Northern Ireland general election, 1949

Northern Ireland general election, 1949

19 February 1949
All 52 seats to the Northern Ireland House of Commons 27 seats were needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Leader Basil Brooke James McSparran None Party UUP Nationalist NI Labour Leader since 1 May 1943 15 November 1945 N/A Leader's seat Lisnaskea Mourne None Last election 33 seats (50.4%) 9 seats (9.1%) 2 seats (18.5%) Seats won 37 9 0 Seat change 4 0 2 Popular vote 237,411 101,445 26,831 Percentage 62.7% 26.8% 7.1% Swing 12.3% 17.6% 11.4%
Election results by constituency.
Prime Minister before election Basil Brooke UUP Elected Prime Minister Basil Brooke UUP

The Northern Ireland general election, 1949 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.

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 development south of the border and as a result might be more likely to vote Unionist than for Labour candidates. This appears to have been bourne out in the collapse of the Labour vote.

Results

Northern Ireland General Election 1949
		Candidates						Votes
Party		Standing	Elected	Gained	Unseated	Net	% of total	%	No.	Net %
	UUP	46	37	4	0	+ 4	71.2	62.7	237,411	+12.3
	Nationalist	17	9	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	1	1	0	1.9	2.1	7,970	-0.7
	Independent Unionist	3	2	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	0	0	0	1.9	0.0	0	-1.5

All parties shown. The only Socialist Republican Party candidate was elected unopposed. Electorate 846,719 (477,354 in contested seats); Turnout 79.3% (378,458).

Votes summary

Popular vote
Ulster Unionist			62.73%
Nationalist Party			26.8%
Independent Unionist			0.57%
Labour			7.1%
Independent Labour			2.11%
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%

References

• Northern Ireland Parliamentary Election Results

See also

• MPs elected in the Northern Ireland general election, 1949