Irish Parliamentary Party - Decisive Election

Decisive Election

The Irish Parliamentary Party was for the first time confronted with double opponents from both Unionists and Sinn Féin (the Irish Labour Party agreed to abstain so as not to complicate matters for Sinn Féin by introducing socialist proposals). In the past the IPP only faced opposition from candidates at conventions within the Home Rule movement. It never had to compete a nation-wide election, so that the party branches and organisation had slowly declined. In most constituencies the new young local Sinn Féin organisation controlled the electoral scene well in advance of the election. As a result in 25 constituencies the IPP did not contest the seats, and Sinn Féin candidates were returned unopposed.

Although elsewhere the Party's share of votes was over 21%, it lost practically all of its seats. This was due to the "first past the post" British electoral system. Votes cast for the IPP were 220,837 (21.7%) for merely 6 seats (down from 84 out of 105 seats in 1910). Sinn Féin votes were 476,087 (or 46.9%) for 48 seats, plus 25 uncontested totalling an impressive 73 seats. The IPP simply did not win a fair share of seats, as when the election had been run under a "proportional representation" system. Unionist (including Unionist Labour) votes were 305,206 (30.2%) – by which Unionists increased their representation from 19 to 26 seats. The Irish Party leader Dillon lost his seat and the party was dissolved. The remnants of the IPP later re-established itself with six members to form the Nationalist Party in Northern Ireland under Joe Devlin.

Twenty-seven of the newly elected Sinn Féin MPs assembled in Dublin on 21 January 1919 and formed an independent Irish parliament, or First Dáil Èireann of the thirty-two counties. Their remaining MPs were either still imprisoned or impaired. Britain did not recognise the Dáil's unilateral existence, which led to the Anglo-Irish War. The government remained committed to introducing Home Rule in Ireland, and in 1921 implemented the Fourth Home Rule Act, which partitioned Ireland into Northern Ireland and a non-functioning Southern Ireland prior to the Anglo-Irish Treaty.