| Election Name: | 1929 Northern Ireland general election |
| Country: | Northern Ireland |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 1925 Northern Ireland general election |
| Previous Year: | 1925 |
| Previous Mps: | List of members of the 2nd House of Commons of Northern Ireland |
| Elected Members: | MPs elected |
| Next Election: | 1933 Northern Ireland general election |
| Next Year: | 1933 |
| Seats For Election: | All 52 seats to the House of Commons of Northern Ireland 27 seats were needed for a majority |
| Election Date: | 22 May 1929 |
| Image1: | James Craig, 1st Viscount Craigavon.jpg |
| Leader1: | James Craig |
| Leader Since1: | 7 June 1921 |
| Party1: | Ulster Unionist Party |
| Leaders Seat1: | North Down |
| Last Election1: | 32 seat, 55.0% |
| Seats1: | 37[1] |
| Seat Change1: | 5 |
| Popular Vote1: | 148,579 |
| Percentage1: | 50.8% |
| Swing1: | 4.2% |
| Leader2: | Joe Devlin |
| Leader Since2: | 1918 |
| Party2: | Nationalist Party (Northern Ireland) |
| Leaders Seat2: | Belfast Central |
| Last Election2: | 10 seats, 23.8% |
| Seats2: | 11[2] |
| Seat Change2: | 1 |
| Popular Vote2: | 34,069 |
| Percentage2: | 11.7% |
| Swing2: | 9.5% |
| Leader Since3: | 1925 |
| Party3: | Northern Ireland Labour Party |
| Leaders Seat3: | Belfast North (abolished)[3] |
| Last Election3: | 3 seats, 4.7% |
| Seats3: | 1 |
| Seat Change3: | 2 |
| Popular Vote3: | 23,334 |
| Percentage3: | 8.0% |
| Swing3: | 3.3% |
| Map Size: | 400px |
| Prime Minister | |
| Posttitle: | Prime Minister after election |
| Before Election: | James Craig |
| Before Party: | Ulster Unionist Party |
| After Election: | James Craig |
| After Party: | Ulster Unionist Party |
The 1929 Northern Ireland general election was held on 22 May 1929. Like all previous elections to the Parliament of Northern Ireland, it produced a large majority for the Ulster Unionist Party. It was the first held after the abolition of proportional representation and the redrawing of electoral boundaries to create single-seat constituencies. As with the rest of the United Kingdom, this has made it more difficult for independent and minor party candidates to win seats.
22 MPs (42%), mostly Ulster Unionists, were elected unopposed without any votes being cast. This began a trend which would continue for decades - until 1969, at least 20 MPs in every Northern Ireland general election would be elected unopposed.
| 37 | 11 | 3 | 1 | |
| UUP | Nationalist | IU | NILP |
|}
Electorate: 775,307 (432,439 in contested seats); Turnout: 67.6% (292,218). Ulster Liberal Party result is compared to Unbought Tenants' Association in 1925.
Only 30 of the 52 seats (58%) were actually contested.
| 1929 Northern Ireland general election (contested seats) | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Popular vote | Candidates | |||||||||||||
| Votes | % | Stood | Elected | % | |||||||||||
| Ulster Unionist | 148,579 | 50.8 | 27 | 21 | 70.0 | ||||||||||
| Ind. Unionist | 41,778 | 14.3 | 10 | 3 | 10.0 | ||||||||||
| Nationalist | 34,069 | 11.7 | 5 | 5 | 16.7 | ||||||||||
| Labour | 23,334 | 8.0 | 5 | 1 | 3.3 | ||||||||||
| Liberal | 18,208 | 6.2 | 5 | 0 | — | ||||||||||
| Local Option | 9,776 | 3.3 | 3 | 0 | — | ||||||||||
| Town Tenants | 6,901 | 2.4 | 2 | 0 | — | ||||||||||
| Ind. Nationalist | 3,694 | 1.3 | 1 | 0 | — | ||||||||||
| Independent | 3,437 | 1.2 | 1 | 0 | — | ||||||||||
| Ind. Labour | 2,442 | 0.8 | 2 | 0 | — | ||||||||||
| Total | 292,218 | 67.6% | 61 | 30 | — | ||||||||||
In 22 of the 52 seats (42%), only one candidate stood and they were elected unopposed without any votes cast. The vast majority of the MPs elected without a contest were Ulster Unionists.
| 1929 Northern Ireland general election (uncontested seats) | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Popular vote | Candidates | |||||||||||||
| Votes | % | Stood | Elected | % | |||||||||||
| Ulster Unionist | Unopposed | 16 | 16 | 72.7 | |||||||||||
| Nationalist | Unopposed | 6 | 6 | 27.3 | |||||||||||
| Total | 22 | 22 | 100 | ||||||||||||