1973 Northern Ireland Assembly election Northern Ireland Assembly Percentage of seats gained by each of the parties
Interim bodies Elections Members See also
The1973 elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly took place following the publication of the British government'swhite paper Northern Ireland Constitutional Proposals which proposed a 78-memberNorthern 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 theUlster Unionist Party (UUP) underBrian Faulkner , theSocial Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) and theAlliance Party of Northern Ireland was agreed in November, and following theSunningdale Agreement , a Power Sharing Executive was established from 1 January 1974. After opposition from within the UUP and theUlster Workers Council Strike , the executive and assembly collapsed in May 1974.
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
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%
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%
.jpg)
