1986 Northern Ireland by-elections

The 1986 Northern Ireland by-elections were fifteen by-elections held on 23 January 1986, to fill vacancies in the Parliament of the United Kingdom caused by the resignation in December 1985 of all sitting Unionist Members of Parliament (MPs). The MPs, from the Ulster Unionist Party, Democratic Unionist Party and Ulster Popular Unionist Party, did this to highlight their opposition to the Anglo-Irish Agreement. Each of their parties agreed not to contest seats previously held by the others, and each outgoing MP stood for re-election.

Other candidates

Of the remaining two seats in Northern Ireland, Foyle was held by the Nationalist Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), while Belfast West was held by the Republican party Sinn Féin. These MPs did not resign and their seats were not contested.

The SDLP and Sinn Féin regarded the resignations as a publicity stunt, and were reluctant to take part in the resulting by-elections. In the event, they contested only the seats which they believed to have an anti-Unionist majority.

The Alliance Party of Northern Ireland instructed its branches to nominate a candidate for each by-election, but many were reluctant, and ultimately, the party stood in only five seats. The small Workers' Party also stood, in nine seats.

In four constituencies, no political party was willing to contest the by-election. This effectively made these the last uncontested by-elections in British history. However, to ensure that there was a contest and the Unionists would be able to demonstrate their point, Wesley Robert Williamson changed his name by deed poll to "Peter Barry", Peter Barry being Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Ireland. "Peter Barry" stood in these four constituencies under the label "For the Anglo-Irish Agreement", allowing a contest, but did not campaign.

The unusual circumstances led this to be the greatest number of UK Parliamentary by-elections ever held on a single day.

Results

All but one of the Unionists were re-elected, many with extremely large majorities. The largest of all went to Ian Paisley in North Antrim. He won 97.4% of the vote, the highest percentage polled by any candidate in a UK by-election since the 1940 Middleton and Prestwich by-election.

The sole exception to this pattern was the Newry and Armagh by-election, where Seamus Mallon of the SDLP was able to take the seat. Former Cabinet Minister Enoch Powell was able to narrowly survive a strong challenge from the SDLP in South Down and was subsequently defeated at the following year's general election. In the western constituencies of Mid Ulster and Fermanargh and South Tyrone the Unionist candidates were able to survive with less than 50% of the vote due to a split Nationalist vote and both seats were gained by Sinn Féin in later elections once Unionist pacts had broken down.

The results of the fifteen by-elections were cited by Unionists as a rejection of the Agreement by the Northern Irish electorate, but did not succeed in repealing it.

Antrim

East Antrim by-election, 1986^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	Roy Beggs	30,386	84.9	+47.5
	Alliance	Sean Neeson	5,405	15.1	−4.9
Majority			24,981
Turnout				59.2	−5.9
	UUP hold		Swing	N/A

North Antrim by-election, 1986^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	DUP	Ian Paisley	33,937	97.4	+43.2
	For the Anglo-Irish Agreement	Peter Barry	515	2.6	N/A
Majority			33,024	94.8
Turnout				54.7
	DUP hold		Swing	N/A

South Antrim by-election, 1986^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	Clifford Forsythe	30,087	94.1	+48.4
	For the Anglo-Irish Agreement	Peter Barry	1,870	5.9	N/A
Majority			28,217
Turnout				53.5	−12.0
	UUP hold		Swing	N/A

Belfast

^[1]

Belfast East by-election, 1986
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	DUP	Peter Robinson	27,607	81.0	+35.7
	Alliance	Oliver Napier	5,917	17.4	−6.7
	Workers' Party of Ireland	Frank Cullen	578	1.7	+0.6
Majority			21,690
Turnout				60.2
	DUP hold		Swing

Belfast North by-election, 1986^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	Cecil Walker	21,649	71.5	+35.3
	Alliance	Paul Maguire	5,072	16.7	+7.6
	Workers' Party of Ireland	Seamus Lynch	3,563	11.8	+6.1
Majority			16,577
Turnout				51.5
	UUP hold		Swing

Belfast South by-election, 1986^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	Martin Smyth	21,771	71.3	+21.3
	Alliance	David Cook	7,635	25.0	+1.1
	Workers' Party of Ireland	Gerry Carr	1,109	3.6
Majority			14,136	46.3	+1.3
Turnout				56.9
	UUP hold		Swing

Down

North Down by-election, 1986^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UPUP	James Kilfedder	30,793	79.2	+23.1
	Alliance	John Cushnahan	8,066	20.8	−1.3
Majority			22,727
Turnout				62.8
	UPUP hold		Swing

South Down by-election, 1986^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	Enoch Powell	24,963	48.4	+8.1
	SDLP	Eddie McGrady	23,121	44.8	+5.5
	Sinn Féin	Hugh McDowell	2,963	5.7	−2.2
	Workers' Party of Ireland	Sean Magee	522	1.0	−0.7
Majority			1,842
Turnout
	UUP hold		Swing

Newry and Armagh

Newry and Armagh by-election, 1986^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SDLP	Seamus Mallon	22,694	45.5	+3.7
	UUP	Jim Nicholson	20,111	40.3	+0.2
	Sinn Féin	Jim McAllister	6,609	13.2	−7.7
	Workers' Party of Ireland	Patrick McCusker	515	1.0	−1.2
Majority			2,583
	SDLP gain from UUP		Swing

Other constituencies

Fermanagh and South Tyrone by-election, 1986^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	Ken Maginnis	27,857	49.7	+2.1
	Sinn Féin	Owen Carron	15,278	27.2	−7.6
	SDLP	Austin Currie	12,081	21.5	+5.0
	Workers' Party of Ireland	David Kettyles	864	1.5	−0.4
Majority			12,579
Turnout
	UUP hold		Swing

Lagan Valley by-election, 1986^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	Jim Molyneaux	32,514	90.7	+31.5
	Workers' Party of Ireland	John Lowry	3,328	9.3	+7.0
Majority			29,186
Turnout				57.8
	UUP hold		Swing

East Londonderry by-election, 1986^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	William Ross	30,922	93.9	+56.0
	For the Anglo-Irish Agreement	Peter Barry	2,001	6.1	N/A
Majority			28,921	87.8	+73.7
Turnout			32,923	46.8	–29.5
	UUP hold		Swing

Mid Ulster by-election, 1986^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	DUP	William McCrea	23,695	46.1	+16.1
	Sinn Féin	Danny Morrison	13,998	27.2	−2.7
	SDLP	Adrian Colton	13,021	25.3	+2.9
	Workers' Party of Ireland	Thomas Owens	691	1.3	−0.1
Majority			6,967
Turnout
	DUP hold		Swing

Strangford by-election, 1986^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	UUP	John Taylor	32,627	94.2
	For the Anglo-Irish Agreement	Peter Barry	1,993	5.8
Majority			30,634	88.5
Turnout			34,620	55.0
	UUP hold		Swing

Upper Bann by-election, 1986^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	UUP	Harold McCusker	29,311	80.8
	Workers' Party of Ireland	Tom French	6,978	19.2
Majority			22,333
Turnout
	UUP hold		Swing

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o Results of Byelections in the 1983-87 Parliament in the United Kingdom Election Results website maintained by David Boothroyd

[Results-1] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o Results of Byelections in the 1983-87 Parliament in the United Kingdom Election Results website maintained by David Boothroyd

[1]

v t e « 48th Parliament « By-elections to the 49th Parliament of the United Kingdom » 50th Parliament »
1983	July: Penrith and the Border
1984	March: Chesterfield May: Cynon Valley South West Surrey Stafford June: Portsmouth South December: Enfield Southgate
1985	July: Brecon and Radnor December: Tyne Bridge
1986	January: Belfast East Belfast North Belfast South East Antrim East Londonderry Fermanagh & South Tyrone Lagan Valley Mid Ulster Newry & Armagh North Antrim North Down South Antrim South Down Strangford Upper Bann April: Fulham May: Ryedale West Derbyshire July: Newcastle-under-Lyme November: Knowsley North
1987	February: Greenwich March: Truro
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