Mid Ulster by-election, 2013
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The Mid Ulster seat in the House of Commons. Triggered by vacation of seat by incumbent |
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Map showing the Mid Ulster Parliamentary constituency within Northern Ireland.
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A by-election for the UK House of Commons constituency of Mid Ulster in Northern Ireland was held on 7 March 2013. The election was triggered by the resignation of Martin McGuinness, who had been elected to the seat in 1997 as the Sinn Féin candidate. The election was won by Francie Molloy, also of Sinn Féin.
On 11 June 2012, the sitting MP Martin McGuinness announced his intention to resign from the House of Commons to concentrate on his position as Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland and avoid so-called "double jobbing", by which members of the Northern Ireland Assembly sometimes also work as MPs or councillors.
Under the Westminster system, the vacation of a seat by a sitting MP triggers a by-election to choose their successor, with the election date in this case being set by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland due to Sinn Féin's policy of abstentionism. In reference to the cost incurred by such an election, Sinn Féin said they would have preferred the vacancy be filled by co-option (as used for other elected bodies in Northern Ireland), but this is not permitted in the Westminster system.
Having delayed the announcement in part to avoid a winter election, McGuinness confirmed he had resigned on 30 December 2012, with the formal process of being appointed Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead occurring on 2 January 2013, a procedural device that Sinn Féin oppose.
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