Northern Ireland Good Friday Agreement referendum, 1998

Do you support the agreement reached at the multi-party talks on Northern Ireland and set out in Command Paper 3883?

Location

Date

22 May 1998

Results
	Votes	%
Yes	676,966	7001711200000000000♠71.12%
No	274,879	7001288800000000000♠28.88%
Valid votes	951,845	7001998100000000000♠99.81%
Invalid or blank votes	1,738	6999180000000000000♠0.18%
Total votes	953,683	100.00%
Registered voters/turnout	1,175,403	7001811400000000000♠81.14%

Northern Ireland

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The Good Friday Agreement referendum, 1998 was a referendum held in Northern Ireland over whether there was support for the Good Friday Agreement. The result was a majority (71.1%) in favour. A simultaneous referendum held in the Republic of Ireland produced an even larger majority (94.4%) in favour.

Party support

All the main UK political parties (Labour, Conservative, and Liberal Democrat) supported the Yes campaign, though the local branch of the Conservatives supported the No campaign. Of the local Northern Ireland parties represented in the Northern Ireland Peace Forum, the Ulster Unionist Party, Social Democratic and Labour Party, Sinn Féin, Alliance, Progressive Unionist Party, Ulster Democratic Party, Northern Ireland Women's Coalition and local "Labour" groups supported the proposals.

The only two parties in the Forum to campaign against the Agreement were the Democratic Unionist Party and the UK Unionist Party, though many prominent individuals in the Ulster Unionists also did so. Some minor parties campaigned against it. Republican Sinn Féin, which at the time did not run candidates in Northern Ireland, still opposes the agreement.

In the Republic of Ireland, all parties represented in the Oireachtas were in favour – Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Labour, Progressive Democrats, Democratic Left, Green Party, Sinn Féin and the Socialist Party.

Results

The Northern Ireland referendum was held on 22 May 1998. There was a large majority of 'Yes'. A total of 1,738 ballots were spoiled. Turnout, at 81.1% was very high for a developed country where voting is not compulsory.^[1] Turnout in the equivalent referendum in the Republic of Ireland was average for a constitutional referendum but returned almost universal approval (94.39%).

The electorate were asked to indicate: Do you support the agreement reached at the multi-party talks on Northern Ireland and set out in Command Paper 3883?

Northern Ireland Good Friday Agreement referendum, 1998
Choice	Votes	%
Yes	676,966	71.1
No	274,979	28.9
Invalid or blank votes	1,738	0.18
Total votes	953,683	100.00
Registered voters and turnout	1,175,403	81.1

The referendum in the Republic of Ireland on the same day, rather than explicitly seeking approval of the Agreement itself, sought endorsement of constitutional amendments required by the Agreement, and produced an overwhelming Yes vote: see Ireland referendum, 1998.

Turnout

The turnout in Northern Ireland was noticeably high at 81.1% and even more remarkably the turnout was quite high even throughout Northern Ireland, compared to many elections where turnout is highest in strong nationalist areas and significantly lower in unionist areas. It is estimated that approximately 147,000 people who do not normally vote in elections turned out to vote in the referendum, most of them in traditionally staunch unionist areas. In the Republic the turnout was lower, at 56.3%.^[1]

Legislative responses

The UK Parliament passed the Northern Ireland Act 1998, while in the Republic the Nineteenth Amendment of the Constitution Act 1998 passed into law.

References

1 2 ARK: Northern Ireland Elections, The 1998 Referendums

Elections and referendums in Northern Ireland

NI general elections	1921 1925 1929 1933 1938 1945 1949 1953 1958 1962 1965 1969

Ad-hoc elections	1973 1975 1982 1996

Assembly elections	1998 2003 2007 2011 2016

European elections	1979 1984 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009 2014

Local elections	1924 1946 1967 1973 1977 1981 1985 1989 1993 1997 2001 2005 2011 2014

Referendums	1973 1998

UK general elections	2001 2005 2010 2015

See also: Elections in the Kingdom of Ireland Elections in Ireland as part of the UK UK elections

(1997 ←) United Kingdom local elections, 1998 (→ 1999)

London boroughs	London Borough councils Barking and Dagenham Barnet Bexley Brent Bromley Camden Croydon Ealing Enfield Greenwich Hackney Hammersmith and Fulham Haringey Harrow Havering Hillingdon Hounslow Islington Kensington and Chelsea Kingston upon Thames Lambeth Lewisham Merton Newham Redbridge Richmond upon Thames Southwark Sutton Tower Hamlets Waltham Forest Wandsworth Westminster

Metropolitan boroughs	Barnsley Birmingham Bolton Bradford Bury Calderdale Coventry Doncaster Dudley Gateshead Kirklees Knowsley Leeds Liverpool Manchester Newcastle upon Tyne North Tyneside Oldham Rochdale Rotherham Salford Sandwell Sefton Sheffield Solihull South Tyneside St Helens Stockport Sunderland Tameside Trafford Wakefield Walsall Wigan Wirral Wolverhampton

Unitary authorities	Bristol Derby Hartlepool Isle of Wight Kingston upon Hull Milton Keynes North East Lincolnshire Portsmouth Southampton Stoke-on-Trent Swindon

District councils (England)	Adur Amber Valley Barrow-in-Furness Basildon Basingstoke and Deane Bassetlaw Bedford Brentwood Broadland Broxbourne Burnley Cambridge Cannock Chase Carlisle Cheltenham Cherwell Chester Chorley Colchester Congleton Craven Crawley Crewe and Nantwich Daventry Eastbourne Eastleigh Ellesmere Port and Neston Elmbridge Epping Forest Exeter Fareham Gloucester Gosport Great Yarmouth Harlow Harrogate Hart Hastings Havant Hertsmere Huntingdonshire Hyndburn Ipswich Lincoln Macclesfield Maidstone Mole Valley Newcastle-under-Lyme North Hertfordshire Norwich Nuneaton and Bedworth Oxford Pendle Penwith Preston Purbeck Redditch Reigate and Banstead Rochford Rossendale Rugby Runnymede Rushmoor Shrewsbury and Atcham South Bedfordshire South Cambridgeshire South Lakeland St Albans Stevenage Stratford-on-Avon Stroud Swale Tamworth Tandridge Three Rivers Tunbridge Wells Watford Waveney Welwyn Hatfield West Lancashire West Lindsey West Oxfordshire Weymouth and Portland Winchester Woking Worcester Worthing Wyre Forest

National Assembly elections	Northern Ireland

Referendums	Greater London Authority Northern Ireland Good Friday Agreement

Devolution in the United Kingdom

Devolved areas

National level	Northern Ireland Scotland Wales

Regional level (in England)	Combined authorities Directly elected mayoralties Greater London Authority

Referendums¹

English mayoral referendums
- London, 1998
- 2012
North East England
- 2004
Northern Ireland
- 1998
Scotland
- 1979
- 1997
Wales
- 1979
- 1997
- 2011

Heads of devolved governments

Devolved legislatures²

Devolved administrations³

Organisations and laws of the
legislatures and governments
of the UK and the devolved areas

Commissions (UK Parliament)	Kilbrandon Commission Holtham Commission Silk Commission McKay Commission

Commissions (devolved legislatures)	National Assembly for Wales Richard Commission Holtham Commission Scottish Parliament Calman Commission Smith Commission

Devolution acts	Greater London Authority Acts 1999 2007 Northern Ireland Acts 1998 2006 Wales Acts 1998 2006 2014 2016–2017 Scotland Acts 1998 2012 2016

Select committees	Northern Ireland Affairs Scottish Affairs Welsh Affairs

Grand committees	England Northern Ireland Scottish Welsh

Departments and Territorial Offices (MOJ)	Cabinet Office - Devolution Secretariat Ministry of Justice - Devolution Directorate-General Office of the Advocate General for Scotland Northern Ireland Office Scotland Office Wales Office

Elections

Current	Agreements/Treaties Anglo-Irish Treaty Good Friday Agreement Budget Barnett formula Block grant Constitution of the United Kingdom Reserved and excepted matters West Lothian question

Proposals	Cornwall Cornish Assembly Cornish Constitutional Convention Mebyon Kernow Revived Cornish Stannary Parliament Devolved English parliament Campaign for an English Parliament Northern England Campaign for the North Yorkshire First Other parts of Southern England Wessex Regionalist Party Scotland Full fiscal autonomy

Historical	Administrations of England English Regional Assemblies, 1998-2010 Administrations of London London County Council Greater London Council Administrations of Northern Ireland 1922–72 1974 Legislatures of Northern Ireland 1922–72 1973–74 1982–86 Northern Ireland-related legislation of the UK Parliament Ireland, 1886 Ireland, 1893 Ireland, 1914 Ireland, 1920 Irish Free State, 1922 Northern Ireland, 1974 Irish Home Rule movement Prime Minister of Northern Ireland Scotland Act 1978 Scottish Office Sunningdale Agreement Wales Act 1978 Welsh Office

1. Rejected referendums are italicised. The others were fully or partially approved.
2. There is no law-making body for any regionally devolved area.
3. Administrations of regionally devolved areas are omitted.

Category

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