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![The Ulster Banner](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/43/Flag_of_Northern_Ireland_%281953%E2%80%931972%29.svg/100px-Flag_of_Northern_Ireland_%281953%E2%80%931972%29.svg.png) |
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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 Irelandββto support the Nationalist Party campaign.
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 all of its seats in the Commons, and would not return to the Parliament until 1958.
20 MPs were elected unopposed, most of them Ulster Unionists.
Resultsβ»
β
37
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9
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2
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4
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UUP
|
Nationalist
|
IU
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Oth
|
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 summaryβ»
Popular vote |
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|
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Ulster Unionist |
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62.73% |
Nationalist Party |
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26.80% |
Labour |
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7.10% |
Independent Labour |
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2.11% |
Independent Unionist |
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0.57% |
Communist |
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0.16% |
Independent |
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0.54% |
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Seats summaryβ»
Parliamentary seats |
|
|
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Ulster Unionist |
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71.15% |
Nationalist Party |
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17.31% |
Independent Unionist |
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3.85% |
Independent Labour |
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1.92% |
Socialist Republican |
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1.92% |
Independent |
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3.85% |
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Contested seatsβ»
Only 32 of the 52 seats (62%) were actually contested.
Uncontested seatsβ»
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.
See alsoβ»
Referencesβ»
- ^ Includes 14 members elected unopposed.
- ^ Includes 2 members elected unopposed.