Northern Ireland Women's Coalition
Encyclopedia
The Northern Ireland Women's Coalition was a minor political party in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

. It was founded in 1996 by Catholic academic Monica McWilliams
Monica McWilliams
Monica McWilliams is a Northern Ireland academic and former politician. From 2005 to 2011 she served as the second Chief Commissioner of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission....

 and Protestant social worker Pearl Sagar
Pearl Sagar
Pearl Sagar is a former politician in Northern Ireland.Brought up a Protestant, Sagar became a social worker in East Belfast, and married a soldier in the British Army....

 to contest the elections to the Northern Ireland Forum
Northern Ireland Forum
The Northern Ireland Forum was a body set up in 1996 as part of a process of negotiations that eventually led to the Belfast Agreement in 1998....

, the body for all-party talks which led to the Belfast Agreement
Belfast Agreement
The Good Friday Agreement or Belfast Agreement , sometimes called the Stormont Agreement, was a major political development in the Northern Ireland peace process...

. The party did not espouse a particular ideology and campaigned principally around the fact that it was led by women rather than men. It declined to take any position on whether Northern Ireland should be part of the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 or the Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...

, but strongly opposed sectarian violence from both sides. It attracted support from former supporters of the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
The Alliance Party of Northern Ireland is a liberal and nonsectarian political party in Northern Ireland. It is Northern Ireland's fifth-largest party overall, with eight seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly and one in the House of Commons....

, but also the Social Democratic and Labour Party
Social Democratic and Labour Party
The Social Democratic and Labour Party is a social-democratic, Irish nationalist political party in Northern Ireland. Its basic party platform advocates Irish reunification, and the further devolution of powers while Northern Ireland remains part of the United Kingdom...

 and the Ulster Unionist Party
Ulster Unionist Party
The Ulster Unionist Party – sometimes referred to as the Official Unionist Party or, in a historic sense, simply the Unionist Party – is the more moderate of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland...

.

In the 1996 Forum
Northern Ireland Forum
The Northern Ireland Forum was a body set up in 1996 as part of a process of negotiations that eventually led to the Belfast Agreement in 1998....

 elections McWilliams, Sagar and eight other Coalition candidates secured 7,731 votes (1.03% of the total) and did not win any constituency seats, but under a 'top-up' mechanism to ensure the representation of minor parties they were awarded two seats as Members of the Northern Ireland Forum
Members of the Northern Ireland Forum
This is a list of members of the Northern Ireland Forum. The Forum was elected in 1996. Most members were elected on a constituency basis, but the ten highest political parties winning the most votes were each allocated two top-up seats....

, taken by McWilliams and Sagar. They attended the negotiations dominated by the other 108 representatives and supported (but did not, as often reported, sign) the ensuing intergovernmental Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement. The party claimed credit for the inclusion of a commitment to integrated education in the agreement.

In the Northern Ireland Assembly election, 1998
Northern Ireland Assembly election, 1998
-Seats summary:-Details:Although the SDLP won the most first preference votes, the Ulster Unionists won the most seats in the Assembly. This has been attributed to several reasons, including:...

, the NIWC secured 13,018 votes (1.6%) and McWilliams, representing South Belfast, and Jane Morrice
Jane Morrice
Jane Morrice is a former politician in Northern Ireland. She was a prominent member of the Northern Ireland Women's Coalition until the NIWC ceased to exist in 2006 due to an ongoing electoral decline...

, representing North Down
North Down (Assembly constituency)
North Down is a constituency in the Northern Ireland Assembly.The seat was first used for a Northern Ireland-only election for the Northern Ireland Assembly, 1973...

, were elected to the inaugural Northern Ireland Assembly
Northern Ireland Assembly
The Northern Ireland Assembly is the devolved legislature of Northern Ireland. It has power to legislate in a wide range of areas that are not explicitly reserved to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and to appoint the Northern Ireland Executive...

. The party secured 3,301 votes (0.4%) and one council seat in the Northern Ireland local elections, 2001
Northern Ireland local elections, 2001
Elections for local government were held in Northern Ireland on 7 June 2001 along with the 2001 general election across the entire United Kingdom.-Overall:-Belfast:-References:...

; McWilliams also stood unsuccessfully as a candidate in the United Kingdom general election, 2001
United Kingdom general election, 2001
The United Kingdom general election, 2001 was held on Thursday 7 June 2001 to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. It was dubbed "the quiet landslide" by the media, as the Labour Party was re-elected with another landslide result and only suffered a net loss of 6 seats...

, securing 2,968 votes (0.4% of the Northern Ireland total).

Both its MLAs lost their seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly Elections, 2003, when the party's vote fell to 5,785 (0.8%), and its last remaining elected representative lost her seat on North Down Borough Council
North Down Borough Council
North Down Borough Council is a Local Council in County Down in Northern Ireland with an overall population of around 80,000. Its main town is Bangor, 20 km east of Belfast with a population of approximately 55,000. The Council is headquartered in Bangor. Its secondary centre is the former Urban...

 in 2005
Northern Ireland local elections, 2005
Elections for local government were held in Northern Ireland on 5 May 2005 along with the 2005 general election across the entire United Kingdom and local elections in England.-Results:-Belfast:-Derry:...

 when the NIWC secured 0.1% of the Northern Ireland vote. The party never contested another election and on May 11, 2006 the Women's Coalition was formally wound up at a function held in Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...

.

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