2019 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland

For broader coverage of this topic, see Elections in Northern Ireland.

The 2019 United Kingdom general election was held on 12 December 2019 to elect all 650 members of the House of Commons, including 18 seats in Northern Ireland. 1,293,971 people were eligible to vote, up 51,273 from the 2017 general election. 62.09% of eligible voters turned out, down 3.5 percentage points from the last general election.^[1] For the first time in history, nationalist parties won more seats than unionist parties.^[2]

2019 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland

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All 18 Northern Ireland seats to the House of Commons
Turnout	62.1% ()
First party Second party Third party   Leader Arlene Foster Michelle O'Neill[a] Colum Eastwood Party DUP Sinn Féin SDLP Leader since 17 December 2015 23 January 2017 14 November 2015 Leader's seat Did not stand[b] Did not stand Foyle Last election 10 seats, 36.0% 7 seats, 29.4% 0 seats, 11.7% Seats won 8 7 2 Seat change 2 2 Popular vote 244,127 181,853 118,737 Percentage 30.6% 22.8% 14.9% Swing 5.4% 6.7% 3.1%   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader Naomi Long[c] Steve Aiken[d] Party Alliance UUP Leader since 26 October 2016 9 November 2019 Leader's seat Stood in Belfast East (lost) Stood in East Antrim (lost) Last election 0 seats, 7.9% 0 seats, 10.3% Seats won 1 0 Seat change 1 Popular vote 134,115 93,123 Percentage 16.8% 11.7% Swing 8.8% 1.4%
A map presenting the results of the election, by party of the MP elected from each constituency.

Electoral system

MPs were elected in 18 Single Member constituencies by first-past-the-post.

Background

The election was called on 29 October 2019 under the Early Parliamentary General Election Act 2019. At the 2017 election, the nationalist Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) and the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) lost all of their seats. The DUP won 10 seats, Sinn Féin won 7 seats, and Independent Unionist Sylvia Hermon was also elected. The election ended in a hung parliament, and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) signed a confidence and supply agreement with the Conservative Party.^[3]

In 2018, Sinn Féin MP for West Tyrone, Barry McElduff, resigned after a social media post he made caused controversy regarding perceived sectarianism on the Kingsmill massacre.^[4] The party won a by-election later, but with a plurality instead of a majority.^[5]

In the 2019 European Parliament election, Sinn Féin, the DUP, and the Alliance Party each won a seat.^[6]

Participating parties

102 candidates stood in the general election.^[7] The Alliance Party was the only party standing in all 18 seats. The DUP stood in 17 seats, the UUP in 16, and both Sinn Féin and the SDLP in 15 seats. Aontú stood in 7 seats, the Northern Ireland Conservatives in 4, the Green Party of Northern Ireland in 3, and People Before Profit and the UK Independence Party in 2. Traditional Unionist Voice did not stand in this election. There were also three independent candidates. Sylvia Hermon did not contest this election.^[8]

Sinn Féin operates on an all-Ireland basis. Their MPs in Westminster practice abstentionism, meaning they do not take their seats in the House of Commons. Aontú, who like Sinn Féin are an abstentionist all-Ireland party, was formed in January 2019.^[9][10]

Opinion polling

Main article: Opinion polling for the 2019 United Kingdom general election § Northern Ireland

Pollster/client(s)	Date(s) conducted	Sample size	DUP	SF	SDLP	UUP	Alliance	Green	Other	Lead
2019 general election	12 Dec 2019	–	30.6%	22.8%	14.9%	11.7%	16.8%	0.2%	3.1%[e]	7.8%
Lucid Talk/Remain United	27–30 Nov 2019	2,422	30%	25%	13%	11%	16%	0%	5%	5%
	9 November 2019	Steve Aiken officially becomes leader of the Ulster Unionist Party
Lucid Talk/Remain United	30 Oct–1 Nov 2019	2,386	28%	24%	14%	9%	16%	1%	8% [f]	4%
Lucid Talk	9–12 Aug 2019	2,302	29%	25%	8%	9%	21%	1%	7%	4%
	21 November 2018	Clare Bailey officially becomes leader of NI Green Party
Survation/Channel 4	20 Oct–2 Nov 2018	555	31%	27%	11%	15%	12%	–	4%	4%
	3 May 2018	West Tyrone by-election[11]
	10 Feb 2018	Mary Lou McDonald becomes leader of Sinn Féin[12]
2017 general election	8 Jun 2017	–	36.0%	29.4%	11.7%	10.3%	7.9%	0.9%	3.7%	6.6%

Results

Party[13]		Seats					Aggregate Votes
		Total	Gains	Losses	Net +/-	Of all (%)	Total	Of all (%)	Difference
	DUP	8	0	2	2	44.4	244,128	30.6	5.4
	Sinn Féin	7	1	1		38.9	181,853	22.8	6.7
	SDLP	2	2	0	2	11.1	118,737	14.9	3.1
	Alliance	1	1	0	1	5.6	134,115	16.8	8.8
	UUP	0	0	0		0.0	93,123	11.7	1.4
	Aontú	0	0	0		0.0	9,814	1.2	New
	People Before Profit	0	0	0		0.0	7,526	0.9	0.2
	NI Conservatives	0	0	0		0.0	5,433	0.7	0.2
	Green (NI)	0	0	0		0.0	1,996	0.2	0.7
	Independent	0	0	1	1	0.0	1,687	0.2	1.8
	UKIP	0	0	0		0.0	623	0.1	New
Total		18					799,035	61.8	3.6

• 
  Individual seats by winner vote share

Results by constituency

Constituency	2017 result		2019 winning party					Turnout [14]	Votes
			Party		Votes[13]	Share	Majority		DUP	SF	APNI	SDLP	UUP	Con	Grn	Other [14]	Total
Belfast East		DUP		DUP	20,874	49.2%	1,819	64.1%	20,874		19,055		2,516				42,445
Belfast North		DUP		SF	23,078	47.1%	1,943	67.9%	21,135	23,078	4,824						49,037
Belfast South		DUP		SDLP	27,079	57.2%	15,401	67.7%	11,678		6,786	27,079	1,259			550	47,352
Belfast West		SF		SF	20,866	53.8%	14,672	59.1%	5,220	20,866	1,882	2,985				7,829	38,782
East Antrim		DUP		DUP	16,871	45.3%	6,706	57.5%	16,871	2,120	10,165	902	5,475	1,043	685		37,261
East Londonderry		DUP		DUP	15,765	40.1%	9,607	56.8%	15,765	6,128	5,921	6,158	3,599			1,731	39,302
Fermanagh and South Tyrone		SF		SF	21,986	43.3%	57	69.7%		21,986	2,650	3,446	21,929			751	50,762
Foyle		SF		SDLP	26,881	57.0%	17,110	63.4%	4,773	9,771	1,267	26,881	1,088			3,364	47,143
Lagan Valley		DUP		DUP	19,586	43.1%	6,499	60.0%	19,586	1,098	13,087	1,758	8,606	955		315	45,405
Mid Ulster		SF		SF	20,473	45.9%	9,537	63.3%	10,936	20,473	3,526	6,384	2,611			690	44,620
Newry and Armagh		SF		SF	20,287	40.0%	9,287	62.5%	11,000	20,287	4,211	9,449	4,204			1,628	50,779
North Antrim		DUP		DUP	20,860	47.4%	12,721	57.1%	20,860	5,632	6,231	2,943	8,139			246	44,051
North Down		Ind		APNI	18,358	45.2%	2,968	60.6%	15,390		18,358		4,936	1,959			40,643
South Antrim		DUP		DUP	15,149	35.3%	2,689	59.9%	15,149	4,887	8,190	2,288	12,460				42,974
South Down		SF		SF	16,137	32.4%	1,620	62.9%	7,619	16,137	6,916	14,517	3,307			1,266	49,762
Strangford		DUP		DUP	17,705	47.2%	7,071	56.0%	17,705	555	10,634	1,994	4,023	1,476	790	308	37,485
Upper Bann		DUP		DUP	20,501	41.0%	8,210	60.4%	20,501	12,291	6,433	4,623	6,197				50,045
West Tyrone		SF		SF	16,544	40.2%	7,478	62.2%	9,066	16,544	3,979	7,330	2,774		521	972	41,186
Total for all constituencies								Turnout									Total
									DUP	SF	APNI	SDLP	UUP	Con	Grn	Other
									Votes
								61.8%	244,128	181,853	134,115	118,737	93,123	5,433	1,996	19,650	799,035
									30.6%	22.8%	16.8%	14.9%	11.7%	0.7%	0.2%	2.5%	100.0%
									Seats
									8	7	1	2	0	0	0	0	18
									44%	39%	6%	11%	0%	0%	0%	0%	100.0%

Parliamentary seats DUP   44.4% Sinn Féin   38.9% SDLP   11.1% Alliance   5.6%

See also

• 2019 United Kingdom general election in England
• 2019 United Kingdom general election in Scotland
• 2019 United Kingdom general election in Wales

Footnotes

1. "Party leader in the North" and vice president of Sinn Féin. Mary Lou McDonald is the party president and leader of the opposition in the Dáil of the Republic of Ireland.
2. An MLA in the Northern Ireland Assembly for Fermanagh and South Tyrone.
3. An MEP for Northern Ireland.
4. An MLA in the Northern Ireland Assembly for South Antrim.
5. Aontú (1.2%), People Before Profit (0.9%) and the Conservative Party (0.7%) outpolled the Greens despite not being measured separately in pre-election polling.
6. Including 1% for Traditional Unionist Voice, 1% for People Before Profit and 3% for Sylvia Hermon.