1973 Northern Ireland Assembly election

Template:Short description Template:Politics of Northern Ireland 1972-98 The 1973 elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly took place following the publication of the British government's white paper Northern Ireland Constitutional Proposals which proposed a 78-member Northern Ireland Assembly, elected by proportional representation. The proposals for a Northern Ireland Assembly contained in the White Paper were put into effect through the Northern Ireland Assembly Act 1973 in May 1973.

A cross-community coalition of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) under Brian Faulkner, the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) and the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland was agreed in November, and following the Sunningdale Agreement, a Power Sharing Executive was established from 1 January 1974. After opposition from within the UUP and the Ulster Workers Council Strike, the executive and assembly collapsed in May 1974.

Result

The election results were:

File:Northern Irish general election 1973.png
Party		Votes	Vote %	Seats	Seats %
	Ulster Unionist Party	258,790	35.8	31Template:Efn	39.8
	159,773	22.1	19	24.4
	78,228	10.8	8	10.3
	75,709	10.5	7	9.0
	66,541	9.2	8	10.3
	18,675	2.6	1	1.3
	West Belfast Loyalist Coalition	16,869	2.3	3	3.8
	13,755	1.9	1	1.3
	13,064	1.8	0	—
	6,270	0.9	0	—
	4,091	0.6	0	—
	Loyalist	2,752	0.4	0	—
	Independent pro-White Paper	2,008	0.3	0	—
	2,000	0.3	0	—
	1,750	0.2	0	—
	811	0.1	0	—
	591	0.1	0	—
	202	0.0	0	—
	Independent Loyalist	189	0.0	0	—
	123	0.0	0	—
	Total	722,151	100.0	78	100.0

All parties listed.

↓

style="background:Template:Party color; width:35.8%;" | 31	style="background:Template:Party color; width:24.4%;" | 19	style="background:Template:Party color; width:10.3%;" | 8	style="background:Template:Party color; width:10.3%;" | 8	style="background:Template:Party color; width:9.0%;" | 7	3	style="background:Template:Party color; width:1.3%;" | 1	style="background:Template:Party color; width:1.3%;" | 1
UUP	SDLP	DUP	APNI	Vanguard

Votes summary

Popular vote Ulster Unionist   35.8% SDLP   22.1% Democratic Unionist   10.8% Vanguard   10.5% Alliance   9.2% NI Labour   2.6% West Belfast Loyalist   2.3% Independent Unionist   1.9% Republican Clubs   1.8% Nationalist   0.9% Independent   0.6% Other   1.5%

Seats summary

Parliamentary seats Ulster Unionist   39.8% SDLP   24.4% Democratic Unionist   10.3% Alliance   10.3% Vanguard   9.0% West Belfast Loyalist   3.8% NI Labour   1.3% Independent Unionist   1.3%

See also

• Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly elected in 1973

Sources

• http://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/fa73.htm