1983 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland
The 1983 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland was held on 9 June with 17 MPs elected in single-seat constituencies using first-past-the-post as part of the wider general election in the United Kingdom. This was an increase of five seats, after the House of Commons (Redistribution of Seats) Act 1979 had come into effect to account for the reduced representation after direct rule had been imposed since 1972.
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17 seats in Northern Ireland of the 650 seats in the House of Commons | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Results
The Conservative Party led by Margaret Thatcher as prime minister won another term in government.
The main beneficiaries of the increase of seats was the Ulster Unionist Party, now led by James Molyneaux. The SDLP lost a seat held by former leader Gerry Fitt to Gerry Adams of Sinn Féin, but the new SDLP leader John Hume gained a seat.
Party | MPs | Votes | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No. | Change | No. | % | Change | ||
UUP | 11 | 259,952 | 34.0% | |||
DUP | 3 | 152,749 | 20.0% | |||
SDLP | 1 | 137,012 | 17.9% | |||
Sinn Féin | 1 | 102,701 | 13.4% | |||
UPUP | 1 | New | 22,681 | 3.0% | ||
Independent Unionist | 1 | 36,989 | 5.5% | |||
Alliance | 0 | 61,275 | 8.0% | |||
Workers' Party | 0 | 14,650 | 1.9% | |||
Independent Socialist | 0 | 10,326 | 1.3% | |||
Independent DUP | 0 | 1,134 | 0.1% | |||
Independent | 0 | 2,265 | 0.3% | |||
Total | 17 | 801734 | 100 |
MPs elected
Constituency | Party | MP | |
---|---|---|---|
Antrim East | UUP | Roy Beggs | |
Antrim North | DUP | Ian Paisley | |
Antrim South | UUP | Clifford Forsythe | |
Belfast East | DUP | Peter Robinson | |
Belfast North | UUP | Cecil Walker | |
Belfast South | UUP | Martin Smyth | |
Belfast West | Sinn Féin | Gerry Adams | |
Down North | UPUP | Jim Kilfedder | |
Down South | UUP | Enoch Powell | |
Fermanagh and South Tyrone | UUP | Ken Maginnis | |
Foyle | SDLP | John Hume | |
Lagan Valley | UUP | James Molyneaux | |
Londonderry East | UUP | William Ross | |
Mid Ulster | DUP | William McCrea | |
Newry and Armagh | UUP | John Dunlop | |
Strangford | UUP | John Taylor | |
Upper Bann | UUP | Harold McCusker |
By-elections
In December 1985, all Unionist MPs resigned their seats in opposition to the Anglo-Irish Agreement and sought re-election in by-elections. These resulted in a loss of one seat to the SDLP
References
- Walker, Brian Mercer (1992). Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1918–1992 (New History of Ireland). Dublin: Royal Irish Academy. pp. 33–37. ISBN 0901714968.
- "Elections to the United Kingdom Parliament held in Northern Ireland: General Election 9 June 1983". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
- "Westminster election, 9 June 1983". ARK: Northern Ireland Elections. Retrieved 9 March 2019.