1986 Newry and Armagh by-election

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1986 Newry and Armagh by-election
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg
  1983 23 January 1986 1987  

Constituency of Newry and Armagh
Turnout76.9% (Increase2.svg 0.9%)
 First partySecond partyThird party
 
Seamus Mallon, 1998 (cropped).jpg
Jim Nicholson, 1998 (cropped).jpg
SF
Candidate Seamus Mallon Jim Nicholson Jim McAllister
Party SDLP UUP Sinn Féin
Popular vote22,69420,1116,609
Percentage45.5%40.3%13.2%
SwingIncrease2.svg 8.7%Increase2.svg 0.3%Decrease2.svg 7.7%

MP before election

Jim Nicholson
UUP

Subsequent MP

Seamus Mallon
SDLP

The 1986 by-election in Newry and Armagh was caused by the resignation of incumbent Member of Parliament Jim Nicholson.

Contents

Nicholson, along with all sitting Unionist MPs, resigned their Westminster seats in December 1985, to highlight their opposition to the Anglo-Irish Agreement and to use the resultant by-elections to campaign on the issue.

The poll was held on 23 January 1986, and was unusual for a by-election in the turnout being higher than for the preceding general election, however Nicholson was not re-elected, (despite gaining an increase in his own vote) losing his seat to the nationalist SDLP candidate Seamus Mallon. Nicholson also failed to recapture the seat at the following general election.

Result

1986 Newry and Armagh by-election [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
SDLP Seamus Mallon 22,694 45.5 +8.7
UUP Jim Nicholson 20,11140.3+0.3
Sinn Féin Jim McAllister 6,60913.2−7.7
Workers' Party Patrick McCusker5151.0−1.3
Majority2,5835.2N/A
Turnout 49,92976.9+0.9
Registered electors 65,142
SDLP gain from UUP Swing +4.2

References

  1. "By-election Result". United Kingdom Election Results. Archived from the original on 5 April 2018. Retrieved 29 April 2018.