The 2017 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland was held on 8 June 2017. All 18 seats in Northern Ireland were contested. 1,242,698 people were eligible to vote, up 5,933 from the 2015 general election. 65.6% of eligible voters turned out, an increase of 7.2 percentage points from the last general election.
The
DUP gained 2 seats for a total of 10, and
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur G ...
won 7, an improvement of 3. Independent unionist
Sylvia Hermon was also re-elected in her constituency of
North Down. Meanwhile, the
SDLP
The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) ( ga, Páirtí Sóisialta Daonlathach an Lucht Oibre) is a social-democratic and Irish nationalist political party in Northern Ireland. The SDLP currently has eight members in the Northern Irela ...
lost 3 seats and the
UUP lost 2 seats, meaning they both lost all their representation in the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
.
As Sinn Féin maintains a policy of
abstentionism
Abstentionism is standing for election to a deliberative assembly while refusing to take up any seats won or otherwise participate in the assembly's business. Abstentionism differs from an election boycott in that abstentionists participate in ...
in regards to the British Parliament, the 2017 election marked the first parliament since
1964 without any
Irish nationalist
Irish nationalism is a nationalist political movement which, in its broadest sense, asserts that the people of Ireland should govern Ireland as a sovereign state. Since the mid-19th century, Irish nationalism has largely taken the form of c ...
MPs who take their seats in the House of Commons in Westminster.
Nationally, the governing
Conservative Party
The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right.
Political parties called The Conservative P ...
fell 8 seats short of a parliamentary majority after the election, reduced to 4 if the absence of Sinn Féin is taken into account. The DUP thus held the
balance of power, and announced on 10 June that it would support the Conservative government on a "
confidence and supply
In a parliamentary democracy based on the Westminster system, confidence and supply are required for a ruling cabinet to retain power in the lower house.
A confidence-and-supply agreement is one whereby a party or independent members of par ...
" basis.
Results
Five seats changed hands in Northern Ireland. The SDLP lost its seats in
Foyle and
South Down to Sinn Féin and the constituency of
Belfast South to the DUP. Meanwhile, the UUP lost
South Antrim to the DUP and
Fermanagh and South Tyrone to Sinn Féin. The number of unionist and nationalist representatives (11 and 7, respectively) remained unchanged from the
2015 general election, although none of the nationalist members are participating in the current
Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...
.
Vote summary
References
{{Northern Ireland elections
#Northern Ireland
2017
2017 elections in Northern Ireland