Belfast West. How do Sinn Féin spread their vote?

For supporters of the Single Transferable Vote (STV)  the result in the recent Northern Ireland election provided some intriguing results, None more so than Belfast west

The election was carried out after the number of seats in the Assembly were cut with only 5 rather than 6 MLA being elected.

It meant that  Party strategist  had to examine their potential vote and try and forecast how many seats they can win.

Put up too few candidates and get a swing and you may miss out on a seat in a constituency.

Out uo too many candidates and your vote could be split and candidates eliminated  before their vote can be transferred between each other.

Even in seats where you are dominant  you need to ensure that you don't lose out if one candidate of your party gets a large number of First preference votes and you can see some eliminated before transfers come to their rescue.

That is why Belfast West was so intriguing

2017

2017 Assembly election: Belfast West - 5 seats[1]
Party		Candidate	% 1st Pref	Count 1	Count 2	Count 3	Count 4
	Sinn Féin	Órlaithí Flynn	17.1	6,918
	People Before Profit	Gerry Carroll	12.2	4,903	6,514	8,252
	Sinn Féin	Alex Maskey	15.7	6,346	6,451	7,036
	Sinn Féin	Fra McCann	15.4	6,201	6,314	6,636	7,067
	Sinn Féin	Pat Sheehan	13.5	5,466	5,515	5,739	5,903
	DUP	Frank McCoubrey	10.1	4,063	4,372	4,490	4,521
	SDLP	Alex Attwood	8.6	3,452	4,019
	People Before Profit	Michael Collins	2.7	1,096
	Alliance	Sorcha Eastwood	1.9	747
	UUP	Fred Rogers	1.2	486
	Workers' Party	Conor Campbell	1.0	415
	Green (NI)	Ellen Murray	0.6	251
Electorate: 61,309   Valid: 40,344   Spoilt: 586 (1.4%)   Quota: 6,725   Turnout: 40,930 (66.76%)

Sinn Féin won 4 out of the 5 seats with only  Gerry Carroll of People Before Profit gaining the other seat

What is interesting  is that Sinn Féin candidates topped the poll and hat one candidate does not run away from his or pack members.

This was even true when  Gerry Adams was a candidate and the seat had six members.

2007 Assembly election: Belfast West - 6 seats
Party		Candidate	% 1st Pref	Count 1	Count 2	Count 3	Count 4	Count 5	Count 6
	Sinn Féin	Gerry Adams	17.8	6,029
	Sinn Féin	Sue Ramsey	14.0	4,715	5,266.60
	Sinn Féin	Paul Maskey	12.9	4,368	4,758.60	4,774.05	4,783.95	4,821.80	5,074.80
	Sinn Féin	Jennifer McCann	12.6	4,265	4,294.80	4,665.75	4,667.70	4,693.50	4,848.50
	SDLP	Alex Attwood	9.0	3,036	3,148.80	3,149.70	3,196.90	3,234.90	4,779.10
	Sinn Féin	Fra McCann	12.6	4,254	4,323.80	4,344.95	4,353.80	4,378	4,646.85
	DUP	Diane Dodds	10.8	3,661	3,661	3,661.15	3,671.15	3,677.15	4,166
	SDLP	Margret Walsh	3.2	1,074	1,086.20	1,087.10	1,110.30	1,156.50
	People Before Profit	Seán Mitchell	2.3	774	789	789.60	830.40	968.80
	UUP	Louis West	1.7	558	558.80	558.80	579.80	581.80
	Workers' Party	John Lowry	1.3	434	440	440.45	452.65	452.65
	Republican Sinn Féin	Geraldine Taylor	1.3	427	429	429.45	437.05
	Alliance	Dan McGuinness	0.4	127	132.40	133.30
	Make Politicians History	Rainbow George	0.2	68	69	69
Electorate: 50,792   Valid: 33,790   Spoilt: 448   Quota: 4,828   Turnout: 34,238 (67.4%)

Surely this can't be  simply as a result of voter preferences within the Part candidates.

I would suspect that a Candidate like Addams would get a huge number of the First preference  and his surplus votes going o another Star candidate leaving the rest to battle not to be eliminated in the early rounds;


Does the Party have a campaign strategy to ensure a spread of First Preference votes ?

The question that intrigues me is how does a Part make sure that their first preference vote does not go to a " Star" candidate, and it is spread more evenly through the Party candidates .

There are calls for election to the Welsh Assembly to be conducted under STV something I support

But it is clear that if this happens the role of Party Strategist will be enhanced and they will need to learn  how to maximise their vote and maybe poor over then statistics over a number of elections, both in the North and Republic of Ireland.

Is there any information