Northern_Ireland_general_election,_1969

1969 Northern Ireland general election

1969 Northern Ireland general election

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The 1969 Northern Ireland general election was held on Monday 24 February 1969. It was the last election to the Parliament of Northern Ireland before its abolition by the Northern Ireland Constitution Act 1973.

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

Unlike previous elections that produced a large unambiguous majority for the Ulster Unionist Party, this one gave more complex results. The Ulster Unionists were divided over a variety of reforms introduced by Prime Minister Terence O'Neill and this division spilled over into the election with official Ulster Unionist candidates standing either in support of or opposition to O'Neill and a number of independent pro O'Neill Unionists standing against opposing candidates. The results left O'Neill without a clear majority for his reforms and he resigned not long afterwards.

This was the first (and only) election since the 1929 general election to see changes to the constituencies. The Queen's University of Belfast seat was abolished and four new constituencies were created in the suburbs of Belfast to compensate for population growth there.

Results

23 13 6 3 3 2 2
UUP (Pro-O'Neill) UUP (Anti-O'Neill) Nationalist IU I
More information Party, Popular vote ...
More information Ulster Unionist Party (Total) ...
Independent Pro-O'Neill Unionist 86,05215.6N/A 3N/A
NI Labour 45,1138.1–12.3 2±0
Nationalist Party 42,3157.6-0.6 6-3
National Democratic Party 26,0094.6-0.1 0-1
People's Democracy 23,6454.2N/A 0N/A
Independent 21,9773.9+3.9 3+2
Protestant Unionist Party 20,9913.8N/A 0N/A
Republican Labour Party 13,1152.4+1.4 2±0
Ulster Liberal Party 7,3371.3-2.6 0-1
People's Progressive 57,7850.6N/A 0N/A
Votes cast / turnout 559,047 71.9% 52

Electorate: 912,087 (778,031 in contested seats); Turnout: 71.9% (559,087).

Votes summary

More information Popular vote ...

Seats summary

More information Parliamentary seats ...

Notable incumbents defeated

See also

Footnotes

  1. 23 Ulster Unionist MPs were pro-O'Neill, while 13 of them were anti-O'Neill. The results left O'Neill without a clear majority for his reforms and he resigned not long afterwards.

References

  1. Mullan, Kevin (3 August 2020). "John Hume in February 1969: A 36 year political career is launched". Derry Journal.

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