This constituency takes in the southern quarter of Belfast City Council and adjacent parts of Castlereagh District Council. The constituency was expanded a little in 1983 and rather more in 1995. See also results of all South Belfast elections 1996-98 . A bitterly disappointing result for Alliance, whose Steve McBride came third in terms of first preference votes but was overtaken by four other candidates. This was always the most likely place for the Women's Coalition to break through.
Nobody can rest easy in South Belfast.
All four of the parties which won seats are vulnerable. On the Unionist side, the UUP and DUP are being chased by the Loyalists, with the UKUP some way behind. The SDLP beat Alliance for the last seat by only 151 votes, with 143 votes from undistributed Unionist surpluses also to be taken into account. Only a minor fall in the Women' s Coalition vote will lose their seat. And Sinn Fein's vote is slowly growing here as well.