for the nationalist vote for the first time.

It meant the SDLP paid out around stg£2 for each vote received, while Sinn Féin's cost them 18p each.

Campaign expenditure figures released by the Electoral Commission showed the SDLP as the big spender and also that the Ulster Unionists spent over stg£20,000 more than the Democratic Unionists, and still lost their place as the dominant party among unionism.

It was the first time the parties had to report their election spending to the Commission.

The Commission received returns from 10 parties on their expenditure.

SDLP - stg£234,911.

UUP - stg£170,912.

DUP - stg£147,867.

Progressive Unionist Party - stg£40,041.

Sinn Fein - stg£28,765.

Alliance Party - stg£24,801.

Women's Coalition - stg£8,150.

UK Independence Party - stg£5,190.

Seamus Magee, head of the Electoral Commissioner's Northern Ireland office, said it would allow the general public to see how funds are used by parties. Parties were allowed to spend stg£17,000 per constituency contested and a maximum of stg£306,000 if candidates stood in all 18 constituencies.