Northern Ireland Assembly election, 1973

Northern Ireland Assembly election, 1973

1969 ← members 28 June 1973 → 1975 members

All 78 seats to the Northern Ireland Assembly 40 seats were needed for a majority   First party Second party Third party   Leader Brian Faulkner Gerry Fitt Ian Paisley Party Ulster Unionist SDLP Democratic Unionist Leader since 23 March 1971 21 August 1970 30 September 1971 Leader's seat South Down Belfast North North Antrim Last election N/A N/A N/A Seats won 31 19 8 Seat change 31 19 8 Popular vote 258,790 159,773 78,228 Percentage 35.8% 22.1% 10.8% Swing 35.8% 22.1% 10.8%   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader William Craig Oliver Napier Party Vanguard Alliance Leader since 9 February 1972 1972 Leader's seat North Antrim Belfast East Last election N/A N/A Seats won 7 8 Seat change 7 8 Popular vote 75,709 66,541 Percentage 11.5% 9.2% Swing 11.5% 9.2%

Percentage of seats gained by each of the party.

Chief Executive before election New position Elected Chief Executive Brian Faulkner

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.

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.

The election results were:

Party		Votes	Vote %	Seats	Seats %	gain	loss	net
	Ulster Unionist (pro-assembly)	182,696	25.3	24	30.8
	SDLP	159,773	22.1	19	24.4
	Democratic Unionist	78,228	10.8	8	10.3
	Ulster Unionist (anti-assembly)	76,094	10.5	7	9
	Vanguard	75,709	11.5	7	9
	Alliance	66,541	9.2	8	10.3
	Labour (NI)	18,675	2.6	1	1.3
	West Belfast Loyalist Coalition	16,869	2.3	3	3.8
	Independent Unionist	13,755	1.9	1	1.3
	Republican Clubs	13,064	1.8	0
	Nationalist (NI)	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
	Independent Nationalist	2,000	0.3	0
	Republican Labour	1,750	0.2	0
	Liberal	811	0.1	0
	National Front	591	0.1	0
	Ulster Constitutional Loyalist	202	0.0	0
	Independent Loyalist	189	0.0	0
	Communist Party	123	0.0	0

All parties listed.

Votes summary

Popular vote
UUP pro-white paper			25.3%
SDLP			22.1%
UUP anti-white paper			10.54%
Democratic Unionist			10.83%
Vanguard			10.48%
Alliance			9.21%
Labour			2.59%
West Belfast Loyalist			2.34%
Independent Unionist			1.9%
Republican Clubs			1.81%
Nationalist			0.87%
Independent			0.57%
Other			1.45%
Total Ulster Unionist			35.83%

Seats summary

Parliamentary seats
UUP pro-white paper			30.77%
SDLP			24.36%
UUP anti-white paper			8.97%
Democratic Unionist			10.26%
Vanguard			8.97%
Alliance			10.26%
Labour			1.28%
West Belfast Loyalist			3.85%
Independent Unionist			1.28%
Total Ulster Unionist			39.74%

See also

• Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly elected in 1973

Source

• http://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/fa73.htm