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.

1949 Northern Ireland general election

← 1945 19 February 1949 1953 →
← outgoing members MPs elected →
All 52 seats to the House of Commons of Northern Ireland 27 seats were needed for a majority
First party Second party   Nat Leader Basil Brooke James McSparran Party UUP Nationalist Leader since 1 May 1943 15 November 1945 Leader's seat Lisnaskea Mourne Last election 33 seats, 50.4% 9 seats, 9.1% Seats won 37 9 Seat change 4 1 Popular vote 237,411 101,445 Percentage 62.7% 26.8% Swing 12.3% 17.6%
Election results by constituency
Prime Minister before election Basil Brooke UUP Prime Minister after election Basil Brooke UUP

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 events taking place 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; the party lost both of its 2 seats in the Commons, and would not return to the Parliament until 1958.

20 MPs were elected unopposed, most of them Ulster Unionists.

Results

↓

37	9	2	4
UUP	Nationalist	IU	Oth

1949 Northern Ireland general election
Party		Candidates						Votes
		Stood	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
	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. Electorate 846,719 (477,354 in contested seats); Turnout 79.3% (378,458).

Votes summary

Popular vote

Ulster Unionist			62.73%
Nationalist Party			26.80%
Labour			7.10%
Independent Labour			2.11%
Independent Unionist			0.57%
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%

Contested seats

Only 32 of the 52 seats (62%) were actually contested.

1949 Northern Ireland general election (contested seats)
Party		Popular vote		Candidates
		Votes	%	Stood	Elected	%
	Ulster Unionist	237,411	62.7	32	23	71.9
	Nationalist	101,445	26.8	15	7	21.9
	Labour	26,831	7.1	9	0	—
	Ind. Labour	7,970	2.1	3	0	—
	Ind. Unionist	2,150	0.6	1	0	—
	Independent	2,028	0.5	2	2	6.3
	Communist	623	0.2	1	0	—
Total		378,458	79.3	63	32	—

Uncontested seats

In 20 of the 52 seats (38%), 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.

1949 Northern Ireland general election (uncontested seats)
Party		Popular vote		Candidates
		Votes	%	Stood	Elected	%
	Ulster Unionist	Unopposed		14	14	70.0
	Nationalist	Unopposed		2	2	10.0
	Ind. Unionist	Unopposed		2	2	10.0
	Ind. Labour	Unopposed		1	1	5.0
	Socialist Republican	Unopposed		1	1	5.0
Total				20	20	100

See also

• MPs elected in the Northern Ireland general election, 1949