1969 Northern Ireland general election

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.

1969 Northern Ireland general election

← 1965 24 February 1969 1973 →
← 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   Leader Terence O'Neill Eddie McAteer Party UUP Nationalist Leader since 25 March 1963 2 June 1964 Leader's seat Bannside Foyle (Lost) Last election 36 seats, 59.1% 9 seats, 8.2% Seats won 36[nb 1] 6 Seat change 3 Popular vote 269,501 42,315 Percentage 48.2% 7.6% Swing 10.9% 0.6%   Third party Fourth party   Leader Tom Boyd Gerry Fitt Party NI Labour Republican Labour Leader since 1958 1964 Leader's seat Belfast Pottinger (Lost) Belfast Dock Last election 2 seats, 20.4% 2 seat, 1.0% Seats won 2 2 Seat change Popular vote 45,113 13,115 Percentage 8.1% 2.4% Swing 12.3% 1.4%
Election results by constituency
Prime Minister before election Terence O'Neill UUP Prime Minister after election Terence O'Neill UUP

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.

Overview

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 Unofficial Unionists, who were independent pro O'Neill candidates standing against unsupportive Official Unionist candidates. The results left O'Neill without a clear majority for his reforms and he resigned not long afterwards.

Nationalist Realignment

The Nationalist Party that had for a long time represented the bulk of the Catholic minority faced strong challenges and two of its leading figures were defeated. The leader Eddie McAteer lost Foyle to the independent John Hume^[1] and Paddy Gormley lost Mid Londonderry to the independent Ivan Cooper.^[1] Both Hume and Cooper would go on to form the Social Democratic and Labour Party which would take over the Nationalist mantle.

Protestant Unionist Party

Ian Paisley's Protestant Unionist Party that was broadly opposed to O'Neill's agenda on civil rights, put up a number of candidates. Although none of them were returned O'Neill was almost defeated by Paisley in Bannside a seat that had not been contested since 1949. Paisley gained the seat at a 1970 by-election.

Unofficial Unionists

Due to the local selection rules a number of anti-O'Neill candidates managed to get reselected or selected for seats. Many of them were opposed by 17 unofficial Unionist candidates supporting O'Neill,^[2] often backed by the New Ulster Movement. They won three seats^[3] - Belfast Clifton (where the sitting Unionist MP for was forbidden by a court order from referring to himself as the official Unionist candidate because of a violation of the rules at his selection meeting); Bangor and Belfast Willowfield.

Results

↓

23	13	6	3	3	2	2
UUP (Pro-O'Neill)	UUP (Anti-O'Neill)	Nationalist	IU	I

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

Popular vote UUP (Pro-O'Neill)   44.1% UUP (Anti-O'Neill)   17.1% Labour   8.07% Nationalist   7.57% National Democratic   4.65% Independent   3.84% Peoples' Democracy   4.23% Protestant Unionist   3.75% Independent Unionist   2.49% Republican Labour   2.35% Ulster Liberal   1.31% People's Progressive   0.54%

Seats summary

Parliamentary seats UUP (Pro-O'Neill)   44.23% UUP (Anti-O'Neill)   25.00% Nationalist   11.54% Ind. Pro-O'Neill Unionist   5.77% Independent   5.77% Labour   3.85% Republican Labour   3.85%

See also

• List of members of the 12th House of Commons of Northern Ireland

Footnotes

1. 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. Mullan, Kevin (3 August 2020). "John Hume in February 1969: A 36 year political career is launched". Derry Journal.
2. "History repeating as the Union itself stands at the 'crossroads'". The Irish Times. Retrieved 31 May 2024.
3. "CAIN: Politics: Elections: Stormont General Election (NI) Monday 24 February 1969". cain.ulster.ac.uk. Retrieved 31 May 2024.

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