1949 Northern Ireland general election
The 1949 Northern Ireland general election 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.[1][2]
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All 52 seats to the House of Commons of Northern Ireland 27 seats were needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Election results by constituency | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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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 borne out in the collapse of the Labour vote.
Results
| 37 | 9 | 2 | 4 |
| UUP | Nationalist | IU | Oth |
| 1949 Northern Ireland general election | |||||||||||||||
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| Party | Candidates | Votes | |||||||||||||
| Stood | Elected | Gained | Unseated | Net | % of total | % | No. | Net % | |||||||
| Ulster Unionist | 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 | ||||||
| Ind. 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
Seats summary
References
- Armitage, Darryl (24 May 2021). "THROUGH THE ARCHIVES: Duty of every loyalist to vote warns Ulster's Minister of Labour". News Letter. Retrieved 15 October 2023.
- "The Anti-Partition League and 'The Chapel Gate Election' 1949". BBC. Retrieved 15 October 2023.
- Northern Ireland Parliamentary Election Results Archived 16 November 2017 at the Wayback Machine