1965 Northern Ireland general election

The Northern Ireland general election, 1965 was held on 25 November 1965. Like all previous elections to the Parliament of Northern Ireland, it produced a large majority for the Ulster Unionist Party. This was the last election in Northern Ireland in which one party won a majority of the vote. The Ulster Unionists increased their vote share largely due to a reduction in the number of uncontested seats, but also picked up two additional seats. Similarly, the Nationalist vote share decreased largely due to more of the seats in which they stood candidates being contested.

Northern Ireland general election, 1965

25 November 1965
All 52 seats to the Northern Ireland House of Commons 27 seats were needed for a majority
First party Second party   Leader Terence O'Neill Eddie McAteer Party UUP Nationalist Leader since 25 March 1963 2 June 1964 Leader's seat Bannside Foyle Last election 34 seats, 48.8% 9 seats, 15.1% Seats won 36 9 Seat change 2 Popular vote 191,896 26,748 Percentage 59.1% 8.2% Swing 10.3% 6.9%   Third party Fourth party   Leader Tom Boyd Gerry Fitt Party NI Labour Republican Labour Leader since 1958 1964 Leader's seat Belfast Pottinger Belfast Dock Last election 4 seats, 25.4% 1 seat, 2.5% Seats won 2 2 Seat change 2 1 Popular vote 66,323 3,326 Percentage 20.4% 1.0% Swing 5.0% 1.5%
Election results by constituency.
Prime Minister before election Terence O'Neill UUP Elected Prime Minister Terence O'Neill UUP

Results

Northern Ireland General Election 1965
Party		Candidates						Votes
		Stood	Elected	Gained	Unseated	Net	% of total	%	No.	Net %
	UUP	41	36	2	0	+2	69.2	59.1	191,896	+10.3
	NI Labour	17	2	0	2	-2	3.8	20.4	66,323	-5.0
	Nationalist	9	9	0	0	0	17.3	8.2	26,748	-6.9
	National Democratic	1	1	1	0	+1	1.9	4.7	15,206	N/A
	Ulster Liberal	4	1	0	0	0	1.9	3.9	12,618	+0.3
	Independent Labour	1	0	0	0	0	—	1.4	4,371	-1.7
	Republican Labour	2	2	1	0	+1	3.8	1.0	3,326	-1.5
	New Ireland Movement	1	0	0	0	0	—	1.0	3,111	N/A
	Ind. Republican	1	0	0	0	0	—	0.2	682	N/A
	Communist (NI)	1	0	0	0	0	—	0.1	308	N/A
	Independent	1	1	0	0	0	1.9	0.0	0	-0.4

All parties shown. The only independent candidate was elected unopposed. Electorate: 907,667 (563,252 in contested seats); Turnout: 57.6% (324,589).

Votes summary

Popular vote Ulster Unionist   59.12% Labour   20.43% Nationalist   8.24% National Democratic   4.68% Ulster Liberal   3.89% Independent Labour   1.35% Republican Labour   1.02% New Ireland Movement   0.96% Independent Republican   0.21% Communist   0.09%

Seats summary

Parliamentary seats Ulster Unionist   69.23% Nationalist   17.31% Ulster Liberal   3.89% Labour   3.85% National Democratic   1.92% Republican Labour   1.92% Independent   1.92%

See also

• MPs elected in the Northern Ireland general election, 1965

References

• Northern Ireland Parliamentary Election Results