1929 Northern Ireland general election

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, leading to the Irish ethnic group to have minimal representation.

1929 Northern Ireland general election

22 May 1929
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 11 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 Elected Prime Minister James Craig UUP

Results

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37	11	3	1
UUP	Nationalist	IU

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
	Independent 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
	Independent 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

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

Parliamentary seats Ulster Unionist   71.15% Nationalist Party   21.15% Independent Unionist   5.77% Labour   1.92%

Footnotes

1. Kyle stood in Belfast Oldpark but was defeated.

References

• Northern Ireland Parliamentary Election Results