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All 52 seats to the House of Commons of Northern Ireland 27 seats were needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Election results by constituency | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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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.
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 |
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| Party | Popular vote | Seats | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | ±pp | Won | +/− | |||||
| Ulster Unionist Party (Total) | 269,501 | 48.2 | -10.9 | 36 | ±0 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ulster Unionist Party (Pro-O'Neill) | 154,320 | 27.6 | N/A | 23 | N/A | ||
| Ulster Unionist Party (Anti-O'Neill) | 115,181 | 20.6 | N/A | 13 | N/A | ||
| Independent Pro-O'Neill Unionist | 86,052 | 15.6 | N/A | 3 | N/A |
| NI Labour | 45,113 | 8.1 | –12.3 | 2 | ±0 | |
| Nationalist Party | 42,315 | 7.6 | -0.6 | 6 | -3 | |
| National Democratic Party | 26,009 | 4.6 | -0.1 | 0 | -1 | |
| People's Democracy | 23,645 | 4.2 | N/A | 0 | N/A | |
| Independent | 21,977 | 3.9 | +3.9 | 3 | +2 | |
| Protestant Unionist Party | 20,991 | 3.8 | N/A | 0 | N/A | |
| Republican Labour Party | 13,115 | 2.4 | +1.4 | 2 | ±0 | |
| Ulster Liberal Party | 7,337 | 1.3 | -2.6 | 0 | -1 | |
| People's Progressive | 57,785 | 0.6 | N/A | 0 | N/A | |
| Votes cast / turnout | 559,047 | 71.9% | 52 | |||
Electorate: 912,087 (778,031 in contested seats); Turnout: 71.9% (559,087).
Votes summary
Seats summary
Notable incumbents defeated
- Eddie McAteer (Foyle), Nationalist Party leader, defeated by John Hume (Independent)[1]
- Paddy Gormley (Mid Londonderry), Nationalist Party, defeated by Ivan Cooper (Independent)[1]
See also
Footnotes
- ↑ 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 2 Mullan, Kevin (3 August 2020). "John Hume in February 1969: A 36 year political career is launched". Derry Journal.
- Northern Ireland Parliamentary Election Results Archived 16 November 2017 at the Wayback Machine