1990 Upper Bann by-election

← 1987

17 May 1990

1992 →

Constituency of Upper Bann

Turnout

53.4% (

12.6%)

	First party	Second party	Third party
			SF
Candidate	David Trimble	Bríd Rodgers	Sheena Campbell
Party	Ulster Unionist	SDLP	Sinn Féin
Popular vote	20,547	6,698	2,033
Percentage	58.0%	18.9%	5.7%
Swing	3.5%	1.6%	1.7%

MP before election

Harold McCusker
Ulster Unionist

Subsequent MP

David Trimble
Ulster Unionist

The 1990 by-election in Upper Bann was caused by the death of the sitting Ulster Unionist Party Member of Parliament Harold McCusker on 2 February 1990.

The by-election was especially notable for three reasons. Firstly, the Sinn Féin candidate in the election, Sheena Campbell, was murdered by the UVF in Belfast on 16 October 1992.

Eleven candidates stood in the by-election, which to date is the record for a parliamentary election in Northern Ireland. Secondly, amongst the eleven were candidates for the Conservative Party and the Social Democratic Party (SDP), both contesting parliamentary elections in Northern Ireland for the first time since the "Equal Citizenship" campaign had sought to get the major UK parties to organise in the province. Finally the successful Ulster Unionist candidate was David Trimble, who five years later would become the leader of the party.

The SDP candidate took only 154 votes, and finished in eleventh and last place – the worst performance in a by-election by any party with MPs sitting in the House of Commons since the English National Party in the 1976 Rotherham by-election.

YouTube Encyclopedic

1/3
Views:
402 816
2 268 376
2 612

Transcription

Results

1990 Upper Bann by-election^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Ulster Unionist	David Trimble	20,547	58.0	−3.5
	SDLP	Bríd Rodgers	6,698	18.9	−1.6
	Sinn Féin	Sheena Campbell	2,033	5.7	−1.7
	Ulster Independence	Hugh Ross	1,534	4.3	N/A
	Workers' Party	Tom French	1,083	3.1	−1.6
	NI Conservatives	Colette Jones	1,038	3.0	N/A
	Alliance	William Ramsay	948	2.7	−3.2
	Ulster Democratic	Gary McMichael	600	1.7	N/A
	Green	Peter Doran	576	1.6	N/A
	Independent Labour	Erskine Holmes	235	0.6	N/A
	SDP	Alistair Dunn	154	0.4	N/A
Majority			13,849	39.1	-1.9
Turnout			35,446	53.4	−12.6
Registered electors			66,377
	Ulster Unionist hold		Swing

General Election result, 1987

General election 1987: Upper Bann^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Ulster Unionist	Harold McCusker	25,137	61.5	+4.6
	SDLP	Bríd Rodgers	8,676	20.5	+3.7
	Sinn Féin	Brendan Curran	3,126	7.4	−2.0
	Alliance	Mary Cook	2,487	5.9	N/A
	Workers' Party	Tom French	2,004	4.7	−0.8
Majority			17,361	41.0	-20.4
Turnout			41,430	66.0	−6.0
Registered electors			64,540
	Ulster Unionist hold		Swing

References

^ Boothroyd, David. "Results of Byelections in the 1987–92 Parliament". United Kingdom Election Results. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
^ "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.

External links

A Vision Of Britain Through Time (Constituency elector numbers)

v t e By-elections in Northern Ireland to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom
1920s	June 1921: Mid Armagh Belfast Duncairn North Down July 1921: Mid Down West Down August 1921: South Londonderry January 1922: South Londonderry February 1922: West Down North Down June 1922: North Londonderry July 1922: North Down January 1929: Londonderry
1930s	March 1931: Fermanagh and Tyrone June 1934: Fermanagh and Tyrone May 1939: Down
1920s	February 1940: Belfast East November 1940: Queen's University of Belfast February 1943: Belfast West Antrim June 1946: Down March 1948: Armagh
1950s	November 1950: Belfast West May 1951: Londonderry October 1952: North Antrim November 1952: Belfast South April 1953: North Down November 1954: Armagh August 1955: Mid Ulster May 1956: Mid Ulster March 1959: Belfast East
1960s	October 1963: Belfast South April 1969: Mid Ulster
1970s	None
1980s	April 1981: Fermanagh and South Tyrone August 1981: Fermanagh and South Tyrone March 1982: Belfast South January 1986: Antrim North Antrim East Antrim South Belfast East Belfast North Belfast South Down North Down South Fermanagh and South Tyrone Lagan Valley East Londonderry Mid Ulster Strangford Newry and Armagh Upper Bann
1990s	May 1990: Upper Bann June 1995: North Down
2000s	September 2000: South Antrim
2010s	June 2011: Belfast West March 2013: Mid Ulster May 2018: West Tyrone
2020s	None to date
Lists of UK by-elections 1801–1806 1806–1818 1818–1832 1832–1847 1847–1857 1857–1868 1868–1885 1885–1900 1900–1918 1918–1931 1931–1950 1950–1979 1979–2010 2010–present Northern Ireland Hereditary peers

v t e « 49th Parliament « By-elections to the 50th Parliament of the United Kingdom » 51st Parliament »
1988	July: Kensington November: Glasgow Govan December: Epping Forest
1989	February: Pontypridd Richmond May: Vale of Glamorgan June: Glasgow Central Vauxhall
1990	March: Mid Staffordshire May: Bootle Upper Bann September: Knowsley South October: Eastbourne November: Bootle Bradford North Paisley North Paisley South
1991	March: Ribble Valley April: Neath May: Monmouth July: Liverpool Walton November: Hemsworth Kincardine and Deeside Langbaurgh
Lists of UK by-elections 1801–1806 1806–1818 1818–1832 1832–1847 1847–1857 1857–1868 1868–1885 1885–1900 1900–1918 1918–1931 1931–1950 1950–1979 1979–2010 2010–present Northern Ireland Hereditary peers

This page was last edited on 24 January 2023, at 13:33