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The Irish Election of 1918

However, it would be foolish not to acknowledge the central place of the 1918 election in determining the future course of Irish history. As one looks down the names of successful candidates, the governments of both parts of Ireland for the next thirty or forty years emerge. One side points out that Sinn Fein won 73 seats out of 105, an overwhelming mandate. Opponents point out that Sinn Fein received less than half the popular vote. As always the truth is in between - 25 seats were won by Sinn Fein unopposed, so we will never know what the true level of popular support for the party was. See also the reaction of a former British Prime Minister.

The full set of constituency results for all 103 Irish constituencies (two of which elected two MPs) is given below. Sinn Fein won 73 seats out of 105 (and they constituted themselves as the first Dáil); Unionists won 22, plus 3 from the satellite "Labour Unionist" grouping; the Irish Nationalist Party won 6 seats in Ireland, plus also a seat in Liverpool; and one independent Unionist was elected from Dublin University (ie Trinity College Dublin). The total vote (bearing in mind that Sinn Fein won 25 seats without a contest) was as follows:
 

It seems pretty certain that Sinn Féin would have had a majority of the votes if all the seats had been contested. In the contested seats where they won, the total valid vote was 617,262 of an electorate of 907,903 (68.0%); and SF got 414,394 votes out of 619,649 (66.9%). The 25 uncontested constituencies had a total electorate of 474,778; if we assume an identical average turnout and SF vote share, that gives 322,790 extra votes cast, 216,703 for SF and 106,087 for others. This gives SF at least 692,790 votes of a notional Ireland-wide total of 1,306,465, or at least 53.0%. The 66.9% vote share for SF in constituencies they would have won is a very conservative estimate; in nine of the contested constituencies they got over 80% of the vote and their likely vote share in the uncontested seats must be nearer that end of the scale. For their total vote share to be less than 50% (assuming the 68.0% turnout) their vote share in the 25 uncontested seats would have had to be an unrealistically low 54.7%.

If one looks only at the nine counties of the historic province of Ulster, the total vote was (with two Cavan constituencies uncontested):
 

It should be borne in mind that there was a limited electoral pact between SF and Nationalists; the Nationalists gave SF a clear run in Tyrone North-West and instructed their supporters to vote SF in Fermanagh South and Londonderry City; meanwhile SF instructed their supporters to vote Nationalist in Armagh South, Down South, Tyrone North-East and Donegal East. The pact broke down in Down East where a Unionist won by splitting the difference. For the six counties which formed the future Northern Ireland, the total vote was:
 

Here then are the full results from each constituency, with the name of the winning candidate in each case.
 

* Cork city was a two-seat constituency, where each voter had two votes. Votes given here are the average for the two candidates from each party.
** Dublin University was a two-seat constituency elected by Single Transferable Vote. The votes given here for Unionists are the aggregate of two candidates, of whom one (Samuels) was successful. Sir Robert Woods was an Independent Unionist.
*** King's County is now County Offaly.
**** Queen's County is now County Laois.

All figures from Brian Walker's Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland 1801-1922 and (HC 1918 xix (138)) 944-7, with thanks to David Boothroyd and also to Leslie Raphael for pointing out some errors.

See also: Westminster elections 1885-1910 | The 1918 election | Dáil elections since 1918 | Westminster elections since 1920 | Senate of Southern Ireland 1921 | Irish Senate elections in 1925 | Northern Ireland House of Commons | Northern Ireland Senate

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Nicholas Whyte, 19 December 2000; modified Saturday, March 25, 2006