'NI voters chose to stay away from elections'

Over half of those who failed to cast their vote in last year’s Assembly election in Northern Ireland chose not to do so, a new report revealed today.

The Electoral Commission’s report on last November’s Assembly election showed 122,000 fewer people voted last November than voted in the 1998 Assembly election – a slump of around 15%.

In an attitude survey carried out for the Commission, around 52%, said they had deliberately chosen not to cast their ballot, while the remainder were prevented from doing so.

Around 28% of those sampled for the survey said they did not vote because they were not interested in politics in Northern Ireland.

Around 7% said there was no point because all the parties in the province were the same, 6% felt no politician or party represented their view, while 4% said they did not trust politicians.

Another 3% said there was no point in voting because the Assembly, which was suspended in October 2002, would not be operating after the election anyway.

Electoral commissioner Karamjit Singh said the overall drop in turnout was a “cause for concern”.

He said: “We think that uncertainties around these elections and the new voting requirements may partly explain why 122,000 fewer people voted.

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

The Commission's report also revealed that there was much confusion on polling day among voters about whether they were on electoral register.

Voters in Northern Ireland are required to register every year to ensure that they can vote in the next election.

However the delay in holding the Assembly Election, which was pencilled in for May last year but moved to November, created confusion with the registration for this year’s European election occurring as people prepared to vote for the Assembly.

The Commission today urged the British government to amend the law to ensure that the time frame for including names on the electoral register in Northern Ireland was moved closer to election day and they also urged ministers to avoid holding elections around the same time as the fresh registration process.

The Electoral Commission report also revealed concerns about the secrecy of the ballot during last November’s Assembly Election, with some voters concerned that they could be identified by an electoral number on the voting paper.

The Electoral Commission has called for the introduction of watermarks on ballot papers.

The Electoral Office for Northern Ireland was today also asked to deploy more information technology and make more accessible election counts because of concerns about the length of time it took to produce results from the election in some constituencies.

The Commission did, however, admit that as a result of the Electoral Fraud Act, progress had been made.

The head of the Electoral Commission in Northern Ireland, Seamus Magee, said there did not appear to be significant problems over identification.

Voters last November had to present one of four forms of photograph ID before they were issued with a ballot paper.

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 to vote because they did not possess one of four prescribed forms of identification.”