Irish local elections, 1920
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All 1806 councillors across Ireland |
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The 1920 Irish local elections provide an interesting barometer of opinion in Ireland during the Irish War of Independence (1919–21), and were the last local elections to be held before the Government of Ireland Act 1920 was passed at the end of the year.
They were held in two stages:
- Urban area local elections in January 1920
- Rural areas in June 1920
Contents
Background
In the 1918 general elections the newly reformed Sinn Féin party had secured a large majority of Irish seats in the Parliament of the United Kingdom with slightly less than 50% of the vote because of the "first past the post" electoral system. This provided a propaganda coup for Sinn Féin, and so the British Government introduced the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1919, which allowed for parliamentary elections by proportional representation in all of Ireland for the first time, by the system of the single transferable vote for multi-member electoral areas. The government hoped that the new system would reveal less-than-monolithic support for Sinn Féin, and it was first tested in the 1920 local elections.[1][2]
The electoral method introduced by the 1919 Act is still used in elections in the Republic of Ireland and most elections in Northern Ireland today.
January 1920
The urban borough elections result for first preference votes were:
| Party | % votes |
|---|---|
| Sinn Féin | 27 |
| Unionists[3] | 27 |
| Labour Party | 18 |
| Other Irish nationalists[4] | 15 |
| Independents[5] | 14 |
Excluding the more unionist province of Ulster, the urban results were:[6]
| Party | % votes |
|---|---|
| Sinn Féin | 41 |
| Independents | 21 |
| Labour Party | 17 |
| Other nationalists[4] | 14 |
| Unionists | 7 |
The 15 January elections saw Sinn Féin, Labour, and other nationalists winning control of 172 of Ireland's 206 borough and urban district councils. The subsequent mayoral elections on 30 January saw a Unionist elected for Belfast, a Nationalist in Londonderry, Labour in Wexford, and Sinn Féin in eight boroughs.[7]
June 1920
The rural elections showed a much greater level of support for Sinn Féin in its core support area. It took control of 338 out of 393 local government bodies, county councils, boards of guardians and rural district councils across the whole island. It should be noted however that the county and rural district elections saw virtually no contests outside of Ulster.[8]
Sinn Féin's success allowed them to seize control of virtually every county council and rural district council outside of Ulster.[9] Sinn Féin success in the 12 June rural and county elections extended even to Ulster, with the party winning control of 36 of Ulsters 55 rural districts.[7]
Results
| Party | Councillors | ± | First Pref. votes | FPv% | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sinn Féin | 550 | |||||
| Labour Party | 394 | |||||
| Irish Unionist | 355 | |||||
| Old Nationalist[4] | 238 | |||||
| Independent | 161 | |||||
| Municipal Reform | 108 | |||||
| Totals | 1806 | 100% | — | |||
| Source: Michael Laffan[10] | ||||||
Detailed results by council type
County councils
District Councils
| Authority | SF | Lab | U | Ind | IrishNat | Total | Result | Details | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Armagh UD | 5 | 8 | 5 | 18 | No overall control | Details | ||||||||
| Belfast Corporation | 5 | 12 | 35 | 5 | 60 | Irish Unionist | Details | |||||||
| Blackrock UD | Details | |||||||||||||
| Clontarf UD | Details | |||||||||||||
| Cork Corporation | 30 | 56 | Sinn Féin | Details | ||||||||||
| Dalkey UD | Details | |||||||||||||
| Drumcondra, Clonliffe, & Glasnevin UD | Details | |||||||||||||
| Dublin Corporation | 42 | 14 | 1 | 14 | 80 | Sinn Féin | Details | |||||||
| Galway | Details | |||||||||||||
| Killiney & Ballybrack UD | Details | |||||||||||||
| Kilrush UD | 5 | 7 | 12 | Irish Nationalist | Details | |||||||||
| Kingstown UD | Sinn Féin | Details | ||||||||||||
| Limerick | 26 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 40 | Sinn Féin | Details | ||||||
| Londonderry UD | 10 | 19 | 1 | 10 | 41 | No overall control | Details | |||||||
| New Kilmainham UD | Details | |||||||||||||
| Pembroke UD | Irish Unionist | Details | ||||||||||||
| Rathmines & Rathgar UD | Irish Unionist | Details | ||||||||||||
| Omagh UD | Irish Nationalist | Details | ||||||||||||
| Sligo UD | 7 | 5 | 4 | 24 | No overall control | Details | ||||||||
| Dublin South RD | Details | |||||||||||||
| Strabane UD | Irish Nationalist | Details | ||||||||||||
| Waterford | 19 | 40 | No overall control | Details | ||||||||||
| Totals | ||||||||||||||
References
- ↑ Sinnott, R. "Irish voters decide; voting behaviour in elections and referendums since 1918" (Manchester University Press, 1995), pp.27-28
- ↑ Hansard report of the debate on the Bill's second reading, March 1919
- ↑ Candidates from the Ulster Unionist Party and the smaller Irish Unionist Alliance
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Including candidates from parties such as the Irish Parliamentary Party
- ↑ Sinnott R., op cit., p.28, says that "..most .. were unionist with a small "u"."
- ↑ Martin, H. "Ireland in insurrection" (O'Connor, London 1921), pp.212-218
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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 United Kingdom elections in Ireland |
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| General elections | |
| Local elections | |
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