Section 12: Effect of Orders in Council under the 1986 Act on NI Assembly constituencies
Section 12 amends section 33(3)(a) of the Northern Ireland Act 1998. Section 33 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 provides that five members of the Northern Ireland Assembly are returned for each of the parliamentary constituencies in Northern Ireland. Section 33(3) provides that where an Order in Council resulting from a boundary review under the 1986 Act changes one or more of the parliamentary constituencies in Northern Ireland, the constituency changes take effect for the purposes of elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly from the first ordinary or extraordinary Assembly election which takes place after the Order in Council comes into force.
	Section 12 amends section 33(3)(a) of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 so that the automatic changes to the constituencies of the Northern Ireland Assembly (as a result of UK Parliamentary constituency changes) will only take place from the first Assembly election, whose notice of election is published at least six months after the parliamentary constituency changes comes into force (i.e. the first Assembly election to take place after six months and 25 days from the date the constituencies come into force). There would be an exception to this if, during the six month and 25-day period, the UK Parliament was dissolved prior to a parliamentary general election to which the new constituencies apply. In this event, the new constituencies would be applied to the Northern Ireland Assembly from the date of the UK general election.