1986 Northern Ireland by-elections

1986 Northern Ireland by-elections

← 1983 23 January 1986 1987 →
15 of 17 Northern Irish seats in the United Kingdom Parliament
First party Second party   Party UUP DUP Seats won 10 3 Seat change 1 Popular vote 302,198 85,239 Percentage 51.7% 23.0% Swing 13.1% 5.5%   Third party Fourth party   Party SDLP UPUP Seats won 1 1 Seat change 1 Popular vote 70,917 30,793 Percentage 12.1% 5.3% Swing 3.1% 1.9%
Left map shows the % of the vote received by resigning unionist anti-agreement candidates. Right map shows the % of the vote received by pro-agreement candidates. Bottom map shows the winning party by constituency - in all constituencies but Armagh and Newry, resigning unionist candidates were re-elected.

Politics of Northern Ireland
Interim bodies
Northern Ireland Assembly (1973) Northern Ireland Executive (1974) Constitutional Convention (1975) Northern Ireland Assembly (1982) Northern Ireland Forum (1996)
Elections
1973 1975 1982 1996
Members
1973 1975 1982 1996
See also
Anglo-Irish Agreement New Ireland Forum 1986 Northern Ireland by-elections 1973 Northern Ireland border poll
Other countries
v t e

The 1986 Northern Ireland by-elections were fifteen by-elections held on 23 January 1986, to fill vacancies in the Parliament of the United Kingdom caused by the resignation in December 1985 of all sitting Unionist Members of Parliament (MPs). The MPs, from the Ulster Unionist Party, Democratic Unionist Party and Ulster Popular Unionist Party, did this to highlight their opposition to the Anglo-Irish Agreement, signed the month before.

Each of the Unionist parties agreed not to contest seats previously held by the others, and each outgoing MP stood for re-election. 14 of the 15 were re-elected, often with large margins. The sole exception was in the Newry and Armagh by-election, where Seamus Mallon of the Social Democratic and Labour Party unseated Jim Nicholson (UUP).