1949 Northern Ireland general election

The 1949 Northern Ireland general election was held on 19 February 1949. The election became known as the Chapel-gate election because collections were held at churches in the Republic of Ireland to support the Nationalist Party campaign.^[1][2]

1949 Northern Ireland general election

← 1945 19 February 1949 1953 →
← outgoing members MPs elected →
All 52 seats to the House of Commons of Northern Ireland 27 seats were needed for a majority
First party Second party   Nat Leader Basil Brooke James McSparran Party UUP Nationalist Leader since 1 May 1943 15 November 1945 Leader's seat Lisnaskea Mourne Last election 33 seats, 50.4% 9 seats, 9.1% Seats won 37[a] 9[b] Seat change 4 1 Popular vote 237,411[c] 101,445[c] Percentage 62.7% 26.8% Swing 12.3% 17.6%
Election results by constituency
Prime Minister before election Basil Brooke UUP Prime Minister after election Basil Brooke UUP

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 events taking place south of the border, and as a result might be more likely to vote Unionist than for Labour candidates. This appears to have been borne out in the collapse of the Labour vote; the party lost both of its 2 seats in the Commons, and would not return to the Parliament until 1958.

20 MPs were elected unopposed, most of them Ulster Unionists.

Results

↓

37	9	2	4
UUP	Nationalist	IU	Oth

1949 Northern Ireland general election
Party		Candidates						Votes
		Stood	Elected	Gained	Unseated	Net	% of total	%	No.	Net %
	UUP	46	37[a]	4	0	+4	71.2	62.7	237,411	+12.3
	Nationalist	17	9[b]	0	1	-1	17.3	26.8	101,445	+17.6
	NI Labour	9	0	0	2	-2	—	7.1	26,831	-11.4
	Independent Labour	4	1[d]	1	1	0	1.9	2.1	7,970	-0.7
	Ind. Unionist	3	2[e]	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[f]	0	0	0	1.9	0.0	0	-1.5

All parties shown. Electorate 846,719 (477,354 in contested seats); Turnout 79.3% (378,458).

Votes summary

Popular vote Ulster Unionist   62.73% Nationalist Party   26.80% Labour   7.10% Independent Labour   2.11% Independent Unionist   0.57% Communist   0.16% Independent   0.54%

Seats summary

Parliamentary seats Ulster Unionist   71.15% Nationalist Party   17.31% Independent Unionist   3.85% Independent Labour   1.92% Socialist Republican   1.92% Independent   3.85%

Contested seats

Only 32 of the 52 seats (62%) were actually contested.

1949 Northern Ireland general election (contested seats)
Party		Popular vote		Candidates
		Votes	%	Stood	Elected	%
	Ulster Unionist	237,411	62.7	32	23	71.9
	Nationalist	101,445	26.8	15	7	21.9
	Labour	26,831	7.1	9	0	—
	Ind. Labour	7,970	2.1	3	0	—
	Ind. Unionist	2,150	0.6	1	0	—
	Independent	2,028	0.5	2	2	6.3
	Communist	623	0.2	1	0	—
Total		378,458	79.3	63	32	—

Uncontested seats

In 20 of the 52 seats (38%), 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.

1949 Northern Ireland general election (uncontested seats)
Party		Popular vote		Candidates
		Votes	%	Stood	Elected	%
	Ulster Unionist	Unopposed		14	14	70.0
	Nationalist	Unopposed		2	2	10.0
	Ind. Unionist	Unopposed		2	2	10.0
	Ind. Labour	Unopposed		1	1	5.0
	Socialist Republican	Unopposed		1	1	5.0
Total				20	20	100

See also

• MPs elected in the Northern Ireland general election, 1949

References

1. Armitage, Darryl (24 May 2021). "THROUGH THE ARCHIVES: Duty of every loyalist to vote warns Ulster's Minister of Labour". News Letter. Retrieved 15 October 2023.
2. "The Anti-Partition League and 'The Chapel Gate Election' 1949". BBC. Retrieved 15 October 2023.

• Northern Ireland Parliamentary Election Results Archived 16 November 2017 at the Wayback Machine

Notes

1. Includes 14 members elected unopposed.
2. Includes 2 members elected unopposed.
3. Voting only took place in 32 of 52 seats.
   The other 20 MPs were unopposed.
4. The only Independent Labour member was elected unopposed.
5. Both Independent Unionists were elected unopposed.
6. The only Socialist Republican member was elected unopposed.