Mid-Ulster 1973-1982


DUP V/UUUP UUP U(P)/UPNI A WP/RC SDLP Oth Nat SF
82a 23.3%** 7.7% 15.6%*
4.6% 3.3% 24.9%**
20.5%*
79w
44.9%

5.3% 1.8% 29.6% 18.5%
75cc 14.6%* 9.9%* 24.1%** 4.0% 6.0% 6.4% 35.0%**

74wo
47.3%


12.5% 40.1%

74wf
39.0%
6.9%

29.0% 25.0%
73a 7.0% 11.1%* 8.4%* 19.7%* 5.9% 7.3% 36.8%*** 4.0%
See spreadsheets for 1973 Assembly, February 1974 Westminster, October 1974 Westminster, 1975 Convention, 1979 Westminster and 1982 Assembly.

Assembly election, 20 October 1982 (six seats)

William McCrea (DUP) 10,445
Denis Haughey (SDLP) 8,413
Danny Morrison (SF) 6,927
Francis McElwee (SF) 5,763
* William Thompson (UUP) 5,546
Mary McSorley (SDLP) 4,169
Samuel Glasgow (UUP) 4,143
Alan Kane (DUP) 3,981
* Robert Overend (UUUP) 3,056
Aidan Lagan (Alliance) 2,872
Liam McQuaid (SDLP) 2,862
John Dunlop MP (UUUP) 1,732
Francie Donnelly (WP) 1,311
Francie McElroy (WP) 746
Votes by party:
SDLP 15,444 (24.9%) 2 seats (1.7 quotas)
DUP 14,426 (23.3%) 2 seats (1.6 quotas)
SF 12,690 (20.5%) 1 seat (1.4 quotas)
UUP 9,689 (15.6%) 1 seat (1.1 quotas)
UUUP 4,788 (7.7%, 0.5 quotas) best result for UUUP in Northern Ireland
Alliance 2,872 (4.6%, 0.3 quotas)
WP 2,057 (3.3%, 0.2 quotas)

Electorate: 84,699
Votes cast: 63,943 (75.5%); spoilt votes 1,977 (3.1%)
Valid votes: 61,966; quota 8,853

* Elected to the 1975 Constitutional Convention

Sinn Fein effectively won the seat taken by Overend for Vanguard in 1975. I think that Dunlop's dismal 1,732 first preferences, 2.8%, is the worst ever vote gained at a regional level election by a sitting Westminster MP, though this was the UUUP's best constituency in the election. On the last count, Danny Morrison had 7415 votes to his Sinn Féin colleague Francis McElwee's 6343.

Westminster Election, 3 May 1979 (one seat)

* John Dunlop (UUUP) 29,249 (44.9%) best result for UUUP in Northern Ireland
Paddy Duffy (SDLP) 19,266 (29.6%)
Patrick Fahy (IIP) 12,055 (18.5%)
Aidan Lagan (Alliance) 3,481 (5.3%)
Francie Donnelly (Rep. Clubs) 1,141 (1.8%)

UUUP majority: 9,983; Electorate: 81,499; Turnout: (80.9%)

* sitting MP

Dunlop was fortunate to benefit from a Unionist pact; not only was there a clear Nationalist majority in the constituency, but also the UUUP was on its last legs. This also marked the best ever election result anywhere for the IIP; their failure to pass the SDLP even here meant that they were ripe for eclipse by SF a few years later.

Constitutional Convention election, 1 May 1975 (six seats)

* William Thompson (UUP-UUUC) 9,342
* Ivan Cooper (SDLP) 9,073
Richard Reid (DUP-UUUC) 8,250
Robert Overend (VUP-UUUC) 5,573
Francis Thompson (UUP-UUUC) 4,292
* Paddy Duffy (SDLP) 4,130
* Aidan Larkin (SDLP) 3,868
Stephen McKenna (SDLP) 2,705
* Thomas Pollock (UPNI) 2,264
Aidan Lagan (Alliance) 1,842
Douglas Cooper (Alliance) 1,526
Francie Donnelly (Rep Clubs) 1,387
Francie McElroy (Rep Clubs) 1,270
Ivan Barr (Rep Clubs) 947
Votes by party:
[UUUC got 27,457 votes (48.6%) and won 4 seats (3.4 quotas)]
SDLP 19,776 (35.0%) 2 seats (2.4 quotas)
UUP 13,684 (24.1%) 2 seats (1.7 quotas)
DUP 8,250 (14.6%) 1 seat (1.0 quotas)
VUP 5,573 (9.9%) 1 seat (0.7 quotas)
Rep Clubs 3,604 (6.4%, 0.4 quotas)
Alliance 3,368 (6.0%, 0.4 quotas)
UPNI 2,264 (4.0%, 0.3 quotas)

Electorate: 80,806
Votes cast: 58,549 (72.5%); spoilt votes 2,080 (3.6%)
Valid votes: 56,469; quota 8,068

The UUUC were fortunate to get four seats with less than three and a half quotas. This was one of the two seats lost by the SDLP compared with 1973, in this case effectively to the DUP. Also Pollock, elected in 1973 as a pro-White Paper UUP candidate, was unsuccessful this time as a UPNI candidate. On the last count, Overend of Vanguard had 6315 votes to 6191 for Larkin of the SDLP, a margin of only 124 which could easily have been reversed out of the thousands of non-transferable votes from Alliance and Republican Clubs.

Westminster Election, 10 October 1974 (one seat)

*@ John Dunlop (Vanguard) 30,552 (47.3%)
@ Ivan Cooper (SDLP) 25,885 (40.1%)
Francie Donnelly (Republican Clubs) 8,091 (12.5%)

Vanguard majority: 4,667; Electorate: 82,718; Turnout: 79.2%

* sitting MP
@ Member of Assembly (which by this time had been prorogued)

Cooper demonstrated the difficulties the SDLP faces when trying to get Republican tactical votes.

Westminster Election, 28 February 1974 (one seat)

@ John Dunlop (Vanguard) 26,044 (39.0%)
@ Ivan Cooper (SDLP) 19,372 (29.0%)
* Bernadette McAliskey (Independent Socialist) 16,672 (25.0%)
Neville Thornton (Pro-Assembly Unionist) 4,633 (6.9%)

Vanguard  majority: 6,672; Electorate: 80,982; Turnout: 82.7%

* sitting MP
@ Member of Assembly

McAliskey (née Devlin) had won the seat in a by-election in 1968 and retained it in the 1970 election; after this it was not won by a Nationalist candidate again until Martin McGuinness's victory in 1997 (though Danny Morrison came pretty close in 1983). This was another of the seats where the UUUC candidate defeated an incumbent MP on a minority of the votes. 

Assembly election, 28 June 1973 (six seats)

* Ivan Cooper (SDLP) 12,614
Thomas Pollock (UUP, pro-White Paper) 9,557
John Dunlop (Vanguard) 7,082
William Thompson (UUP, anti-White Paper) 5,352
Edward Sayers (DUP) 4,454
Paddy Duffy (SDLP) 4,437
Aidan Larkin (SDLP) 4,045
Verdun Wright (UUP, pro-White Paper) 3,034
Desmond Gourley (Rep Clubs) 2,899
$ P.F. McGill (Nationalist) 2,558
Stephen McKenna (SDLP) 2,444
* Tom Gormley (Alliance) 2,055
Ivan Barr (Rep Clubs) 1,755
Robin Glendinning (Alliance) 1,389
George Logue (Alliance) 339
Votes by party:
[UUP got 17,943 votes (2.0%) and won 2 seats (2.0 quotas)]
SDLP 23,540 (36.8%) 3 seats (2.6 quotas)
UUP (pro) 12,591 (19.7%) 1 seat (1.4 quotas)
Vanguard 7,082 (11.1%) 1 seat (0.8 quotas)
UUP (anti) 5,352 (8.4%) 1 seat (0.6 quotas)
Rep Clubs 4,654 (7.3%, 0.5 quotas)
DUP 4,454 (7.0%, 0.5 quotas)
Alliance 3,783 (5.9%, 0.4 quotas)
Nationalist 2,558 (4.0%, 0.3 quotas)

Electorate: 79,331
Votes cast: 65,386 (82.4%); spoilt votes 1,372 (2.1%)
Valid votes: 64,014; quota 9,145

* Member of the Northern Ireland House of Commons when it was dissolved.
$ Member of the Northern Ireland Senate when it was dissolved.

The SDLP benefited from transfers from the old Nationalist Party (here represented by outgoing Senator P.F. McGill) to win a third seat. In fact the race for the last seat was between two SDLP candidates, Larkin, who finished with 6,018 votes, and McKenna, who finished with 5,402.


See also:

Results from 1973 to 1982 for each seat: East Belfast | North Belfast | South Belfast | West Belfast | North Antrim | South Antrim | Armagh | North Down | South Down | Fermanagh and South Tyrone | Londonderry | Mid Ulster

Other sites based at ARK: ORB (Online Research Bank) | CAIN (Conflict Archive on the INternet) | Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey

Your comments, please! Send an email to me at nicholas.whyte@gmail.com.

Nicholas Whyte, 25 March 2003.



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