evidence: One notable departure from the conventional trajectory of Northern Ireland elections was the comments by the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) leader Mike Nesbitt on 13 February. In an interview on the BBC, Mr. Nesbitt announced he would be transferring his preference vote to the nationalist SDLP once he had voted for all UUP candidates.[1] While Nesbitt stopped short of calling on all UUP supporters to follow his lead, senior party figures criticised his call. Mr. Nesbitt also earned a strong rebuke from first minister and DUP leader Arlene Foster who said: "It is dangerous to advocate supporting candidates who are Pro-United Ireland above preferences for fellow unionists. The greater the number of nationalist MLAs elected the stronger the push will be for a Border Poll."[2] [...] [1] See: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-38960977 [2] See: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland-assembly-election/dup-leader-claims-it-is-dangerous-to-transfer-votes-to-nationalists-35460405.html [3] We do not assume that the outcome would have been the same under a system where only the first preferences taken into account. Rather, our focus is on what happens to transfers.