European Parliament election, 1989 (United Kingdom)

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1989 election
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The European Parliament Election, 1989 was the third European election to be held in the United Kingdom. It was held on 15 June. The electoral system was First Past the Post in England, Scotland and Wales and Single Transferable Vote in Northern Ireland. The turnout was again the lowest in Europe. This election saw the best performance ever by the Green Party (UK) (formerly the Ecology Party), collecting over 2 million votes and 15% of the vote share. It had only received 70,853 as the Ecology Party in the previous election. However because of First Past the Post system, the Green Party received 0 seats, while the Scottish National Party received 1 seat with only 3% of the vote share. The SNP received almost double the amount of votes it received in the previous election, its vote share rose by 1%. The election also saw Labour overtake the Conservatives for the first time in any election since October 1974 and the first time ever in a European elections, winning 13 more seats.

  • Overall (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) turnout: 36% (EU average: 59%)
  • Overall votes cast: 15,896,078

Contents

[edit] England, Scotland and Wales

Source: UK Office of the European Parliament

Note: percentages are approximate

Party Votes Seats Loss/Gain Share of Vote (%)
Labour 6,153,640 45 +13 40
Conservative 5,331,077 32 -13 35
Green 2,292,705 0 0 15
Social and Liberal Democrats 986,292 0 0 6
Scottish National Party 406,686 1 0 3
Plaid Cymru 115,062 0 0 0.7
Others 41,295 0 0 <1

Total votes cast - 15,361,267.

[edit] Northern Ireland

Source: Northern Ireland Social and Political Archive

Party Candidate(s) Seats Loss/Gain First Preference Votes
Number  % of vote
Democratic Unionist Ian Paisley 1 0 160,110 30
Social Democratic and Labour John Hume 1 0 136,335 25
Ulster Unionist Jim Nicholson 1 0 118,785 22
Sinn Féin Danny Morrison 0 0 48,914 9
Alliance John Alderdice 0 0 27,905 5
Conservative Myrtle Boal 0 0 25,789 5
Green Malcolm Samuel 0 0 6,569 1
Workers' Party Seamus Lynch 0 0 5,590 1
Labour Representation Mark Langhammer 0 0 3,540 0
Labour '87 Brian Caul 0 0 1,274 0

Total votes cast - 534,811.

[edit] Party Leaders in 1989

[edit] See also