1986 Newry and Armagh by-election
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Constituency of Newry and Armagh | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Turnout | 76.9% ( 0.9%) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 1986 by-election in Newry and Armagh was caused by the resignation of incumbent Member of Parliament Jim Nicholson.
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
nationalist SDLP candidate Seamus Mallon. Nicholson also failed to recapture the seat at the following general election
.
Result
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
SDLP | Seamus Mallon | 22,694 | 45.5 | +8.7 | |
Ulster Unionist | Jim Nicholson | 20,111 | 40.3 | +0.3 | |
Sinn Féin | Jim McAllister | 6,609 | 13.2 | −7.7 | |
Workers' Party | Patrick McCusker | 515 | 1.0 | −1.3 | |
Majority | 2,583 | 5.2 | N/A | ||
Turnout | 49,929 | 76.9 | +0.9 | ||
Registered electors | 65,142 | ||||
SDLP gain from Ulster Unionist | Swing | +4.2 |
References
- ^ "By-election Result". United Kingdom Election Results. Archived from the original on 5 April 2018. Retrieved 29 April 2018.