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
  Blank
Leader James Craig Joe Devlin Samuel Kyle
Party Ulster Unionist 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[u 1] 11[n 1] 1
Seat change Increase5 Increase1 Decrease2
Popular vote 148,579 34,069 23,334
Percentage 50.8% 11.7% 8.0%
Swing Decrease4.2% Decrease9.5% Increase3.3%

Election results by constituency.

Prime Minister before election

James Craig
Ulster Unionist

Prime Minister after election

James Craig
Ulster Unionist

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.

22 MPs (42%), mostly Ulster Unionists, were elected unopposed without any votes being cast. This began a trend which would continue for decades - until 1969, at least 20 MPs in every Northern Ireland general election would be elected unopposed.

Results

37 11 3 1
UUP Nationalist IU
1929 Northern Ireland general election
Party Candidates Votes
Stood Elected Gained Unseated Net  % of total  % No. Net %
  Ulster Unionist 43 37 N/A N/A +5 71.2 50.8 148,579 -4.2
  Ind. 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%

Contested seats

Only 30 of the 52 seats (58%) were actually contested.

1929 Northern Ireland general election (contested seats)
Party Popular vote Candidates
Votes % Stood Elected %
Ulster Unionist 148,579 50.8 27 21 70.0
Ind. Unionist 41,778 14.3 10 3 10.0
Nationalist 34,069 11.7 5 5 16.7
Labour 23,334 8.0 5 1 3.3
Liberal 18,208 6.2 5 0
Local Option 9,776 3.3 3 0
Town Tenants 6,901 2.4 2 0
Ind. Nationalist 3,694 1.3 1 0
Independent 3,437 1.2 1 0
Ind. Labour 2,442 0.8 2 0
Total 292,218 67.6% 61 30

Uncontested seats

In 22 of the 52 seats (42%), 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.

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1929 Northern Ireland general election (uncontested seats)
Party Popular vote Candidates
Votes % Stood Elected %
Ulster Unionist Unopposed 16 16 72.7
Nationalist Unopposed 6 6 27.3
Total 22 22 100

Old Map

Footnotes

  1. Kyle stood in Belfast Oldpark but was defeated.
  1. Includes 16 members elected unopposed.
    1. Includes 6 members elected unopposed.

    References


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