Fermanagh and South Tyrone (UK Parliament constituency)

For the Northern Ireland Assembly constituency, see Fermanagh and South Tyrone (Assembly constituency).

Fermanagh and South Tyrone
County constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Fermanagh and South Tyrone in Northern Ireland.
Districts of Northern Ireland	Fermanagh, Dungannon and South Tyrone
Electorate	69,413 (March 2011)
Current constituency
Created	1950
Member of parliament	Tom Elliott (UUP)
Number of members	One
Created from	Fermanagh and Tyrone
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	Northern Ireland

Fermanagh and South Tyrone is a parliamentary constituency in the British House of Commons. The current MP for the constituency is Tom Elliott of the Ulster Unionist Party.

It was the most marginal seat in the 2010 UK Parliament, with Michelle Gildernew (of Sinn Féin) having obtained a majority of just 4 votes, or less than 0.01% of the turnout.

Boundaries

1983–1997: The District of Fermanagh, and the District of Dungannon.

1997–present: The District of Fermanagh, and the District of Dungannon wards of Augher, Aughnacloy, Ballygawley, Ballysaggart, Benburb, Caledon, Castlecaulfield, Clogher, Coolhill, Drumglass, Fivemiletown, Killyman, Killymeal, Moy, Moygashel, and Mullaghmore.

The seat was created in 1950 when the old Fermanagh and Tyrone two-member constituency was abolished as part of the final move to single-member seats. As the name implies, the seat includes all of County Fermanagh and the southern part of County Tyrone. Of the post-1973 districts, it initially contained all of Fermanagh, and Dungannon and South Tyrone. In boundary changes resulting from a review in 1995. However, a section of Dungannon and South Tyrone (then simply called Dungannon) district around the town of Coalisland was transferred to the Mid Ulster constituency.

History

For the history of the constituency prior to 1950, see Fermanagh and Tyrone

Throughout its history, Fermanagh and South Tyrone has seen a precarious balance between unionist and nationalist voters, though in recent years the nationalists have had a slight majority. Many elections have seen a candidate from one community triumph due to multiple candidates from the other community splitting the vote.

Perhaps because of this balance between the communities, Fermanagh and South Tyrone has repeatedly had the highest turn-out of any constituency in Northern Ireland.

The seat was initially won by the Nationalist Party in 1950 and 1951, the closely contested 1951 election seeing a 93.4% turnout – a UK record for any election.

In 1955, the constituency was won by Philip Clarke of Sinn Féin, but he was unseated on petition on the basis that his criminal conviction (for IRA activity) made him ineligible. Instead, the seat was awarded to the Unionist candidate.

In 1970, the seat was won by Frank McManus standing on the "Unity" ticket which sought to unite nationalist voters behind a single candidate. In the February 1974 general election, however, the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) contested the seat, dividing the nationalist vote and allowing Harry West of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) to win with the support of the Vanguard Progressive Unionist Party and the Democratic Unionist Party.

In the October 1974 general election a nationalist pact was agreed and Frank Maguire won, standing as an Independent Republican. He retained his seat in the 1979 general election, when both the unionist and nationalist votes were split, the former by the intervention of Ernest Baird, leader of the short-lived United Ulster Unionist Party, and the latter by Austin Currie, who defied the official SDLP decision to not contest the seat. Maguire died in early 1981.

The ensuing by-election took place amidst the 1981 Irish Hunger Strike and was one of the most important by-elections in modern Irish history. As part of the campaign for the five demands, the Provisional Irish Republican Army officer commanding in the Maze prison, Bobby Sands, was nominated as an Anti-H-Block/Armagh Political Prisoner candidate. Harry West stood for the Ulster Unionist Party but no other candidates contested the by-election. On 9 April 1981, Sands won with 30,492 votes against 29,046 for West. 26 days later Sands died on hunger strike. Speedy legislation barred prisoners serving 12 months or longer from standing for Parliament, and so in the new by-election Sands' agent Owen Carron stood as a "Proxy Political Prisoner". The UUP nominated Ken Maginnis. The second by-election in August was also contested by the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland, the Workers' Party Republican Clubs, a candidate standing on a label of General Amnesty and another as The Peace Lover. The turn-out was even higher, with most of the additional votes going to the additional parties standing, and Carron was elected. In the 1982 elections for the Northern Ireland Assembly, Carron headed up the Sinn Féin slate for the constituency and was elected.

Republicans suffered a reversal in the 1983 general election, when the SDLP contested the seat. Maginnis won and held the seat for the UUP for the next eighteen years until he retired. By this point boundary changes had resulted in a broad 50:50 balance between unionists and nationalists and it was expected that a single unionist candidate would hold the seat in the 2001 general election. James Cooper was nominated by the UUP. On this occasion, however, it was the unionist vote that was to be split. Initially Maurice Morrow of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) was nominated to stand, with the DUP fiercely opposing the UUP's support for the Good Friday Agreement. Morrow, then withdrew in favour of Jim Dixon, a survivor of the Enniskillen bombing who stood as an Independent Unionist opposed to the Agreement. Dixon polled 6,843 votes, 6,790 in excess of the 53 vote lead that Sinn Féin's Michelle Gildernew had over Cooper. Subsequently, the result was challenged amid allegations that a polling station had been kept open by force for longer than the deadline, allowing more people to vote, but the courts – while conceding that this happened – did not uphold the challenge because it held that the votes cast after the legal closing time would not have affected the outcome.

Ahead of the 2005 general election, there was speculation that a single unionist candidate could retake the seat. The UUP and DUP, however, ran opposing candidates and in the event Gildernew held her seat. She kept the seat in 2010 by four votes over the Unionist candidate, Rodney Connor. Following the election, Connor lodged an election petition challenging the result based on a dispute about differences in the number of ballot papers recorded at polling stations and those subsequently recorded at the count centre. The petition was rejected after it was found that only three extra votes remained unnaccounted for. The judge ruled that "even if those votes were introduced in breach of the rules and if they had all been counted in favour of the first respondent their exclusion would still have given the first respondent (Ms Gildernew) a majority of one vote and the result would not have been affected."

In the Westminster election of May 2015 Sinn Féin's Michelle Gildernew lost the seat to the UUP's candidate Tom Elliott. Although Elliott was running for the UUP he was also being actively supported by the DUP, the TUV and UKIP. Just like February 1974 and June 1983, faced with a single Unionist candidate, the SDLP refused to discuss a Nationalist pact and so the sitting Nationalist MP lost their seat again.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1950	Cahir Healy	Nationalist
	1955	Philip Clarke	Sinn Féin
	1955	Lord Robert Grosvenor	Ulster Unionist
	1964	Marquess of Hamilton	Ulster Unionist
	1970	Frank McManus	Unity
	February 1974	Harry West	Ulster Unionist
	October 1974	Frank Maguire	Independent Republican
	April 1981 by-election	Bobby Sands	Anti H-Block
	August 1981 by-election	Owen Carron	Anti H-Block
	1982		Sinn Féin
	1983	Ken Maginnis	Ulster Unionist
	2001	Michelle Gildernew	Sinn Féin
	2015	Tom Elliott	Ulster Unionist

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2015: Fermanagh and South Tyrone

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	Tom Elliott	23,608	46.4	N/A
	Sinn Féin	Michelle Gildernew	23,078	45.4	-0.1
	SDLP	John Coyle	2,732	5.4	-2.3
	Green (NI)	Tanya Jones	788	1.5	N/A
	Alliance	Hannah Su	658	1.3	+0.4
Majority			530	1.0
Turnout			50,864	72.6	+3.7
	UUP gain from Sinn Féin		Swing	N/A

General Election 2010: Fermanagh and South Tyrone

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Sinn Féin	Michelle Gildernew	21,304	45.5	+7.3
	Independent	Rodney Connor	21,300	45.5	N/A
	SDLP	Fearghal McKinney	3,574	7.6	−7.2
	Alliance	Vasundhara Kamble	437	0.9	N/A
	Independent	John Stevenson	188	0.4	N/A
Majority			4	0.0	−9.4
Turnout			46,803	68.9	−6.9
	Sinn Féin hold		Swing

Rodney Connor had the support of the Democratic Unionist Party and Ulster Conservatives and Unionists - New Force Following the close result Connor lodged a petition against Gildernew alleging irregularities in the counting of the votes had affected the result. However the Court found that there were only three ballot papers which could not be accounted for, and even if they were all votes for Connor, Gildernew would have had a plurality of one. The election was therefore upheld.

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: Fermanagh and South Tyrone

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Sinn Féin	Michelle Gildernew	18,638	38.2	+4.1
	DUP	Arlene Foster	14,056	28.8	N/A
	UUP	Tom Elliott	8,869	18.2	−15.8
	SDLP	Tommy Gallagher	7,230	14.8	−3.9
Majority			4,582	9.4
Turnout			48,793	72.6	−5.4
	Sinn Féin hold		Swing

General Election 2001: Fermanagh and South Tyrone

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Sinn Féin	Michelle Gildernew	17,739	34.1	+11.0
	UUP	James Leslie Cooper	17,686	34.0	−17.5
	SDLP	Tommy Gallagher	9,706	18.7	−4.2
	Independent	William James Dixon	6,843	13.2	N/A
Majority			53	0.1
Turnout			51,974	78.0	+3.2
	Sinn Féin gain from UUP		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: Fermanagh and South Tyrone

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	Ken Maginnis	24,862	51.5	−1.0
	Sinn Féin	Gerry McHugh	11,174	23.1	+4.0
	SDLP	Tommy Gallagher	11,060	22.9	+0.0
	Alliance	Stephen Farry	977	2.0	+0.0
	Natural Law	Simeon Gillan	217	0.4	N/A
Majority			13,688
Turnout				74.8
	UUP hold		Swing

Boundary changes took effect from the 1997 general election. The projections of what the 1992 result would have been if fought on 1997 boundaries are shown below.

Notional 1992 UK General Election Result : Fermanagh and South Tyrone

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	N/A	25,740	52.5	N/A
	SDLP	N/A	10,982	22.9	N/A
	Sinn Féin	N/A	9,143	19.1	N/A
	Others	N/A	1,841	3.8	N/A
	Alliance	N/A	950	2.0	N/A
Majority			14,089	29.4	N/A

General Election 1992: Fermanagh and South Tyrone

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	Ken Maginnis	26,923	48.8
	SDLP	Tommy Gallagher	12,810	23.2
	Sinn Féin	Francie Molloy	12,604	22.9
	Independent Progressive Socialist	David Kettyles	1,094	2.0
	Alliance	Eric Bullick	950	1.7
	New Agenda	Gerry Cullen	747	1.4
Majority			14,113	25.6
Turnout				78.5
	UUP hold		Swing

Elections in the 1980s

General Election 1987: Fermanagh and South Tyrone

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	Ken Maginnis	27,446	49.6
	Sinn Féin	Paul Corrigan	14,623	26.4
	SDLP	Rosemary Flanagan	10,581	19.1
	Workers' Party	David Kettyles	1,784	3.2
	Alliance	John Haslett	950	1.7
Majority			12,823	23.2
Turnout				80.3
	UUP hold		Swing

Fermanagh and South Tyrone by-election, 1986

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	Ken Maginnis	27,857
	Sinn Féin	Owen Carron	15,278
	SDLP	Austin Currie	12,081
	Workers' Party	David Kettyles	864
Majority			12,579
Turnout
	UUP hold		Swing

General Election 1983: Fermanagh and South Tyrone

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	Ken Maginnis	28,630	47.6
	Sinn Féin	Owen Carron	20,954	34.8
	SDLP	Rosemary Flanagan	9,923	16.5
	Workers' Party	David Kettyles	649	1.1
Majority			7,676	12.8
Turnout				88.6
	UUP gain from Anti H-Block		Swing

Minor boundary changes took effect from the 1983 general election.

By-election, August 1981: Fermanagh and South Tyrone

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Anti H-Block	Owen Carron	31,278	49.1	−3.1
	UUP	Ken Maginnis	29,048	45.6	−4.2
	Alliance	Seamus Close	1,930	3.0	N/A
	Republican Clubs	Tom Moore	1,132	1.8	N/A
	General Amnesty	Martin Green	249	0.4	N/A
	The Peace Lover	Simon Hall-Raleigh	90	0.1	N/A
Majority			2,230
Turnout				88.6	1.7
	Anti H-Block hold		Swing

By-election, April 1981: Fermanagh and South Tyrone

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Anti H-Block	Bobby Sands	30,493	51.2	N/A
	UUP	Harry West	29,046	48.8	+20.8
Majority			1,447	2.4	N/A
Turnout			59,538	86.9	−0.2
	Anti H-Block gain from Independent Republican		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1979: Fermanagh and South Tyrone

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent Republican	Frank Maguire	22,398	36.0	−15.8
	UUP	Raymond Ferguson	17,411	28.0	−19.9
	Independent SDLP	Austin Currie	10,785	17.3	N/A
	UUUP	Ernest Baird	10,607	17.0	N/A
	Alliance	Peter Acheson	1,070	1.7	N/A
Majority			4,987	8.0	+4.0
Turnout			62,271	87.1	−1.6
	Independent Republican hold		Swing

General Election October 1974: Fermanagh and South Tyrone

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent Republican	Frank Maguire	32,795	51.8	N/A
	UUP	Harry West	30,285	47.9	+4.3
	Marxist-Leninist (Ireland)	Alan Evans	185	0.3	N/A
Majority			2,510	4.0	−13.2
Turnout			63,265	88.7	+0.3
	Independent Republican gain from UUP		Swing	N/A

General Election February 1974: Fermanagh and South Tyrone

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	Harry West	26,858	43.6	−5.3
	Unity	Frank McManus	16,229	26.3	−24.8
	SDLP	Denis Haughey	15,410	25.0	N/A
	Pro-Assembly Unionist	Hubert Brown	3,157	5.1	N/A
Majority			10,629	17.2	+14.9
Turnout			61,654	88.4	−3.7
	UUP gain from Unity		Swing

General Election 1970: Fermanagh and South Tyrone

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unity	Frank McManus	32,837	51.1	+24.2
	UUP	James Hamilton	31,390	48.9	−5.1
Majority			1,447	2.3	−24.8
Turnout			64,227	92.1	+6.1
	Unity gain from UUP		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General Election 1966: Fermanagh and South Tyrone

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	James, Marquess of Hamilton	29,352	54.0	−1.1
	Unity	James J. Donnelly	14,645	26.9	N/A
	Independent Republican	Ruairí Ó Brádaigh	10,370	19.1	N/A
Majority			14,707	27.1	+1.6
Turnout			54,367	86.0	+0.4
	UUP hold		Swing

General Election 1964: Fermanagh and South Tyrone

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	James Hamilton	30,010	55.1	−26.3
	Independent Republican	Aloysius Mulloy	16,138	29.6	N/A
	Liberal	Giles FitzHerbert	6,006	11.0	N/A
	NI Labour	Baptist W. Gamble	2,339	4.3	N/A
Majority			13,872	25.5	−37.2
Turnout			54,493	85.9	+24.3
	UUP hold		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1959: Fermanagh and South Tyrone

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	Lord Robert Grosvenor	32,080	81.4	+31.6
	Sinn Féin	James Martin	7,348	18.6	−31.6
Majority			24,732	62.7	+62.3
Turnout			39,428	61.6	−31.0
	UUP hold		Swing

General Election 1955: Fermanagh and South Tyrone

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Sinn Féin	Philip Clarke	30,529	50.2	N/A
	UUP	Lord Robert Grosvenor	30,268	49.8	+0.9
Majority			261	0.4	−3.8
Turnout			60,797	92.6	−0.8
	Sinn Féin gain from Irish Nationalist		Swing	N/A

After the election, Philip Clarke was found ineligible by an election court, and Lord Robert Grosvenor was declared elected in his place.

General Election 1951: Fermanagh and South Tyrone

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Nationalist	Cahir Healy	32,717	52.1	+0.2
	UUP	Frederick Patterson	30,268	47.9	−0.2
Majority			2,635	4.2	+0.4
Turnout			62,985	93.4	+1.3
	Nationalist hold		Swing

General Election 1950: Fermanagh and South Tyrone

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Nationalist	Cahir Healy	32,188	51.9	N/A
	UUP	Henry Richardson	29,877	48.1	N/A
Majority			2,311	3.8	N/A
Turnout			62,065	92.1	N/A
	Nationalist win (new seat)

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Northern Ireland

Further reading

• F. W. S. Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1918 – 1949
• F. W. S. Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1950 – 1970

External links

• Guardian Unlimited Politics (Election results from 1992 to the present)
• Political Science Resources (Election results from 1951 to the present)
• Fermanagh and South Tyrone ARK – Access Research Knowledge – (Election results 1983 – 1992)
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "F"