The Irish general election of 1918, which took place as part of the 1918 United Kingdom general election, is seen as a key defining moment in modern Irish history. It saw the decimation of the Irish Parliamentary Party, which since the 1880s had dominated the Irish political landscape. It saw the appearance as the new dominant electoral force of Sinn Féin, formally a small separatist Irish monarchist party but which in 1917 adopted republicanism as its defining strategy.
The Irish electorate in 1918, as with the entire electorate throughout the United Kingdom, had changed utterly in two ways from the preceeding general election.
While the rest of the United Kingdom fought the Khaki election on other issues involving British parties, in Ireland four major political parties had national appeal, but one, the Irish Labour Party, immediately decided not to take part, fearing that it would be caught in the political crossfire between the IPP and Sinn Féin; it thought it better to let the people make up their minds on the issue of home rule versus a republic by having a clear IPP/Sinn Féin choice. That left three major parties, one unionist, the Irish Unionist Party (with a supportive Labour Unionist Party), and two nationist, Sinn Féin and the IPP (with other small nationalist parties). However it soon became clear that some of the 105 seats in Ireland would be uncontested. In some cases that was because there was a certain winner, and the rival parties decided against devoting their money and effort to unwinnable seats. In other cases, allegations were made that republican militants threatened potential candidates and their families to discourage non-Sinn Féin candidates from running. For whatever reason, in 25 of the 1031 constituencies, Sinn Féin won their seats unopposed.
The final results in terms of seats (both contested and uncontested) were:
However the use of the unrepresentative and unproportional First Past the Post2 electoral system typically creates a distortion that overrepresents the larger parties' seat numbers at the expense of the smaller, or even those only marginally smaller. An example of the vote totals (based on those seats where contests occurred) gives a different impression on the nature of electoral opinion on the island of Ireland. The actual votes and percentages were
In the aftermath of the election, the Sinn Féin's MPs, calling themselves Teachtaí Dálai (TDss), formed a proto-parliament in Dublin, called Dáil Éireann (The Assembly of Ireland), declared the Irish Republic and elected an "Irish government", called the Áireacht, under a prime minister called the Príomh Áire (also sometimes called President of Dáil Éireann.) Though this new regime had no legal legitimacy and its Unilateral Declaration of Independence remained unaccepted diplomatically, it marked the first attempt an independent Irish government. Leaders of the Áireacht like Eamon de Valera, Michael Collins and W.T. Cosgrave, came to dominate Irish politics, with de Valera holding some form of elected office from his first election as an MP in a by-election in 1917 down to 1973.
The 1918 general election was the last all-Ireland election held, as under the Government of Ireland Act, 1920, Ireland was partitioned into two states, each of whom held separate elections to their own parliaments. All Ireland vote not vote again on the same issue until 1998, when both Irish states simultaneously ratified on the Belfast Agreement.
John Dillon, MP, leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party.
1 The 105 seats were spread over 103 constituencies, with two constituencies having two MPs.
2 The University of Dublin (better known as Trinity College Dublin), was a two seater elected through the Single Transferable Vote.
3 Some Labour candidates did run in the election, even though the Labour Party itself opted not to.
4 King's County is now known as County Offaly.
5 Queen's County is now known as County Laois (old spelling, Leix)
Context
A new generation of young voters, the disappearance of much of the oldest generation of voters, and the sudden influx of all women under 35, meant that vast numbers of new voters of unknown voter affiliation existed, changing dramatically the makeup of the Irish electorate. In addition changes in the electorate were matched by dramatic changes to Irish politics in the intervening 8 years, notablyThe election
Seat totals
Vote totals
Aftermath
Some prominent candidates elected unopposed
Some prominent candidates elected in contests
Most prominent defeated candidates
See Also
Footnotes
Additional Reading
External links
