1973 Northern Ireland Assembly election

1973 Northern Ireland Assembly election | <- 1969 | 28 June 1973 | 1975 ->

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<- outgoing members

MLAs elected ->

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All 78 seats to the Northern Ireland Assembly
40 seats were needed for a majority
|  | First party  | Second party  | Third party

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SDL

Leader  | Brian Faulkner | Gerry Fitt | Ian Paisley
Party  | UUP | SDLP | DUP
Leader since  | 23 March 1971  | 21 August 1970  | 30 September 1971
Leader's seat  | South Down | Belfast North | North Antrim
Seats won  | 31[a] | 19  | 8
Popular vote  | 258,790 | 159,773  | 78,228
Percentage  | 35.8% | 22.1%  | 10.8%

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| Fourth party  | Fifth party

APN

Van

Leader  | Oliver Napier | William Craig
Party  | Alliance | Vanguard
Leader since  | 1972  | 9 February 1972
Leader's seat  | Belfast East | North Antrim
Seats won  | 8  | 7
Popular vote  | 66,541  | 75,709
Percentage  | 9.2%  | 10.5%

* * *

Percentage of seats gained by each of the parties

* * *

| Chief Executive before election

Brian Faulkner as Prime Minister of Northern Ireland

| Chief Executive after election

Brian Faulkner

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Politics of Northern Ireland

Interim bodies

* Northern Ireland Assembly (1973)
* Northern Ireland Executive (1974)
* Constitutional Convention (1975)
* Northern Ireland Assembly (1982)
* Northern Ireland Forum (1996)

Elections

* 1973
* 1975
* 1982
* 1996

Members

* 1973
* 1975
* 1982
* 1996

See also

* Anglo-Irish Agreement
* New Ireland Forum
* 1986 Northern Ireland by-elections
* 1973 Northern Ireland border poll

* Other countries

* v
* t
* e

The 1973 elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly took place following the publication of the British government's white paper Northern Ireland Constitutional Proposals which proposed a 78-member Northern Ireland Assembly, elected by proportional representation. The proposals for a Northern Ireland Assembly contained in the White Paper were put into effect through the Northern Ireland Assembly Act 1973 in May 1973.[1]

A cross-community coalition of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) under Brian Faulkner, the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) and the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland was agreed in November, and following the Sunningdale Agreement, a Power Sharing Executive was established from 1 January 1974. After opposition from within the UUP and the Ulster Workers Council Strike, the executive and assembly collapsed in May 1974.

## Result

[edit]

The election results were:

Party  | Votes  | Vote %  | Seats  | Seats %
| Ulster Unionist Party | 258,790 | 35.8 | 31[a] | 39.8
| SDLP | 159,773  | 22.1  | 19  | 24.4
| DUP | 78,228  | 10.8  | 8  | 10.3
| Vanguard | 75,709  | 10.5  | 7  | 9.0
| Alliance | 66,541  | 9.2  | 8  | 10.3
| NI Labour | 18,675  | 2.6  | 1 | 1.3
| West Belfast Loyalist Coalition  | 16,869  | 2.3  | 3  | 3.8
| Ind. Unionist | 13,755  | 1.9  | 1 | 1.3
| Republican Clubs | 13,064  | 1.8  | 0  | —
| Nationalist | 6,270  | 0.9  | 0  | —
| Independent | 4,091  | 0.6  | 0  | —
| Loyalist | 2,752  | 0.4  | 0  | —
| Independent pro-White Paper  | 2,008  | 0.3  | 0  | —
| Ind. Nationalist | 2,000  | 0.3  | 0  | —
| Republican Labour | 1,750  | 0.2  | 0  | —
| Ulster Liberal | 811  | 0.1  | 0  | —
| National Front | 591  | 0.1  | 0  | —
| Ulster Constitution | 202  | 0.0  | 0  | —
| Independent Loyalist  | 189  | 0.0  | 0  | —
| Communist | 123  | 0.0  | 0  | —
| Total  | 722,151  | 100.0  | 78  | 100.0

All parties listed.
↓  31 | 19 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 1

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UUP | SDLP | DUP | APNI | Vanguard |  |

## Votes summary

[edit]

| Popular vote

|  |
Ulster Unionist |

| 35.8%
SDLP |

| 22.1%
Democratic Unionist |

| 10.8%
Vanguard |

| 10.5%
Alliance |

| 9.2%
NI Labour |

| 2.6%
West Belfast Loyalist |

| 2.3%
Independent Unionist |

| 1.9%
Republican Clubs |

| 1.8%
Nationalist |

| 0.9%
Independent |

| 0.6%
Other |

| 1.5%

## Seats summary

[edit]

| Parliamentary seats

|  |
Ulster Unionist |

| 39.8%
SDLP |

| 24.4%
Democratic Unionist |

| 10.3%
Alliance |

| 10.3%
Vanguard |

| 9.0%
West Belfast Loyalist |

| 3.8%
NI Labour |

| 1.3%
Independent Unionist |

| 1.3%

## See also

[edit]

* Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly elected in 1973

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Northern Ireland Assembly Act 1973", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, 1973 c. 17

## Footnotes

[edit]

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ a b Pro-White Paper
(24 members)
Anti-White Paper
(7 members)

## Sources

[edit]

* http://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/fa73.htm

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