Northern Ireland general election, 1969

Northern Ireland general election, 1969
Northern Ireland
24 February 1969

All 52 seats to the Northern Ireland House of Commons
27 seats were needed for a majority
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Terence O'Neill Eddie McAteer Tom Boyd
Party UUP Nationalist NI Labour
Leader since 25 March 1963 2 June 1964 1958
Leader's seat Bannside Foyle
(Defeated)
Belfast Pottinger
(Defeated)
Last election 36 seats (59.1%) 9 seats (8.2%) 2 seats (20.4%)
Seats won 36 6 2
Seat change Steady 0 Decrease3 Steady 0
Popular vote 269,501 42,315 45,113
Percentage 48.2% 7.6% 8.1%
Swing Decrease 10.9% Decrease 0.6% Decrease 12.3%

Election results by constituency.

Prime Minister before election

Terence O'Neill
UUP

Elected Prime Minister

Terence O'Neill
UUP

Northern Ireland 1921–72
The Ulster Banner
This article is part of a series on the
politics and government of
Northern Ireland 1921–72

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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.

Results

Northern Ireland General Election 1969
Candidates Votes
Party Standing Elected Gained Unseated Net % of total % No. Net %
  UUP 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
  NI Labour 16 2 1 1 0 3.8 8.1 45,113 -12.3
  Nationalist 9 6 0 3 - 3 11.5 7.6 42,315 -0.6
  National Democratic 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

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

Votes summary

Popular vote
Pro-O'Neill Unionist
 
27.6%
Anti-O'Neill Unionist
 
20.6%
Ind. Pro-O'Neill Unionist
 
12.9%
Labour
 
8.07%
Nationalist
 
7.57%
National Democratic
 
4.65%
Peoples' Democracy
 
4.23%
Independent
 
3.93%
Protestant Unionist
 
3.75%
Independent Unionist
 
2.49%
Republican Labour
 
2.35%
Ulster Liberal
 
1.31%
People's Progressive
 
0.54%
Total Ulster Unionist
 
48.2%
Total Pro-O'Neill Unionist
 
40.5%

Seats summary

Parliamentary seats
Pro-O'Neill Unionist
 
44.23%
Anti-O'Neill Unionist
 
25%
Ind. Pro-O'Neill Unionist
 
5.77%
Labour
 
3.85%
Nationalist
 
11.54%
Independent
 
5.77%
Republican Labour
 
3.85%
Total Ulster Unionist
 
69.23%
Total Pro-O'Neill Unionist
 
50%

See also

References