2019 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland

The 2019 United Kingdom general election was held on 12 December 2019 to elect all 650 members of the House of Commons, including 18 seats in Northern Ireland. 1,293,971 people were eligible to vote, up 51,273 from the 2017 general election. 62.09% of eligible voters turned out, down 3.5 percentage points from the last general election.[1] For the first time in history, traditional Irish nationalist parties won more seats than traditional unionist parties.[2]

2019 United Kingdom general election
(Northern Ireland)

12 December 2019
All 18 Northern Ireland seats to the House of Commons
Turnout	62.1% ()
Leader Arlene Foster Mary Lou McDonald Colum Eastwood Party DUP Sinn Féin SDLP Leader since 17 December 2015 10 February 2018 14 November 2015 Leader's seat Did not stand[lower-alpha 1] Did not stand[lower-alpha 2] Foyle Last election 10 seats, 36.0% 7 seats, 29.4% 0 seats, 11.7% Seats won 8 7 2 Seat change 2 2 Popular vote 244,127 181,853 118,737 Percentage 30.6% 22.8% 14.9% Swing 5.4% 6.7% 3.1%   Leader Naomi Long[lower-alpha 3] Steve Aiken[lower-alpha 4] Party Alliance UUP Leader since 26 October 2016 9 November 2019 Leader's seat Stood in Belfast East (lost) Stood in East Antrim (lost) Last election 0 seats, 7.9% 0 seats, 10.3% Seats won 1 0 Seat change 1 Popular vote 134,115 93,123 Percentage 16.8% 11.7% Swing 8.8% 1.4%
A map presenting the results of the election, by party of the MP elected from each constituency.

Electoral system

MPs were elected in 18 Single Member constituencies by first-past-the-post.

Background

The election was called on 29 October 2019 under the Early Parliamentary General Election Act 2019. At the 2017 election, the nationalist Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) and the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) lost all of their seats. The DUP won 10 seats, Sinn Féin won 7 seats, and Independent Unionist Sylvia Hermon was also elected. The election ended in a hung parliament, and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) signed a confidence and supply agreement with the Conservative Party.[3]

In 2018, Sinn Féin MP for West Tyrone, Barry McElduff, resigned after a social media post he made caused controversy regarding perceived sectarianism on the Kingsmill massacre.[4] The party won a by-election later, but with a plurality instead of a majority.[5]

In the 2019 European Parliament election, Sinn Féin, the DUP, and the Alliance Party each won a seat.[6]

Participating parties

102 candidates stood in the general election.[7] The Alliance Party was the only party standing in all 18 seats. The DUP stood in 17 seats, the UUP in 16, and both Sinn Féin and the SDLP in 15 seats. Aontú stood in 7 seats, the Northern Ireland Conservatives in 4, the Green Party of Northern Ireland in 3, and People Before Profit and the UK Independence Party in 2. Traditional Unionist Voice did not stand in this election. There were also three independent candidates. Sylvia Hermon did not contest this election.[8]

Sinn Féin operates on an all-Ireland basis. Their MPs in Westminster practice abstentionism, meaning they do not take their seats in the House of Commons. Aontú, who like Sinn Féin are an abstentionist all-Ireland party, was formed in January 2019.[9][10]

Opinion polling

Pollster/client(s)	Date(s) conducted	Sample size	DUP	SF	SDLP	UUP	Alliance	Green	Other	Lead
2019 general election	12 Dec 2019	–	30.6%	22.8%	14.9%	11.7%	16.8%	0.2%	3.1%[lower-alpha 5]	7.8%
Lucid Talk/Remain United	27–30 Nov 2019	2,422	30%	25%	13%	11%	16%	0%	5%	5%
	9 November 2019	Steve Aiken officially becomes leader of the Ulster Unionist Party
Lucid Talk/Remain United	30 Oct–1 Nov 2019	2,386	28%	24%	14%	9%	16%	1%	8% [lower-alpha 6]	4%
Lucid Talk	9–12 Aug 2019	2,302	29%	25%	8%	9%	21%	1%	7%	4%
	21 November 2018	Clare Bailey officially becomes leader of NI Green Party
Survation/Channel 4	20 Oct–2 Nov 2018	555	31%	27%	11%	15%	12%	–	4%	4%
	3 May 2018	West Tyrone by-election[11]
	10 Feb 2018	Mary Lou McDonald becomes leader of Sinn Féin[12]
2017 general election	8 Jun 2017	–	36.0%	29.4%	11.7%	10.3%	7.9%	0.9%	3.7%	6.6%

Results

Party[13]		Seats					Votes
		Total	Gains	Losses	Net +/-	% seats	Total votes	% votes	Change
	DUP	8	0	2	2	44.4	244,127	30.6	5.4
	Sinn Féin	7	1	1		38.9	181,853	22.8	6.7
	SDLP	2	2	0	2	11.1	118,737	14.9	3.1
	Alliance	1	1	0	1	5.6	134,115	16.8	8.8
	UUP	0	0	0		0	93,123	11.7	1.4
	Aontú	0	0	0		0	9,814	1.2	N/A
	People Before Profit	0	0	0		0	7,526	0.9	0.2
	NI Conservatives	0	0	0		0	5,433	0.7	0.2
	Green (NI)	0	0	0		0	1,996	0.2	0.7
	Independent	0	0	1	1	0	1,687	0.2	1.8
	UKIP	0	0	0		0	623	0.1	N/A
							799,034	61.8	3.6

Results by constituency

Constituency[14]	1st place	2nd place	Eligible voters	Votes polled	Invalid votes	Turnout (%)	Majority	Maj. (%)	AP	DUP	SDLP	SF	UUP	Others
Belfast East	DUP	AP	66,245	42,619	169	64.34	1,819	4.3	19,055	20,874	did not stand	did not stand	2,516	did not stand
Belfast North	SF	DUP	72,225	49,425	388	68.43	1,943	4.0	4,824	21,135	did not stand	23,078	did not stand	did not stand
Belfast South	SDLP	DUP	69,984	47,527	172	67.91	15,401	32.5	6,786	11,678	27,079	did not stand	1,259	550
Belfast West	SF	PBPA	65,644	38,988	206	59.39	14,672	37.8	1,882	5,220	2,985	20,866	did not stand	7,829
East Antrim	DUP	AP	64,830	37,431	170	57.74	6,616	18.0	10,165	16,871	902	2,120	5,475	1,728
East Londonderry	DUP	SDLP	69,246	39,495	193	57.04	9,607	24.4	5,921	15,765	6,158	6,128	3,599	1,731
Fermanagh and South Tyrone	SF	UUP	72,848	51,087	324	70.13	57	0.1	2,650	did not stand	3,446	21,986	21,929	751
Foyle	SDLP	SF	74,346	47,370	226	63.72	17,110	36.3	1,267	4,773	26,881	9,771	1,088	3,364
Lagan Valley	DUP	AP	75,735	45,589	184	60.2	6,499	14.3	13,087	19,586	1,758	1,098	8,606	1,270
Mid Ulster	SF	DUP	70,449	44,968	348	63.83	9,537	21.4	3,526	10,936	6,384	20,473	2,611	690
Newry and Armagh	SF	DUP	81,226	51,120	341	62.94	9,287	18.3	4,211	11,000	9,449	20,287	4,204	1,628
North Antrim	DUP	UUP	77,134	44,355	304	57.5	12,721	28.9	6,231	20,860	2,943	5,632	8,139	246
North Down	AP	DUP	67,099	40,842	172	60.87	2,968	7.3	18,358	15,390	did not stand	did not stand	4,936	1,959
South Antrim	DUP	UUP	71,711	43,188	214	60.23	2,689	6.3	8,190	15,149	2,288	4,887	12,460	did not stand
South Down	SF	SDLP	79,175	49,971	209	63.11	1,620	3.2	6,916	7,619	14,517	16,137	3,307	1,266
Strangford	DUP	AP	66,928	37,669	175	56.28	7,071	18.8	10,634	17,705	1,994	555	4,023	2,574
Upper Bann	DUP	SF	82,887	50,348	303	60.74	8,210	16.4	6,433	20,501	4,623	12,291	6,197	did not stand
West Tyrone	SF	DUP	66,259	41,375	189	62.44	7,478	18.2	3,979	9,066	7,330	16,544	2,774	1,493
Total			1,293,971	803,367	4,287	62.09			134,115	244,128	118,737	181,853	93,123	27,079
Mean per constituency			71,887	44,632	238		7,517	17.2	7,451	13,563	6,597	10,103	5,174	1,504

Vote summary

Popular vote DUP   30.6% Sinn Féin   22.8% Alliance   16.8% SDLP   14.9% UUP   11.7% Aontú   1.2% PBP   0.9% NI Cons   0.7% Greens   0.2% Other   0.3%

Parliamentary seats DUP   44.4% Sinn Féin   38.9% SDLP   11.1% Alliance   5.6%

See also

• 2019 United Kingdom general election in England
• 2019 United Kingdom general election in Scotland
• 2019 United Kingdom general election in Wales

Footnotes

1. An MLA in the Northern Ireland Assembly for Fermanagh and South Tyrone.
2. A TD in Dáil Éireann for Dublin Central.
3. An MEP for Northern Ireland.
4. An MLA in the Northern Ireland Assembly for South Antrim.
5. Aontú (1.2%), People Before Profit (0.9%) and the Conservative Party (0.7%) outpolled the Greens despite not being measured separately in pre-election polling.
6. Including 1% for Traditional Unionist Voice, 1% for People Before Profit and 3% for Sylvia Hermon.

References

1. "UK Parliamentary Election 2019 - Turnout". EONI. 13 December 2019. Retrieved 14 December 2019.
2. McClements, Freya (13 December 2019). "North returns more nationalist than unionist MPs for first time". The Irish Times. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
3. Maidment, Jack (26 June 2017). "DUP agrees £1bn deal with Conservatives to prop up Theresa May's minority Government". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 26 June 2017. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
4. "Barry McElduff resigns as MP for West Tyrone". BBC News. 15 January 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
5. "SF's Begley wins West Tyrone by-election". BBC News. 4 May 2018. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
6. Leahy, Pat; Kelly, Fiach; Bray, Jennifer (28 May 2019). "Elections 2019: Greens the big winners while Sinn Féin slumps". The Irish Times. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
7. "General Election 2019: Northern Ireland candidates". BBC News. 14 November 2019. Retrieved 16 November 2019.
8. "Sylvia Hermon to stand down as MP for North Down". BBC News. 6 November 2019. Retrieved 7 November 2019.
9. "Aontu in battle to 'take thousands of votes' off Sinn Fein and SDLP in Foyle". Derry Daily. 10 November 2019.
10. "General Election 2019: Republican pro-life party Aontu out to give SF bloody nose in a number of seats". Belfast Telegraph. 9 November 2019.
11. "By-elections since the 2017 General Election". UK Parliament. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
12. "Mary Lou McDonald confirmed as new leader of Sinn Féin". Irish Times. 20 January 2018. Archived from the original on 10 July 2018. Retrieved 4 August 2019.
13. "Results of the 2019 General Election in Northern Ireland". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
14. "UK Parliamentary Election 2019 - Turnout". EONI. 13 December 2019. Retrieved 14 December 2019.

External links

Manifestos:

• Alliance
• Aontú election broadcast
• DUP
• SDLP
• UUP