1979 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland

3 May 1979
12 seats in Northern Ireland of the 635 seats in the House of Commons
First party Second party   Leader Harry West Ian Paisley Party Ulster Unionist DUP Leader since Jan. 1974 1971 Leader's seat Fermanagh and South Tyrone defeated Antrim North Seats won 5 3 Seat change 1 2 Popular vote 254,578 70,795 Percentage 36.6% 10.2%   Third party Fourth party   Leader Gerry Fitt Ernest Baird Party Social Democratic and Labour Party UUUP Leader since 1970 1975 Leader's seat Belfast West Fermanagh and South Tyrone defeated Seats won 1 1 Seat change New Popular vote 126,235 39,856 Percentage 18.2% 5.7%

The 1979 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland was held on 3 May with 12 MPs elected in single-seat constituencies using first-past-the-post as part of the wider general election in the United Kingdom.

Results

The election was after Labour Party prime minister James Callaghan lost a vote of confidence by 311 votes to 310. The election was won by the Conservative Party led by Margaret Thatcher, and began a period of 18-year government by the party.

Ulster Unionist leader Harry West failed to win a seat for the second time, and would resign later that year after failing to win a seat at the first European Parliament election. The Democratic Unionist Party increased its representation, and the Vanguard Unionist Progressive Party had disbanded.

Frank Maguire was re-elected as an Independent Nationalist, beating the leaders of both the UUP and the new United Ulster Unionist Party, as well as Austin Currie, a member of the SDLP standing without the support of the party. Maguire's death on 5 March 1981 led by a by-election won by Bobby Sands, an IRA prisoner who died later that year as a result of a hunger strike. The Representation of the People Act 1981 disqualified prisoners detained for more than a year from membership of the House of Commons, so the resulting by-election was contested by Sands's election agent Owen Carron, rather than by another prisoner on hunger strike.

Results^[1][2]

Party		MPs		Votes
		No.	Change	No.	%	Change
	Ulster Unionist	5	1	254,578	36.6%	0.1
	DUP	3	2	70,795	10.2%	1.7
	SDLP	1	1	126,235	18.2%	4.2
	UUUP	1	New	39,856	5.7%	5.7
	Ind. Unionist	1	1	36,989	5.3%	4.6
	Independent Nationalist	1		22,398	3.2%	1.5
	Alliance	0		82,892	11.9%	5.5
	Irish Independence	0	New	23,086	3.3%	3.3
	Republican Clubs	0		12,098	1.7%	1.3
	Independent SDLP	0		10,795	1.6%	1.6
	Unionist Party NI	0		8,021	1.2%	1.9
	NI Labour	0		4,411	0.6%	1.0
	United Labour	0		1,895	0.3%	0.3
	Independent or other	0		1,578	0.2%	0.3
Total		12		695,627	100

MPs elected

References