Northern Ireland general election, 1969

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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

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The Northern Ireland general election, 1969 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.

Unlike previous elections that produced a large unambiguous majority for the Ulster Unionist Party, this one give 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 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.

[edit] Results

Northern Ireland General Election 1969
Party Candidates Seats Gains Losses Net Gain/Loss Seats % Votes % Votes +/-
  Ulster Unionist 44 36 4 4 0 69.2 48.2 269,501 -10.9
  Independent Unionist 18 3 3 0 + 3 5.8 15.6 86,052 +15.6
  Labour (NI) 16 2 1 1 0 3.8 8.1 45,113 -12.3
  Nationalist (NI) 9 6 0 3 - 3 11.5 7.6 42,315 -0.6
  National Democrats 7 0 0 1 - 1 4.6 26,009 -0.1
  People's Democracy 8 0 0 0 0 4.2 23,645 +4.2
  Independent 4 3 3 1 + 2 5.8 3.9 21,977 +3.9
  Protestant Unionist 5 0 0 0 0 3.8 20,991 +3.8
  Republican Labour 5 2 1 1 0 3.8 2.4 13,115 +1.4
  Liberal 2 0 0 1 - 1 1.3 7,337 -2.6
  People's Progressive 1 0 0 0 0 0.5 2,992 +0.5

[edit] See also


[edit] References