1929 Northern Ireland general election

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| <- 1925 | 22 May 1929 | 1933 ->

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<- outgoing members

MPs elected ->

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All 52 seats to the House of Commons of Northern Ireland
27 seats were needed for a majority
|  | First party  | Second party  | Third party

|
|
|

|  |  |
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  | 5  | 1  | 2
Popular vote  | 148,579 | 34,069  | 23,334
Percentage  | 50.8% | 11.7%  | 8.0%
Swing  | 4.2%  | 9.5%  | 3.3%

* * *

Election results by constituency

* * *

| Prime Minister before election

James Craig
UUP

| Prime Minister after election

James Craig
UUP

|

(1921–72)

Politics of Northern Ireland

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See also

* Fourth Home Rule Bill
* Constitution Act 1973

* Other countries

* v
* t
* e

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.

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

[edit]

↓  37 | 11 | 3 | 1

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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

[edit]

| 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

[edit]

| Parliamentary seats

|  |
Ulster Unionist |

| 71.15%
Nationalist Party |

| 21.15%
Independent Unionist |

| 5.77%
Labour |

| 1.92%

### Contested seats

[edit]

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

[edit]

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

[edit]

## Footnotes

[edit]

1. ^ Kyle stood in Belfast Oldpark but was defeated.

1. ^ Includes 16 members elected unopposed.

1. ^ Includes 6 members elected unopposed.

## References

[edit]

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

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Elections and referendums in Northern Ireland

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