1966 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland
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On 31 March 1966, the 1966 United Kingdom general election was held in Northern Ireland, to elect all 630 members of the House of Commons, including the 12 Northern Ireland seats.
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31 March 1966
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All 12 Northern Ireland seat in the House of Commons | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Turnout | 66.1% ( 5.6 pp) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Ulster Unionists lost one seat to Gerry Fitt, leader of the new Republican Labour Party.
In the election as a whole, the Labour Party increased their majority and Harold Wilson continued as Prime Minister. The Conservative Party, which included the Ulster Unionists, were now led by Edward Heath.
Candidates
| Affiliation | Candidates | |
|---|---|---|
| Ulster Unionist Party | 12 | |
| Independent Republican (Ireland) | 5 | |
| Northern Ireland Labour Party | 4 | |
| Ulster Liberal Party | 3 | |
| Republican Labour Party | 1 | |
| Nationalist Party (Northern Ireland) | 1 | |
| Unity (Northern Ireland) | 1 | |
| Total | 27 | |
Results
| Party[1][2] | Seats | Aggregate Votes | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | Gains | Losses | Net | Of all (%) | Total | Of all (%) | Difference | ||
| UUP | 11 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 91.7 | 368,629 | 61.8 | 1.4 | |
| Republican Labour | 1 | 1 | 0 |  1 | 8.3 | 26,292 | 4.4 | 2.1 | |
| NI Labour | 0 | 0 | 0 |  | — | 72,613 | 12.2 | 3.9 | |
| Ind. Republican | 0 | 0 | 0 | | — | 62,782 | 10.5 | 5.4 | |
| Ulster Liberal | 0 | 0 | 0 | | — | 29,109 | 4.9 | 2.2 | |
| Nationalist | 0 | Did not stand in 1964 | — | 22,167 | 3.7 | N/a | |||
| Unity | 0 | New | — | 14,645 | 2.5 | New | |||
| Total | 12 | 596,237 | 66.1[3] | 5.6 | |||||
MPs elected
By-elections
| By-election | Date | Incumbent | Party | Winner | Party | Cause | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mid Ulster | 17 April 1969 | George Forrest | UUP | Bernadette Devlin | Unity | Death | ||
