1929 Northern Ireland general 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 held after the abolition of proportional representation and the redrawing of electoral boundaries to create single-seat constituencies. As with the rest of the United Kingdom, this has made it more difficult for independent and minor party candidates to win seats.

1929 Northern Ireland general election

← 1925 22 May 1929 1933 →

All 52 seats to the House of Commons of Northern Ireland
27 seats were needed for a majority
  First party Second party Third party
  Blank
Leader James Craig Joe Devlin Samuel Kyle
Party UUP Nationalist NI Labour
Leader since 7 June 1921 1918 1925
Leader's seat North Down Belfast Central Belfast North
(abolished)[fn 1]
Last election 32 seat, 55.0% 10 seats, 23.8% 3 seats, 4.7%
Seats won 37[u 1] 11[n 1] 1
Seat change Increase5 Increase1 Decrease2
Popular vote 148,579 34,069 23,334
Percentage 50.8% 11.7% 8.0%
Swing Decrease4.2% Decrease9.5% Increase3.3%

Election results by constituency

Prime Minister before election

James Craig
UUP

Prime Minister after election

James Craig
UUP

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

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37 11 3 1
UUP Nationalist IU NILP
1929 Northern Ireland general election
 
Party Candidates Votes
Stood Elected Gained Unseated Net % of total % No. Net %
  UUP 43 37 N/A N/A +5 71.2 50.8 148,579 -4.2
  Ind. Unionist 10 3 N/A N/A -1 5.8 14.3 41,778 +5.3
  Nationalist 11 11 N/A N/A +1 21.2 11.7 34,069 -9.5
  NI Labour 5 1 N/A N/A -2 1.9 8.0 23,334 +3.3
  Ulster Liberal 5 0 N/A N/A -1 6.2 18,208 +4.9
  Local Option 3 0 N/A N/A 0 3.3 9,776 N/A
  Town Tenants' Association 2 0 N/A N/A 0 2.4 6,901 +1.5
  Ind. Nationalist 1 0 N/A N/A 0 1.3 3,694 N/A
  Independent 1 0 N/A N/A 0 1.2 3,437 N/A
  Independent Labour 2 0 N/A N/A 0 0.8 2,442 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

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Popular vote
Ulster Unionist
50.85%
Independent Unionist
14.30%
Nationalist Party
11.66%
Labour
7.99%
Ulster Liberal
6.23%
Independent
3.28%
Other
5.71%

Seats summary

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Parliamentary seats
Ulster Unionist
71.15%
Nationalist Party
21.15%
Independent Unionist
5.77%
Labour
1.92%

Contested seats

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Only 30 of the 52 seats (58%) were actually contested.

1929 Northern Ireland general election (contested seats)
Party Popular vote Candidates
Votes % Stood Elected %
Ulster Unionist 148,579 50.8 27 21 70.0
Ind. Unionist 41,778 14.3 10 3 10.0
Nationalist 34,069 11.7 5 5 16.7
Labour 23,334 8.0 5 1 3.3
Liberal 18,208 6.2 5 0
Local Option 9,776 3.3 3 0
Town Tenants 6,901 2.4 2 0
Ind. Nationalist 3,694 1.3 1 0
Independent 3,437 1.2 1 0
Ind. Labour 2,442 0.8 2 0
Total 292,218 67.6% 61 30

Uncontested seats

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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)
Party Popular vote Candidates
Votes % Stood Elected %
Ulster Unionist Unopposed 16 16 72.7
Nationalist Unopposed 6 6 27.3
Total 22 22 100

Old Map

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Footnotes

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  1. ^ Kyle stood in Belfast Oldpark but was defeated.
  1. ^ Includes 16 members elected unopposed.
  1. ^ Includes 6 members elected unopposed.

References

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