1990 Upper Bann by-election

Upper Bann by-election, 1990

17 May 1990

Candidate David Trimble Bríd Rodgers Party UUP SDLP Popular vote 20,547 6,698 Percentage 58.0% 18.9%

MP before election Harold McCusker UUP Subsequent MP David Trimble UUP

The 1990 by-election in Upper Bann was caused by the death of the sitting Ulster Unionist Party Member of Parliament Harold McCusker on 2 February 1990.

The by-election was especially notable for three reasons. Firstly, eleven candidates stood in the by-election, which to date is the record for a parliamentary election in Northern Ireland. Secondly, amongst the eleven were candidates for the Conservative Party and the Social Democratic Party (SDP), both contesting parliamentary elections in Northern Ireland for the first time since the "Equal Citizenship" campaign had sought to get the major UK parties to organise in the province. Finally the successful Ulster Unionist candidate was David Trimble, who five years later would become the leader of the party.

The SDP candidate took only 154 votes, and finished in eleventh and last place - the worst performance in a by-election by any party with MPs sitting in the House of Commons since the English National Party in the Rotherham by-election, 1976.

The Sinn Féin candidate in the election, Sheena Campbell, was shot dead by the UVF in Belfast on 16 October 1992.

Results

By-election 1990: Upper Bann

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	David Trimble	20,547	58.0	−3.5
	SDLP	Brid Rodgers	6,698	18.9	−1.6
	Sinn Féin	Sheena Campbell	2,033	5.7	−1.7
	Ulster Independence	Hugh Ross	1,534	4.3	N/A
	Workers' Party of Ireland	Tom French	1,083	3.1	−1.6
	NI Conservatives	Colette Jones	1,038	3.0	N/A
	Alliance	William Ramsay	948	2.7	−3.2
	Ulster Democratic	Gary McMichael	600	1.7	N/A
	Green	Peter Doran	576	1.6	N/A
	Independent Labour	Erskine Holmes	235	0.6	N/A
	SDP	Alistair Dunn	154	0.4	N/A
Majority			13,849
Turnout				53.4

General Election result, 1987

General Election 1987: Upper Bann

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	Harold McCusker	25,137	61.5	4.6
	SDLP	Brid Rodgers	8,676	20.5	3.7
	Sinn Féin	Brendan Curran	3,126	7.4	−2.0
	Alliance	Fionnuala Cook	2,487	5.9	N/A
	Workers' Party of Ireland	Tom French	2,004	4.7	−0.8
Majority			16,461
Turnout				66.0	−6.0