The 1973 elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly took place following the publication of the British government's white paper Northern Ireland Constitutional Proposals which proposed a 78-member Northern Ireland Assembly, elected by proportional representation. The proposals for a Northern Ireland Assembly contained in the White Paper were put into effect through the Northern Ireland Assembly Act 1973 in May 1973.[1]

A cross-community coalition of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) under Brian Faulkner, the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) and the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland was agreed in November, and following the Sunningdale Agreement, a Power Sharing Executive was established from 1 January 1974. After opposition from within the UUP and the Ulster Workers Council Strike, the executive and assembly collapsed in May 1974.

Result

The election results were:

Party Votes Vote % Seats Seats %
Ulster Unionist Party 258,790 35.8 31[a] 39.8
SDLP 159,773 22.1 19 24.4
DUP 78,228 10.8 8 10.3
Vanguard 75,709 10.5 7 9.0
Alliance 66,541 9.2 8 10.3
NI Labour 18,675 2.6 1 1.3
West Belfast Loyalist Coalition 16,869 2.3 3 3.8
Ind. Unionist 13,755 1.9 1 1.3
Republican Clubs 13,064 1.8 0
Nationalist 6,270 0.9 0
Independent 4,091 0.6 0
Loyalist 2,752 0.4 0
Independent pro-White Paper 2,008 0.3 0
Ind. Nationalist 2,000 0.3 0
Republican Labour 1,750 0.2 0
Ulster Liberal 811 0.1 0
National Front 591 0.1 0
Ulster Constitution 202 0.0 0
Independent Loyalist 189 0.0 0
Communist 123 0.0 0
Total 722,151 100.0 78 100.0
All parties listed.
31 19 8 8 7 3 1 1
UUP SDLP DUP APNI Vanguard    

Votes summary

Popular vote
Ulster Unionist
35.8%
SDLP
22.1%
Democratic Unionist
10.8%
Vanguard
10.5%
Alliance
9.2%
NI Labour
2.6%
West Belfast Loyalist
2.3%
Independent Unionist
1.9%
Republican Clubs
1.8%
Nationalist
0.9%
Independent
0.6%
Other
1.5%

Seats summary

Parliamentary seats
Ulster Unionist
39.8%
SDLP
24.4%
Democratic Unionist
10.3%
Alliance
10.3%
Vanguard
9.0%
West Belfast Loyalist
3.8%
NI Labour
1.3%
Independent Unionist
1.3%

See also

References

Footnotes

Notes

  1. ^ a b   Pro-White Paper
    (24 members)

      Anti-White Paper
    (7 members)

Sources

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