All 60 seats to Belfast Corporation 31 seats needed for a majority
First party
Second party
Leader
William Coates
David Robb Campbell
Party
UUP
Belfast Labour
Seats won
35
12
Seat change
17
12
Map showing the area of Belfast Corporation
Council control after election
Irish Unionist
An election to Belfast Corporation took place in January 1920 as part of that year's Irish local elections. The Local Government (Ireland) Act 1919 had seen elections for local government in Ireland change to a more proportional system. As a result, Unionist dominance of the Belfast council was somewhat undermined, and the party lost 15 seats. In contrast Labour, Sinn Féin, and Nationalist representation grew, resulting in a more politically and socially representative council.[1]
147 candidates stood for the sixty seats on the council. The sixty seats were in nine new wards, identical to the parliamentary constituencies.[2] In advance of the election, the Irish Times stated that it expected the Unionists to lose between five and eight seats, to be picked up by the Labour and Nationalist candidates, with Sinn Féin having a chance of taking one or two seats.[3]
The result in the Falls was controversial; over twenty candidates stood, creating the most complex election by single-transferable vote to date; and 764 votes were disallowed due to spoiled ballot papers. 300 of these lacked an official mark; this was because the printing press marking them had ceased adding it near the end of the run, but this error was not noticed until the election count took place.[4][5]
After the election Sir William Coates, 1st Baronet was elected by the new council as Lord Mayor of Belfast.
Following the partition of Ireland the Northern Irish Government restored the older, and less representative ward based electoral system.[1]
^ abLaffan, Michael (1999). The Resurrection of Ireland: The Sinn Féin Party, 1916–1923. Cambridge University Press. p. 327. ISBN 9781139426299.
^"Provincial nominations", Irish Times, 6 January 1920, p.6
^"Parties and the elections: interesting figures", Irish Times, 15 January 1920, p.5
^"Municipal elections: the Belfast count", 20 January 1920
^"Returns in the provinces: Belfast Labour's big stride", Irish Times, 19 January 1920
and 22 Related for: 1920 Belfast Corporation election information
An election to BelfastCorporation took place in January 1920 as part of that year's Irish local elections. The Local Government (Ireland) Act 1919 had...
in Belfast North in a by-election in 1905 and in the general election of 1906 with William Walker as its candidate. The party won 12 seats on Belfast Corporation...
Belfast Labour Party. Campbell stood for the Belfast Labour Party at the 1920BelfastCorporationelection, and was elected, becoming leader of the group...
unionist stronghold, and he took only 3.8% of the vote. At the 1920BelfastCorporationelection, he was one of five Sinn Féin candidates elected, That year...
An election to BelfastCorporation took place in 1914 as part of that year's Irish local elections. This would be the last election before the Local Government...
Kingdom, these twice erupted in periods of sustained violence: in 1920–22, as Belfast emerged as the capital of the six northeast counties retaining the...
runs from the back door of Belfast City Hall through the middle of Linen Quarter is Linen Hall Street. BelfastCorporation used their profits from the...
Belfast is the capital of Northern Ireland, and throughout its modern history has been a major commercial and industrial centre. In the late 20th century...
Elections were held in January and June 1920 for the various county and district councils of Ireland. The elections were organised by the Dublin Castle...
between 1920 and 1923, when Belfast experienced the worst violence in its history. See Bloody Sunday (1921) and The Troubles in Northern Ireland (1920–1922)...
representation on BelfastCorporation up to the 1911 elections when no Labour candidates were returned. The 1920elections to BelfastCorporation, held in the...
ex-officio members: the Lord Mayor of Belfast and Mayor of Londonderry. Convention held that, in the event of a by-election, only members of the Commons from...
proceeded with the Government of Ireland Act 1920. This provided for two subordinate parliaments. In Belfast a Northern Ireland parliament would convene...
The Royal Belfast Academical Institution is an independent grammar school in Belfast, Northern Ireland. With the support of Belfast's leading reformers...
The Lord Mayor of Belfast is the leader and chairperson of Belfast City Council, elected annually from and by the city's 60 councillors. The Lord Mayor...
Constitution. Belfast: HMSO. Quekett, Arthur S. (1933). The Constitution Of Northern Ireland. Vol. Part II: The Government of Ireland Act 1920 and Subsequent...
company. He was elected to the BelfastCorporation for the Ulster Unionist Party, and served as Lord Mayor of Belfast from 1969 to 1972. At the 1969 Northern...
Ireland and granted the title Baron Chichester. 1613 – Belfast is constituted as a corporation of a sovereign and given twelve burgesses and a commonalty...
candidates were nominated "Northern local elections". The Irish Times. 29 May 1924. p. 5. "BelfastCorporationElections", Irish Times, 16 January 1924...
p 523 (The Black Staff Press, Belfast, 1992) Devlin, Paddy, Yes, We have no bananas: Outdoor relief in Belfast1920–1939, 1988 p 112, in Bardon, Jonathan...
in defence of and against partition. During the conflict of 1920–22, the capital Belfast saw major communal violence, mainly between Protestant unionist...
this election was Eamonn McCann, who received 3,120 first-preference votes, or 8% of the total, in Foyle. In the June 2011 Belfast West by-election, Gerry...
Global Information
