In the Assembly vote on 12 October 2026 to exclude the First Minister, all 34 members marked Unionist who voted were Ayes and none voted No, according to the Official Report's Votes on Division, with BBC News confirming the unionist-backed motion.
History. 4 of 5: the community that brought the motion voted for it in full; in 2016 the split was not recorded.
Hunch. The DUP and UUP both signed the motion against O’Neill.
The unionist vote market resolves on the same Votes on Division: YES if no member marked Unionist votes against the motion, and NO if one does; not voting does not count. The same VOID rule applies.
We looked for cases where Northern Ireland's Assembly voted on a motion to exclude a minister, which needs a majority of both unionist and nationalist members. We found votes on five days since 2000, with two motions on the same day in 2001.