Political Representation
Northern Ireland currently has the following political representation:
- the Northern Ireland Assembly has 108 Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) (currently 55 unionists, 45 nationalists, 9 others), which had its powers restored on 8 May 2007.
- 18 seats in the United Kingdom House of Commons (currently 9 unionist MPs, 8 nationalist MPs and 1 cross community MP)
- there are several unionists but no nationalists or republicans on the Privy Council of the United Kingdom (see List of Northern Ireland members of the Privy Council).
- three seats in the European Parliament (currently two unionist, one republican)
- at local level there are currently 26 district councils - on 22 November 2005 Peter Hain, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, announced proposals to reduce the number of councils to seven.
Read more about this topic: Demography And Politics Of Northern Ireland
Famous quotes containing the word political:
“If all political power be derived only from Adam, and be to descend only to his successive heirs, by the ordinance of God and divine institution, this is a right antecedent and paramount to all government; and therefore the positive laws of men cannot determine that, which is itself the foundation of all law and government, and is to receive its rule only from the law of God and nature.”
—John Locke (1632–1704)