For each year for which a Northern Ireland Assembly election takes place
The directory layout and table schema are described below:
In the head directory, information on the election contest taking place, to provide comparability with other Assembly elections as well as working towards a common system for describing elections across the world.
| Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Contest_ID | URI | A URI providing a unique identifier for the individual electoral contest |
| Name | String | A name for the election, e.g. "UK Parliamentary Election 2015" |
| Election_Type | String | The type of election. This should ideally draw from a controlled vocabulary |
| Electoral_System | String | Identifies the electoral system being used in the election. Ideally this should draw from a controlled vocabulary |
| Start_Date | Date | The date on which the electoral contest begun (i.e. voting day) |
| End_Date | Date | The date on which the electoral contest ended. Some contests run for a single day, in which case the start and end dates will be the same |
Tables covering all constituencies, political parties and candidates standing across all eligble electoral areas.
Identifiers for all constituencies in election
| Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Constituency_Number | URI | {key} unique ID number given to each constituency, based on NI Assembly Open Data codes. See http://data.niassembly.gov.uk/members_json.ashx?m=GetAllConstituencies |
| Constituency_Name | String | Full (official) name |
| ONS_Code | URI | Office of National Statistics identifying code for the analogous Westminster Parliamentary Constituency. See https://geoportal.statistics.gov.uk/geoportal/catalog/search/resource/details.page?uuid=%7B7E721144-C4DD-43A4-AEA3-BF94EB77A633%7D |
| Constituency_Code | URI | Abbreviation of constituency name (generally 2-letter, but 3-letter in case of Newry & Armagh: NYA) |
| Number_Of_Seats | Integer | The number of seats available in the constituency |
| Constituency_Directory | String | Constituency name in the /constituency directory |
The post-election version contains additional columns with information about polling turnout from the individual ConstituencyCount tables:
| Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Voting_Age_Pop | Integer | Total population aged 18+ (n.b. some may not be entitled to vote due to residency status) |
| Total_Poll | Integer | Total number of votes cast |
| Spoiled | Integer | Total number of invalid votes |
| Valid_Poll | Integer | Total number of valid votes to be counted =(Total_Poll - Spoiled) |
| Quota | Integer | Pass mark for total number of votes to be elected in any stage |
| Total_Electorate | Integer | Total number of eligible voters on the electoral register |
| Turnout_pct | Float | The turnout: Total_Poll as a percentage of Total_Electorate |
Identifiers for all political parties (N.B. there is a 'party' for Independent candidates).
| Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Party_Id | URI | {key} unique ID number given to each party. Parties currently represented in the Assembly will be given the same Party_Id code as http://data.niassembly.gov.uk/organisations_json.ashx?m=GetPartiesListCurrent |
| Party_Name | String | Political party title |
| Party_Abbreviation | String | Short acronym for party |
| Hex_Col | String | 6-digit html color code |
Each constituency has its own Directory within in /constituency, matching those in that in NI/constituencies.csv (above), each with the following set of tables.
Candidate information for the constituency
| Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Constituency_Name | String | As with the NI/constituencies table |
| Constituency_Number | URI | As with the NI/constiteuncies table |
| Candidate_Id | URI | {key} unique ID number given to each candidate |
| Firstname | String | Candidate's first name |
| Surname | String | Candidate's surname |
| Outgoing_Member | Boolean | If the member was an incumbent MLA at the end of the previous Assembly mandate ('1' true; '0' false) |
| Party_Id | URI | As with the NI/parties table |
| Party_Name | String | As with the NI/parties table |
| Photo_URL | URI | Link to the candidate's profile picture |
| Constituency_Directory | String | As with the NI/constituencies table |
| Gender | String | [M]Male/[F]Female/[O]Other |
Headline data on polling in the constituency.
| Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Constituency_Number | URI | {key} As with the NI/constituencies table |
| Total_Poll | Integer | Total number of votes cast |
| Spoiled | Integer | Total number of invalid votes |
| Valid_Poll | Integer | Total number of valid votes to be counted =(Total_Poll - Spoiled) |
| Quota | Integer | Pass mark for total number of votes to be elected in any stage |
| Total_Electorate | Integer | Total number of eligible voters on the electoral register |
| Number_Of_Seats | Integer | Number of seats to be filled in constituency |
| Constituency_Code | String | As with the NI/constituencies table |
| Voting_Age_Pop | Integer | Total population aged 18+ (n.b. some may not be entitled to vote due to residency status) |
The results for each candidate and each count stage, representing the Single Transferable Vote system. Note that there is no {key} value (as the Candidate_Id will appear more than once), but that a number of keys from other tables are included. There is a row for each candidate at each count stage, even if they have already been excluded from the process.
| Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Constituency_Number | URI | As with the NI/constituences table |
| Candidate_Id | URI | As with the [Constituency_Directory]/Candidates table |
| Count_Number | Integer | Runs sequentially from 1 to the final count stage number |
| Firstname | String | As with the [Constituency_Directory]/Candidates table |
| Surname | String | As with the [Constituency_Directory]/Candidates table |
| Candidate_First_Pref_Votes | Integer | Number of First Preference Votes received by each candidate. The same value for each candidate should be present in each Count_Number as this does not change |
| Transfers | Float | The number of transfers received after the first stage (in Count_Number: 1 this will be 0). Can be negative when votes are transferred from a candidate due to exclusion or exceeding the quota |
| Total_Votes | Float | The total number of votes that have been amassed by the candidate at the current count number =(Candidate_First_Pref_Votes + the sum of all Transfers at previous and current stages) |
| Status | String | If the candidate has been elected or excluded in this or any previous stage. ('Elected', 'Excluded' or null) |
| Occurred_On_Count | Integer | Count_Number that the change in status occured (even if it was on a previous count) |
| Party_Name | String | As with [Constituency_Directory]/Candidates table |
Number of votes not transferred in each count, kept separately.
| Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Constituency_Number | URI | As with /NI/constituencies table |
| Count_Number | Integer | As with /[Constituency_Directory]/Count table (this will not include 1 as no votes will be transferred at this stage) |
| Non_Transferable | Float | Number of votes not transferred to any candidate |