1986 Northern Ireland by-elections
23 January 1986
15 of 17 Northern Irish seats
in the United Kingdom Parliament
  First party Second party
 
Party Ulster Unionist DUP
Seats won 10 3
Seat change Decrease1 Steady
Popular vote 302,198 85,239
Percentage 51.7% 23.0%
Swing Increase13.1% Decrease5.5%
  Third party Fourth party
 
Party SDLP UPUP
Seats won 1 1
Seat change Increase1 Steady
Popular vote 70,917 30,793
Percentage 12.1% 5.3%
Swing Decrease3.1% Increase1.9%
Left map shows the % of the vote received by resigning unionist anti-agreement candidates.
Right map shows the % of the vote received by pro-agreement candidates.
Bottom map shows the winning party by constituency - in all constituencies but Armagh and Newry, resigning unionist candidates were re-elected.

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, signed the month before.

Each of the Unionist parties agreed not to contest seats previously held by the others, and each outgoing MP stood for re-election. 14 of the 15 were re-elected, often with large margins. The sole exception was in the Newry and Armagh by-election, where Seamus Mallon of the Social Democratic and Labour Party unseated Jim Nicholson (UUP).

Other candidates

Of the two Northern Ireland seats not held by unionists, 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 stood in nine seats.

It appeared that the incumbent would be the only candidate in four constituencies. This would have produced the first uncontested elections for the House of Commons since the Armagh by-election of 1954. In order to ensure that there was a contest and that 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 held on a single day.

Results

Aggregate results

The aggregated results for all constituencies are shown below. Changes are compared to those for the 15 constituencies in the 1983 general election.

Results of the 1986 Northern Ireland by-elections
Political party Leader Position Candidates MPs Votes
Total Gained Lost Net Of total
(%)		 Total Of total
(%)		 Change
(%)
Ulster Unionist James Molyneaux Anti-agreement 11 10 0 1 Decrease1 66.7 302,198 51.7 Increase13.1
DUP Ian Paisley Anti-agreement 3 3 0 0 Steady 20.0 85,239 14.6 Decrease5.5
SDLP John Hume Pro-agreement 4 1 1 0 Increase1 6.7 70,917 12.1 Decrease3.1
Sinn Féin Gerry Adams Anti-agreement 4 0 0 0 Steady 0.0 38,848 6.6 Decrease4.7
Alliance John Cushnahan Pro-agreement 5 0 0 0 Steady 0.0 32,095 5.5 Decrease3.5
UPUP James Kilfedder Anti-agreement 1 1 0 0 Steady 6.7 30,793 5.3 Increase1.3
Workers' Party Tomás Mac Giolla Pro-agreement[1] 9 0 0 0 Steady 0.0 18,148 3.1 Increase1.3
For the Anglo-Irish Agreement Wesley Robert Williamson running as 'Peter Barry' Pro-agreement 4 0 0 0 Steady 0.0 6,379 1.1 N/A
Blank and invalid votes — —
Total 41 15 0 100 584,617 100 0.0
Registered voters, and turnout 951,571 61.44
Vote share by party position on Anglo-Irish Agreement
Anti Agreement Unionists
 
 71.6%
Pro Agreement candidates
 
 21.8%
Anti Agreement Republicans
 
 6.6%

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 Fermanagh 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.

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

1986 East Antrim by-election[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Ulster Unionist Roy Beggs 30,386 84.9 +47.5
Alliance Seán Neeson 5,405 15.1 −4.9
Majority 24,981 69.8 +68.9
Turnout 24,981 59.2 −5.9
Ulster Unionist hold Swing N/A
1986 North Antrim by-election[2]
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 34,452 54.7
DUP hold Swing N/A
1986 South Antrim by-election[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Ulster Unionist Clifford Forsythe 30,087 94.1 +48.4
For the Anglo-Irish Agreement Peter Barry 1,870 5.9 N/A
Majority 28,217 88.3 +70.8
Turnout 31,957 53.5 −12.0
Ulster Unionist hold Swing N/A

Belfast

[2]

1986 Belfast East by-election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
DUP Peter Robinson 27,607 81.0 +35.7
Alliance Oliver Napier 5,917 17.4 −6.7
Workers' Party Frank Cullen 578 1.7 +0.6
Majority 21,690 63.6
Turnout 34,102 60.2
DUP hold Swing
1986 Belfast North by-election[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Ulster Unionist Cecil Walker 21,649 71.5 +35.3
Alliance Paul Maguire 5,072 16.7 +7.6
Workers' Party Seamus Lynch 3,563 11.8 +6.1
Majority 16,577 54.8
Turnout 30,284 51.5 −17.9
Ulster Unionist hold Swing
1986 Belfast South by-election[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Ulster Unionist Martin Smyth 21,771 71.3 +21.3
Alliance David Cook 7,635 25.0 +1.1
Workers' Party Gerry Carr 1,109 3.6
Majority 14,136 46.3 +1.3
Turnout 30,515 56.9
Ulster Unionist hold Swing

Down

1986 North Down by-election[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
UPUP James Kilfedder 30,793 79.2 +23.1
Alliance John Cushnahan 8,066 20.8 −1.3
Majority 22,727 58.4 +24.4
Turnout 38,859 62.8 −3.4
UPUP hold Swing
1986 South Down by-election[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Ulster Unionist 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 Sean Magee 522 1.0 −0.7
Majority 1,842 3.6
Turnout 51,569 73.8 −3.9
Ulster Unionist hold Swing

Newry and Armagh

1986 Newry and Armagh by-election[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
SDLP Seamus Mallon 22,694 45.5 +8.7
Ulster Unionist Jim Nicholson 20,111 40.3 +0.2
Sinn Féin Jim McAllister 6,609 13.2 −7.7
Workers' Party Patrick McCusker 515 1.0 −1.2
Majority 2,583 5.2 N/A
Turnout 49,929 76.9 +0.9
Registered electors 65,142
SDLP gain from Ulster Unionist Swing

Other constituencies

1986 Fermanagh and South Tyrone by-election[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Ulster Unionist 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 David Kettyles 864 1.5 -0.4
Majority 12,579 22.5 +9.7
Turnout 56,080 80.4 −8.2
Ulster Unionist hold Swing
1986 Lagan Valley by-election[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Ulster Unionist Jim Molyneaux 32,514 90.7 +31.5
Workers' Party John Lowry 3,328 9.3 +7.0
Majority 29,186 81.4 +39.0
Turnout 35,842 57.8 −9.8
Ulster Unionist hold Swing
1986 East Londonderry by-election[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Ulster Unionist 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
Ulster Unionist hold Swing
1986 Mid Ulster by-election[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
DUP William McCrea 23,695 46.1 +16.4
Sinn Féin Danny Morrison 13,998 27.2 −2.8
SDLP Adrian Colton 13,021 25.3 +2.8
Workers' Party Thomas Owens 691 1.3 ±0.0
Majority 6,967 19.3
Turnout 51,405 77.6 −6.7
DUP hold Swing
1986 Strangford by-election[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Ulster Unionist John David Taylor 32,627 94.2 +45.4
For the Anglo-Irish Agreement Peter Barry 1,993 5.8 N/A
Majority 30,634 88.5 +69.7
Turnout 34,620 55.0 −9.9
Registered electors 62,854
Ulster Unionist hold Swing
1986 Upper Bann by-election[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Ulster Unionist Harold McCusker 29,311 80.8 +23.9
Workers' Party Tom French 6,978 19.2 +13.7
Majority 22,333 61.4 +20.4
Turnout 36,861 57.2 −14.8
Registered electors 63,4854
Ulster Unionist hold Swing

See also

References

  1. ↑ "The Socialist Perspective on Northern Ireland and the Anglo-Irish Agreement". Irish Left Archive. Retrieved 21 June 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Results of Byelections in the 1983-87 Parliament in the United Kingdom Election Results website maintained by David Boothroyd
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