1929 Northern Ireland general election

none September 2017 September 2017 1929 Northern Ireland general election Northern Ireland parliamentary no 1925 Northern Ireland general election 1925 List of members of the 2nd House of Commons of Northern Ireland MPs elected 1933 Northern Ireland general election 1933 All 52 seats to the House of Commons of Northern Ireland 27 seats were needed for a majority 22 May 1929 James Craig, 1st Viscount Craigavon.jpg Viscount Craigavon 7 June 1921 Ulster Unionist Party North Down 32 seat, 55.0% 37UUP Includes 16 members elected unopposed. 5 148,579Contest Voting only took place in 30 of 52 seats. The other 22 MPs were unopposed. 50.8% 4.2% Joe Devlin.JPG Joe Devlin 1918 Nationalist Party (Northern Ireland) Belfast Central 10 seats, 23.8% 11Nat Includes 6 members elected unopposed. 1 34,069Contest 11.7% 9.5% Northern Ireland Labour Party Sam Kyle 1925 Northern Ireland Labour Party Belfast Oldpark(defeated) 3 seats, 4.7% 1 2 23,334Contest 8.0% 3.3% 1929UlsterParliament.svg 400px Election results by constituency Prime Minister Viscount Craigavon Ulster Unionist Party Viscount Craigavon Ulster Unionist Party Prime Minister after election The 1929 Northern Ireland general election was held on 22 May 1929. Like all previous elections to the Parliament of Northern Ireland, it produced a large majority for the Ulster Unionist Party. It was the first election held after the House of Commons (Method of Voting and Redistribution of Seats) Act (Northern Ireland) 1929, which abolished proportional representation and redrawing of electoral boundaries to create single-seat constituencies (with Queen's University retained as a 4-seat constituency elected by single transferable vote). Though it had been argued this was done with the intent of gerrymandering, this has been considered unlikely as the Unionists already had a solid majority at the parliamentary level.Pringle Dennis G. Electoral Systems and Political Manipulation: A Case Study of Northern Ireland in the 1920s Economic and Social Review 1980 11 3 188 2025-04-30 http://www.tara.tcd.ie/bitstream/handle/2262/68674/v11n31980_3.pdf However, the opposite was more accurate at local level.https://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/hnihoc.htm Northern Ireland House of Commons, 1921–1972 ARK: Elections 30 April 2025 As with the rest of the United Kingdom, this has made it more difficult for independent and minor party candidates like the Northern Ireland Labour Party to win seats, as was the intent of the abolition of proportional representation was for the UUP to control the Unionist vote. 22 MPs (42%), mostly Ulster Unionists, were elected unopposed without any votes being cast. This began a trend which would continue for decades – until 1969, at least 20 MPs in every Northern Ireland general election would be elected unopposed. Results + ↓ 37 11 3 1 UUP Nationalist IU NILP 1929 Northern Ireland general election center|360px Ulster Unionist Party yes 43 37UUP N/A N/A +5 148,579 50.8 71.2 -4.2 Independent Unionist 10 3 N/A N/A -1 41,778 14.3 5.8 +5.3 Nationalist Party (Northern Ireland) 11 11Nat N/A N/A +1 34,069 11.7 21.2 -9.5 Northern Ireland Labour Party 5 1 N/A N/A -2 23,334 8.0 1.9 +3.3 Ulster Liberal Party 5 0 N/A N/A -1 18,208 6.2 — +4.9 Local Option 3 0 N/A N/A 0 9,776 3.3 — N/A Town Tenants' Association 2 0 N/A N/A 0 6,901 2.4 — +1.5 Independent Nationalist 1 0 N/A N/A 0 3,694 1.3 — N/A Independent (politician) 1 0 N/A N/A 0 3,437 1.2 — N/A Independent Labour 2 0 N/A N/A 0 2,442 0.8 — N/A |} Electorate: 775,307 (432,439 in contested seats); Turnout: 67.6% (292,218). Ulster Liberal Party result is compared to Unbought Tenants' Association in 1925. Votes summary Popular vote #ddd 500px 290px Ulster Unionist Ulster Unionist Party 50.85 Independent Unionist Independent Unionist 14.30 Nationalist Party Nationalist Party (Northern Ireland) 11.66 Labour Northern Ireland Labour Party 7.99 Ulster Liberal Ulster Liberal Party 6.23 Independent Independent (politician) 3.28 Other #777777 5.71 Seats summary Parliamentary seats #ddd 500px 290px Ulster Unionist Ulster Unionist Party 71.15 Nationalist Party Nationalist Party (Northern Ireland) 21.15 Independent Unionist Independent Unionist 5.77 Labour Northern Ireland Labour Party 1.92 Contested seats Only 30 of the 52 seats (58%) were actually contested. 1929 Northern Ireland general election (contested seats) PartyPopular voteCandidates Votes% Stood Elected% Ulster Unionist Party Ulster Unionist 148,579 50.8 27 21 70.0 Independent Unionist Ind. Unionist 41,778 14.3 10 3 10.0 Nationalist Party (Northern Ireland) Nationalist 34,069 11.7 5 5 16.7 Northern Ireland Labour Party Labour 23,334 8.0 5 1 3.3 Ulster Liberal Party Liberal 18,208 6.2 5 0 — Local Option Local Option 9,776 3.3 3 0 — Town Tenants' Association Town Tenants 6,901 2.4 2 0 — Independent Nationalist Ind. Nationalist 3,694 1.3 1 0 — Independent (politician) Independent 3,437 1.2 1 0 — Independent Labour Ind. Labour 2,442 0.8 2 0 — Total 292,218 67.6% 61 30 — Uncontested seats In 22 of the 52 seats (42%), only one candidate stood and they were elected unopposed without any votes cast. The vast majority of the MPs elected without a contest were Ulster Unionists. 1929 Northern Ireland general election (uncontested seats) PartyPopular voteCandidates Votes% Stood Elected% Ulster Unionist Party Ulster Unionist Unopposed 16 16 72.7 Nationalist Party (Northern Ireland) Nationalist Unopposed 6 6 27.3 Total 22 22 100 Footnotes References Northern Ireland Parliamentary Election Results https://web.archive.org/web/20171116175039/http://www.election.demon.co.uk/stormont/totals.html 16 November 2017 1929 Northern Ireland general election Northern Ireland general election Category:1929 elections in Northern Ireland