If you want to vote in Northern Ireland You must be registered.
In August of each year the electoral office send a registration form to each dwelling in Northern Ireland.
If you live in a house or flat, make sure this form is completed with the names of everyone aged 17 years or over who lives with you.
If you live alone complete the form yourself.
If you have not received a form, telephone the electoral office and request one.
Staff from the electoral office will call to collect the form and, if necessary will help you complete it.
Alternatively, you can post the form to:
The chief electoral officer
St Anne's electoral house
15 Church Street
Belfast BT1 1ER
01232 339955
REMEMBER
-You should register the address at which you are living on 15th September
-You should register if you are 17 years of age. You will then be able to vote as soon as you reach your 18th birthday
Voting registers can be inspected at sub-post and electoral offices.
If your name has not been included on the register contact the chief electoral officer.
Applications to be included on the current electoral register must be submitted before 16th December.
Postal or Proxy voting
You can apply for these AT ANY TIME and it is valid for a whole register year.
If you have difficulty getting to your polling station i.e. if you are away on holiday, on business or absent from your home for some other reason, you can apply for a postal or a proxy vote.
In order to do this you must first write to:
The Chief Electoral Officer for Northern Ireland
Ask for an application form to vote by post or proxy. Proxy - getting someone to vote on your behalf. YOU CANNOT DO BOTH.
If you decide to apply to vote by proxy you must find someone suitable to agree to act for you before giving his/her name on the application form.
NOT EVERYONE is allowed to act as proxy.
In order to act as proxy a person must not have agreed to act as proxy for more than two electors.
However, a British citizen or European Union citizen of voting age is not subject to any legal incapacity to vote.
If you prefer a postal vote, you will fill in the address on the form, to which the chief electoral officer should send your ballot paper. It must be within the UK. Postal ballot papers are normally sent out about a week before polling day. So, if you are not likely to be at that address during that period, you should consider choosing a proxy.
THE ASSEMBLY
The Northern Ireland assembly was established through the Northern Ireland (elections) Act of 1998,which followed the public's endorsement of the Good Friday Agreement in the May referendum.
The assembly's members where elected on the 25th June 1998 and it met for the first time on 1st July 1998.
108 MEMBERS SIT IN THE ASSEMBLY.
LORD ALDERDICE was appointed as the initial presiding officer for the new Northern Ireland assembly by the secretary of state for Northern Ireland, DR MO MOWLAND, MP.
The RT HON DAVID TRIMBLE MP has been elected as the first minister (designate).
The assembly has established the following committees:
- COMMITTEE ON STANDING ORDERS to assist the assembly in its consideration of standing orders.
- COMMITTEE TO ADVISE THE PRESIDING OFFICER on the arrangement of assembly business and on practical issues related to the provision of appropriate facilities for members.
- COMMITTEE ON THE PROCEDURAL CONSEQUENCES OF DEVOLUTION to assess the effect of the relationship and workings of, the Northern Ireland Assembly and the United Kingdom Parliament.
THE CIVIC FORUM
The Good Friday agreement states the forum "will comprise representative of the business, trade union and voluntary sectors," and that "it will act as a consultative mechanism on social, economic and cultural issues."
The forum size has yet to be established to have around 50 members
The forum members will be selected rather than elected by the business, trade union and voluntary sectors.
Participants in discussions on the forum, supported by NIVC observed:
"YOUNG PEOPLE were NOT adequately or meaningfully represented in the discussions and debates."
The voluntary sector has resolved to involve young people in this process.
So WHY NOT get involved
