The election was the culmination of the years long Peace Process that had resulted in the Good Friday Agreement on 10th of April 1998.

[2] At the Sinn Féin Ard Fheis on the 10th of May the party voted to end its 77 year policy of abstentionism from NI government institutions.

[3] Two major issues during both the referendum and subsequent Assembly campaign was that of decommissioning and release of paramilitary prisoners.

On the same day the Ulster Volunteer Force announced a ceasefire in opposition to the Agreement, encouraging a No vote in the referendum.

Following a meeting with the Northern Ireland Secretary, Mo Mowlam, Vice President of Sinn Fein, Martin McGuinness, warned against "falling into the trap of trying to make decommissioning the most important item on the agenda".

On the 4th of June a Northern Ireland Office memo on the upcoming Independent Commission on Policing was leaked, resulting in controversy as it contained none of the people nominated by the Irish government on the behalf of nationalists.

[Note 1] Whilst the UUP retained its position as the largest party of unionism, its vote share of just 21.25% was the lowest it had ever achieved.

This was an improvement for the UKU compared to the 1996 Northern Ireland Forum election, whilst the PUP retained its two seats.

The Alliance Party had a disappointing night with their vote share remaining unchanged and the net loss of one seat.

The first column indicates the party of the Member of the House of Commons (MP) returned by the corresponding parliamentary constituency in the 1997 United Kingdom general election under the first-past-the-post voting method.