The 1929 Northern Ireland general election was held on 22 May 1929. Like all previous elections to the Parliament of Northern Ireland, it produced a large majority for the Ulster Unionist Party. It was the first held after the abolition of proportional representation and the redrawing of electoral boundaries to create single-seat constituencies. Though it had been argued this was done with the intent of gerrymandering, this has been considered unlikely as the Unionists already had a solid majority at the parliamentary level.^[1] However, the opposite was more accurate at local level.^[2] As with the rest of the United Kingdom, this has made it more difficult for independent and minor party candidates like the Northern Ireland Labour Party to win seats, as was the intent of the abolition of proportional representation was for the UUP to control the Unionist vote.^[2]

Quick Facts All 52 seats to the House of Commons of Northern Ireland 27 seats were needed for a majority, First party ...

1929 Northern Ireland general election

← 1925 22 May 1929 1933 →
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All 52 seats to the House of Commons of Northern Ireland 27 seats were needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   NIL Leader James Craig Joe Devlin Samuel Kyle Party UUP Nationalist NI Labour Leader since 7 June 1921 1918 1925 Leader's seat North Down Belfast Central Belfast Oldpark (defeated) Last election 32 seat, 55.0% 10 seats, 23.8% 3 seats, 4.7% Seats won 37[a] 11[b] 1 Seat change 5 1 2 Popular vote 148,579[c] 34,069[c] 23,334[c] Percentage 50.8% 11.7% 8.0% Swing 4.2% 9.5% 3.3%
Election results by constituency
Prime Minister before election James Craig UUP Prime Minister after election James Craig UUP

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22 MPs (42%), mostly Ulster Unionists, were elected unopposed without any votes being cast. This began a trend which would continue for decades - until 1969, at least 20 MPs in every Northern Ireland general election would be elected unopposed.^[2]

Electorate: 775,307 (432,439 in contested seats); Turnout: 67.6% (292,218). Ulster Liberal Party result is compared to Unbought Tenants' Association in 1925.