1973 Northern Ireland Assembly election
# 1973 Northern Ireland Assembly election

The 1973 elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly took place following the publication of the British government's white paper Northern Ireland Constitutional Proposals which proposed a 78-member Northern Ireland Assembly, elected by proportional representation. The proposals for a Northern Ireland Assembly contained in the White Paper were put into effect through the Northern Ireland Assembly Act 1973 in May 1973.

A cross-community coalition of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) under Brian Faulkner, the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) and the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland was agreed in November, and following the Sunningdale Agreement, a Power Sharing Executive was established from 1 January 1974. After opposition from within the UUP and the Ulster Workers Council Strike, the executive and assembly collapsed in May 1974.

## Result

The election results were:

Seats % :

| UUP (Pro-White Paper) | 182,696 | 25.3 | 24 | 30.8 |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| SDLP | 159,773 | 22.1 | 19 | 24.4 |
| DUP | 78,228 | 10.8 | 8 | 10.3 |
| UUP (Anti-White Paper) | 76,094 | 10.5 | 7 | 9.0 |
| Vanguard | 75,709 | 10.5 | 7 | 9.0 |
| Alliance | 66,541 | 9.2 | 8 | 10.3 |
| NI Labour | 18,675 | 2.6 | 1 | 1.3 |
| West Belfast Loyalist Coalition | 16,869 | 2.3 | 3 | 3.8 |
| Ind. Unionist | 13,755 | 1.9 | 1 | 1.3 |
| Republican Clubs | 13,064 | 1.8 | 0 | — |
| Nationalist | 6,270 | 0.9 | 0 | — |
| Independent | 4,091 | 0.6 | 0 | — |
| Loyalist | 2,752 | 0.4 | 0 | — |
| Independent pro-White Paper | 2,008 | 0.3 | 0 | — |
| Independent Nationalist | 2,000 | 0.3 | 0 | — |
| Republican Labour | 1,750 | 0.2 | 0 | — |
| Ulster Liberal | 811 | 0.1 | 0 | — |
| National Front | 591 | 0.1 | 0 | — |
| Ulster Constitution | 202 | 0.0 | 0 | — |
| Independent Loyalist | 189 | 0.0 | 0 | — |
| Communist Party | 123 | 0.0 | 0 | — |
| Total | 722,151 | 100 | 78 | 100 |

    All parties listed.

| 24 | 19 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| UUP (Pro) | SDLP | DUP | APNI | UUP (Anti) | Vanguard | | |

## Votes summary

Popular vote

UUP (Pro-White Paper)

25.3%

SDLP

22.1%

Democratic Unionist

10.8%

UUP (Anti-White Paper)

10.5%

Vanguard

10.5%

Alliance

9.2%

NI Labour

2.6%

West Belfast Loyalist

2.3%

Independent Unionist

1.9%

Republican Clubs

1.8%

Nationalist

0.9%

Independent

0.6%

Other

1.5% :

## Seats summary

Parliamentary seats

UUP pro-white paper

30.8%

SDLP

24.4%

Democratic Unionist

10.3%

Alliance

10.3%

UUP anti-white paper

9.0%

Vanguard

9.0%

West Belfast Loyalist

3.8%

NI Labour

1.3%

Independent Unionist

1.3% :

