1943 Irish general election

Election during the emergency

Ireland had declared a state of emergency on 2 September 1939, arising from the Second World War. The Emergency Powers Act 1939 was in force at the time of the election campaign, and concomitant press censorship affected coverage.

In April the government had proposed to postpone the election by introducing a bill to extend the maximum term of the Dáil from five to six years; however, in the absence of support from the Fine Gael opposition, the bill was withdrawn.

As an alternative, the General Elections (Emergency Provisions) Act 1943 provided that a general election could be called without a dissolution and that the outgoing Dáil would not be dissolved until after all returns from the general election. This was in contravention of provisions of the Constitution, which require the president to dissolve the Dáil before a general election. However, this was permitted under the state of emergency.

Result

|seats_% = 48.6 |fpv_% = 41.9 |seats_% = 23.2 |fpv_% = 23.1 |seats_% = 12.3 |fpv_% = 15.7 |seats_% = 7.2 |fpv_% = 9.8 |seats_% = 0.7 |fpv_% = 0.3 |seats_% = 0 |fpv_% = 0.3 |seats_% = 0 |fpv_% = 0.2 |seats_% = 7.3 |fpv_% = 8.7 |}

Voting summary

Seats summary

Government formation

Fianna Fáil formed the 3rd government of Ireland, a minority government.

Changes in membership

First time TDs

• Liam Cosgrave
• Frank Daly
• Michael Donnellan
• Michael Hilliard
• James Kilroy
• Martin O'Sullivan
• Leo Skinner
• Dan Spring
• Richard Stapleton
• Patrick Finucane

Retiring TDs

• Henry McDevitt
• Thomas Mullen

Defeated TDs

• Eamonn Cooney
• Daniel Hogan
• Frank Loughman
• Peter O'Loghlen
• Laurence Walsh
• Richard Walsh

Seanad election

The election was followed by an election to the 4th Seanad.

Notes

References

Sources

References

1. {{cite Irish legislation. (1937). (1 November 1937)
2. "11th Dáil 1937: Galway East".
3. "Mr. de Valera to be Taoiseach". [[The Irish Times]].
4. (15 April 1943). "Committee on Finance. - Electoral (Duration of Dáil Eireann) Bill, 1943—Second Stage – Dáil Éireann (10th Dáil)".
5. (5 May 1943). "Committee on Finance. - Electoral (Duration of Dáil Eireann) Bill, 1943—Bill Withdrawn – Dáil Éireann (10th Dáil) – Vol. 89 No. 18".
6. {{cite Irish bill. (1943)
7. {{cite Irish legislation. (1943)
8. de Valera, Éamon. (26 May 1943). "The General Election: Announcement by Taoiseach".
9. "Constitution of Ireland". [[Irish Statute Book]].
10. "Dáil elections since 1918". ARK Northern Ireland.
11. (2010). "Elections in Europe: A data handbook". Nomos.