Northern Ireland general election, 1949

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Northern Ireland 1921-72

This article is part of the series:
Politics and government of
Northern Ireland 1921-72


Government
Governor of Northern Ireland
Privy Council
Prime Minister of Northern Ireland
Cabinet

Governments:
Craigavon ministry  · Andrews ministry
Brookeborough ministry  · O'Neill ministry
Chichester-Clark ministry  · Faulkner ministry


Elections:
1921  · 1925  · 1929  · 1933
1938  · 1945  · 1949  · 1953
1958  · 1962  · 1965  · 1969
By-elections


Members:
1921  · 1925  · 1929  · 1933
1938  · 1945  · 1949  · 1953
1958  · 1962  · 1965  · 1969

Parliament of Northern Ireland
Senate

Speaker
Leader of the Senate
Deputy leader of the Senate

House of Commons

Speaker
Constituencies

See also
Government of Ireland Act 1920
Elections in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland Constitution Act 1973

Other countries · Atlas
 Politics Portal
view  talk  edit

The Northern Ireland general election, 1949 was held on 19 February 1949. The election became known as the Chapel-gate election because collections were held at churches in Eire to support the Nationalist Party campaign.

The election was held just after the Republic of Ireland's declaration of a republic. The Unionists were able to use their majority in the Parliament of Northern Ireland to schedule the election at a time when many Protestants felt uneasy about development south of the border and as a result might be more likely to vote Unionist than for Labour candidates. This appears to have been bourne out in the collapse of the Labour vote.

[edit] Results

Northern Ireland General Election 1949
Party Candidates Seats Gains Losses Net Gain/Loss Seats % Votes % Votes +/-
  Ulster Unionist 46 37 4 0 + 4 71.2 62.7 237,411 +12.3
  Nationalist (NI) 17 9 0 1 - 1 17.3 26.8 101,445 +17.6
  Labour (NI) 9 0 0 2 - 2 7.1 26,831 -11.4
  Independent Labour 4 1 1 1 0 1.9 2.1 7,970 -0.7
  Independent Unionist 3 2 0 0 0 3.8 0.6 2,150 -4.4
  Independent 2 2 0 0 0 3.8 0.5 2,028 +0.2
  Communist (NI) 1 0 0 0 0 0.2 623 -2.6
  Socialist Republican 1 1 0 0 0 1.9 0.0 0 -1.5

All parties shown. The only Socialist Republican Party candidate was elected unopposed.

[edit] References

[edit] See also