Irish elections, 1921

Southern Ireland general election, 1921

24 May 1921

128 seats in the House of Commons of Southern Ireland

  First party
 
Leader Éamon de Valera
Party Sinn Féin
Leader since 1917
Leader's seat Clare East
Seats won 124
Popular vote Unopposed
Northern Ireland general election, 1921

24 May 1921

All 52 seats to the Northern Ireland House of Commons
27 seats were needed for a majority

  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader James Craig Éamon de Valera Joe Devlin
Party UUP Sinn Féin Nationalist
Leader since 1921 1917 1918
Leader's seat Down Down Belfast West
Seats won 40 6 6
Popular vote 343,347 104,917 60,577
Percentage 66.9% 20.5% 11.8%

Percentage of seats gained by each of the party.

Prime Minister before election

N/A

Elected Prime Minister

James Craig
UUP

Two elections in Ireland took place in 1921, as a result of the Government of Ireland Act 1920 to establish the House of Commons of Northern Ireland and the House of Commons of Southern Ireland. The election was used by Irish Republicans as the basis of membership of the Second Dáil. Where contested, the elections used single transferable vote.

Southern Ireland result

No actual polling took place in Southern Ireland as all 128 candidates were returned unopposed. Of these, 124 were won by Sinn Féin and four by independent Unionists representing the University of Dublin (Trinity College).[1] When the date of the elections was announced in the House of Commons, the Conservative MP Sir William Davison, who had been born in Broughshane, County Antrim, had asked "What is the object of holding elections in Southern Ireland when any candidates who do not support Sinn Fein would be shot?" Other members had replied "How do you know?"[2]

Southern Ireland general election, 1921
Party Leader No. of seats % of seats
Sinn Féin Éamon de Valera 124 96.9
Independent Unionist 4 3.1
Totals 128 100
Parliamentary seats
Sinn Féin
96.88%
Independent Unionist
3.13%

Only Sinn Féin candidates recognised the Dáil and five of these had been elected in two constituencies (Michael Collins, Éamon de Valera, Arthur Griffith, Seán Milroy and Eoin MacNeill) one in each part of Ireland. The total number of members who assembled in the Second Dáil was 125: 119 elected solely in Southern Ireland, 1 solely in Northern Ireland (Seán O'Mahony), and 5 in both.

In Southern Ireland, there were fresh elections in 1922 as a result of the Anglo-Irish Treaty.

Northern Ireland result

The general election to the Northern Ireland House of Commons occurred on 24 May. Of 52 seats, including Queen's University of Belfast, 40 were won by Unionists, 6 by moderate nationalists and 6 by Sinn Féin.

Northern Ireland general election, 1921
Party Leader Seats % of seats Votes % of votes
Ulster Unionist Party James Craig 40 76.9 343,347 66.9
Sinn Féin Éamon de Valera 6 11.5 104,917 20.5
Nationalist Party (NI) Joe Devlin 6 11.5 60,577 11.8
Belfast Labour Party 0 0 3,075 0.6
Independent 0 0 926 0.2
Totals 52 100 512,842 100

Voting summary

First preference vote
Ulster Unionist
66.95%
Sinn Féin
20.46%
Nationalist
11.81%
Belfast Labour
0.60%
Independent
0.18%

Seats summary

Parliamentary seats
Ulster Unionist
76.92%
Sinn Féin
11.54%
Nationalist
11.54%

See also

References

  1. "Dáil elections since 1918". ARK Northern Ireland. Retrieved 26 April 2009.
  2. "New Parliaments". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). 140. HC. 5 April 1921.
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