A cross-community vote or cross-community support is a form of voting

Voting methods (parliamentary)

Deliberative assemblies - bodies that use parliamentary procedure to arrive at decisions - use several methods of voting on motions ....

 used in the 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...

 according to the provisions of the 1998 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...

. It requires the support of both communities in Northern Ireland, in other words majority of unionists and the majority of nationalist members of the Assembly. It is also used to a lesser extent at local government level

Local government in Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is divided into 26 districts for local government purposes. In Northern Ireland local councils do not carry out the same range of functions as those in the rest of the United Kingdom, for example they have no responsibility for education, for road building or for housing...

.

Background

Upon taking their seats members

Member of the Legislative Assembly (Northern Ireland)

Member of the Legislative Assembly is a representative elected by the voters to the Northern Ireland Assembly in Northern Ireland.- About :...

 of the Northern Ireland Assembly are required to designate themselves as either "unionist", "nationalist" or "other". MLAs are free to designate themselves as they see fit, the only requirement being that no member may change his or her designation more than once during an Assembly session.

A vote will not automatically require cross-community support. A "Petition of Concern" must first be presented to the Speaker

Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly

The Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly is the presiding officer of the Northern Ireland Assembly, elected on a cross-community vote by the Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly...

 by at least 30 of the 108 members. In a cross-community vote the majority of unionists and the majority of nationalist votes are required to pass a motion put to the Assembly.

Designations

Designations	2011 Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly elected in 2011 This is a list of the 108 members of the Northern Ireland Assembly elected in 2011. All members elected at the assembly elections, held on 5 May 2011 are listed. Eighty-three of the MLAs elected in 2011 had been members for all or part of the Assembly's previous term...	2007 Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly elected in 2007 This is a list of the 108 members of the Northern Ireland Assembly elected in 2007. All members elected at the assembly elections, held on 7 March 2007 are listed.-Results:11121315152571727932122232616268182810431323337...	2003	1998 Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly elected in 1998 This is a list of Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly elected in 1998.All members of the Assembly, or MLAs elected at the Northern Ireland Assembly election, 1998 are listed...
Unionist	56	54	59	58
Nationalist	43	44	42	42
Other	9	10	7	8

Note: These figures include the assumed designation of the Speaker who, having a non-partisan role, does not officially declare a designation.

Unionist

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	United Unionist Coalition United Unionist Coalition The United Unionist Coalition, formerly known as the United Unionist Assembly Party, was formed by three unionist members of the Northern Ireland Assembly who were elected as "independent unionists" in 1998. They were Fraser Agnew, Boyd Douglas and Denis Watson...

Nationalist

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Other

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External links

• Official website
• "The Nature of the British-Irish Agreement" by Brendan O´Leary