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1973 Northern Ireland Assembly election
← outgoing members MLAs elected →
All 78 seats to the Northern Ireland Assembly; 40 seats were needed for a majority
	Percentage of seats gained by each of the parties
Chief Executive before election; Brian Faulkner as Prime Minister of Northern Ireland;	Chief Executive after election ; Brian Faulkner;

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.^[1]

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:

	Votes	Vote %	Seats	Seats %

Ulster Unionist Party	258,790	35.8	31^[a]	39.8
SDLP	159,773	22.1	19	24.4
DUP	78,228	10.8	8	10.3
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	—
Ind. 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	123	0.0	0	—
Total	722,151	100.0	78	100.0

All parties listed.

↓
31	19	8	8	7	3	1	1
UUP	SDLP	DUP	APNI	Vanguard

Votes summary

Popular vote

Ulster Unionist			35.8%
SDLP			22.1%
Democratic Unionist			10.8%
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

Ulster Unionist			39.8%
SDLP			24.4%
Democratic Unionist			10.3%
Alliance			10.3%
Vanguard			9.0%
West Belfast Loyalist			3.8%
NI Labour			1.3%
Independent Unionist			1.3%

References

^ "Northern Ireland Assembly Act 1973", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, 1973 c. 17

Footnotes

Notes

^ ^a ^b Pro-White Paper
(24 members)
Anti-White Paper
(7 members)

Sources

http://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/fa73.htm

[2] "Northern Ireland Assembly Act 1973", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, 1973 c. 17

[UUP-1] Pro-White Paper
(24 members)
Anti-White Paper
(7 members)

[a]

[1]

1973 Northern Ireland Assembly election