1958 Northern Ireland general election

The 1958 Northern Ireland general election was called on 27 February by 1st Viscount Brookeborough to be held on 20 March 1958.

1958 Northern Ireland general election

← 1953 20 March 1958 1962 →
← 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 Third party   Nat NIL Leader Viscount Brookeborough Joe Stewart Tom Boyd Party UUP Nationalist NI Labour Leader since 1 May 1943 1958 1958 Leader's seat Lisnaskea East Tyrone Belfast Pottinger Last election 38 seats, 48.6% 7 seats, 10.8% 0 seats, 12.1% Seats won 37 7 4 Seat change 1 4 Popular vote 106,177 36,013 38,093 Percentage 44.0% 14.9% 15.8% Swing 4.6% 4.1% 3.0%
Election results by constituency
Prime Minister before election Basil Brooke UUP Prime Minister after election Basil Brooke UUP

Like all previous elections to the Parliament of Northern Ireland, it produced a large majority for the Ulster Unionist Party. The Northern Ireland Labour Party returned to the Commons after being wiped out in the 1949 election.

Campaign

Announcing the election, Viscount Brookeborough remarked that the election would be on the Border issue once more, noting that this was the ninth election on the same issue. Unemployment was also an issue in the election with 50,000 people out of work in the province in that year.

Results

↓

37	7	4	4
UUP	Nationalist	Lab	Oth

1958 Northern Ireland general election
Party		Candidates						Votes
		Stood	Elected	Gained	Unseated	Net	% of total	%	No.	Net %
	UUP	46	37	3	4	-1	71.2	44.0	106,177	-4.6
	NI Labour	8	4	4	0	+4	7.7	15.8	38,093	+3.0
	Nationalist	8	7	0	0	0	13.5	14.9	36,013	+4.1
	Ind. Unionist	5	0	0	1	0	—	6.8	16,537	N/A
	Independent Labour	2	0	0	1	-1	—	3.1	7,544	+0.6
	Ind. Republican Labour	1	1	0	0	0	1.9	3.1	7,510	+0.8
	Irish Labour	3	0	0	1	-1	—	3.0	7,321	-2.1
	Ind. Nationalist	2	1	1	0	+1	1.9	2.1	5,168	N/A
	Ulster Protestant Action	1	0	0	0	0	—	2.0	4,704	N/A
	Ind. Labour Group	1	1	1	0	+1	1.9	2.0	4,683	N/A
	Independent	2	1	0	0	0	1.9	1.8	4,231	+1.1
	Independent Irish Labour	1	0	0	0	0	—	1.1	2,761	-2.5
	Ulster Liberal	1	0	0	0	0	—	0.3	759	N/A

Electorate: 891,064 (359,816 in contested seats); Turnout: 67.1% (241,501).

Votes summary

Popular vote

Ulster Unionist			43.97%
Labour			15.77%
Nationalist Party			14.91%
Independent Unionist			6.85%
Independent Labour			5.06%
Republican Labour			3.11%
Irish Labour			3.03%
Ind. Nationalist			2.14%
Ind. Protestant Unionist			1.95%
Independent Irish Labour			1.14%
Ulster Liberal			0.31%
Independent			1.75%

Seats summary

Parliamentary seats

Ulster Unionist			71.15%
Nationalist Party			13.46%
Labour			7.69%
Independent Labour			1.92%
Republican Labour			1.92%
Independent Nationalist			1.92%
Independent			1.92%

See also

• List of members of the 9th House of Commons of Northern Ireland