| Election Name: | 1919 Sligo Corporation election |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Type: | Parliamentary |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Party Colour: | yes |
| Previous Election: | 1914 Sligo Corporation election |
| Previous Year: | 1914 |
| Next Election: | 1925 Sligo Corporation election |
| Next Year: | 1925 |
| Seats For Election: | All 24 seats on Sligo Corporation |
| Majority Seats: | 13 |
| Election Date: | 15 January 1919 |
| Party1: | Sligo Ratepayers Association |
| Seats1: | 8 |
| Party2: | Sinn Féin |
| Seats2: | 7 |
| Party3: | Irish Labour Party |
| Seats3: | 4 |
| Map Size: | 300px |
| Council control | |
| Posttitle: | Council control after election |
| After Election: | No overall control |
An election for all 24 members of Sligo Corporation took place on 15 January 1919, using the single transferable vote (STV). Urban districts in Ireland held annual elections on 15 January each year under the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898, using plurality voting to replace a cohort of one-third or one-quarter of their councillors.[1] Those elections for 1915–19 were postponed while the First World War was still in progress.[2]
| Short Title: | Sligo Corporation Act 1918 |
| Type: | Act |
| Parliament: | Parliament of the United Kingdom |
| Long Title: | An Act to amend the provisions for the local management of the borough of Silgo and to extend the rating powers of the Corporation of the borough and to extend the power of the Corporation to borrow and re-borrow moneys and to provide for the payment by the Corporation of the expenses incurred in meeting the demands of the county council of the county of Sligo and to confer on the Local Government Board for Ireland further powers of control in regard to the performance of their respective duties by the Corporation and the officers thereof and to amend the provisions relating to the election and duration in office of the aldermen and councillors of the borough and for other purposes. |
| Year: | 1918 |
| Citation: | 8 & 9 Geo. 5. c. xxiii |
| Royal Assent: | 30 July 1918 |
| Original Text: | https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/Geo5/8-9/23/pdfs/ukla_19180023_en.pdf |
| Collapsed: | yes |
The Sligo election was held under the Sligo Corporation Act 1918 (8 & 9 Geo. 5. c. xxiii), a local act passed in the UK Parliament under the sponsorship of the Sligo Ratepayers Association (SRA), an alliance of Protestants and businessmen which opposed the actions of the outgoing corporation.[3] The election under the 1918 act was exempt from the general postponement.[4]
In the 1919 election, the SRA ran a slate of 18 candidates (11 Protestant and 7 Catholic) and won 8 seats; Sinn Féin, Labour, and an Independent Nationalist had a majority of 13 seats between them.[5] It was the second STV election ever in Ireland; the first was in Dublin University at the November 1918 Westminster election. The outcome was seen as a vindication of STV, which was adopted for all Irish local authorities by the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1919, in time for the 1920 local elections.[6] The 1918 act envisaged triennial elections in Sligo,[7] as the 1919 act did throughout Ireland. In the event, the Irish War of Independence, Irish Civil War, and aftermath meant the next local elections were postponed until 1925.[8]
| Seats | valign=top | ± | valign=top | First Pref. votes | valign=top | FPv% | valign=top | ±% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | 823 | 37.27 | ||||||
| 7 | 674 | 30.53 | ||||||
| 4 | 414 | 18.75 | ||||||
| 5 | 300 | 13.59 | ||||||
| Totals | align=right | 24 | align=right | 2,208 | 100.00 | — |