Northern Ireland general election, 1965

Northern Ireland general election, 1965

25 November 1965
All 52 seats to the Northern Ireland House of Commons 27 seats were needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Leader Terence O'Neill Eddie McAteer Tom Boyd Party UUP Nationalist NI Labour Leader since 25 March 1963 2 June 1964 1958 Leader's seat Bannside Foyle Belfast Pottinger Last election 34 seats (48.8%) 9 seats (15.1%) 4 seats (25.4%) Seats won 36 9 2 Seat change 2 0 2 Popular vote 191,896 26,748 66,323 Percentage 59.1% 8.2% 20.4% Swing 10.6% 6.9% 12.3%
Election results by constituency.
Prime Minister before election Terence O'Neill UUP Elected Prime Minister Terence O'Neill UUP

The Northern Ireland general election, 1965 was held on 25 November 1965. Like all previous elections to the Parliament of Northern Ireland, it produced a large majority for the Ulster Unionist Party. This was the last election in Northern Ireland in which one party won a majority of the vote. The Ulster Unionists increased their vote share largely due to a reduction in the number of uncontested seats, but also picked up two additional seats. Similarly, the Nationalist vote share decreased largely due to more of the seats in which they stood candidates being contested.

Results

Northern Ireland General Election 1965
		Candidates						Votes
Party		Standing	Elected	Gained	Unseated	Net	% of total	%	No.	Net %
	UUP	41	36	2	0	+ 2	69.2	59.1	191,896	+10.3
	NI Labour	17	2	0	2	- 2	3.8	20.4	66,323	-12.3
	Nationalist	9	9	0	0	0	17.3	8.2	26,748	-6.9
	National Democratic	1	1	1	0	+ 1	1.9	4.7	15,206	N/A
	Liberal	4	1	0	0	0	1.9	3.9	12,618	+0.3
	Independent Labour	1	0	0	0	0	0	1.4	4,371	-1.7
	Republican Labour	2	2	1	0	+ 1	3.8	1.0	3,326	-1.5
	New Ireland Movement	1	0	0	0	0	0	1.0	3,111	N/A
	Independent Republican	1	0	0	0	0	0	0.2	682	N/A
	Communist (NI)	1	0	0	0	0	0	0.1	308	N/A
	Independent	1	1	0	0	0	1.9	0.0	0	-0.4

All parties shown. The only independent candidate was elected unopposed. Electorate: 907,667 (563,252 in contested seats); Turnout: 57.6% (324,589).

Votes summary

Popular vote
Ulster Unionist			59.12%
Labour			20.43%
Nationalist			8.24%
National Democratic			4.68%
Ulster Liberal			3.89%
Independent Labour			1.35%
Republican Labour			1.02%
New Ireland Movement			0.96%
Independent Republican			0.21%
Communist			0.09%

Seats summary

Parliamentary seats
Ulster Unionist			69.23%
Labour			3.85%
Nationalist			17.31%
National Democratic			1.92%
Ulster Liberal			3.89%
Republican Labour			1.92%
Independent			1.92%

See also

• MPs elected in the Northern Ireland general election, 1965

References

• Northern Ireland Parliamentary Election Results