Northern Ireland Government Back

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30919, 27 November 1965, Page 15

Northern Ireland Government Back

(N.Z.P.A. Reuter —Copyright)

BELFAST, Nov. 26.

Northern Ireland’s pro-British Unionist Party swept back into power today as the first General Election results flowed in.

Snow and sleet cut the voting to round 64 per cent in the 29 contested seats out of a total of 52 in the Ulster Parliament.

Earlier 23 candidates—l 4 of them Unionists —had been returned unopposed.

Hopes of a Labour breakthrough faded as the first results were announced. The retiring Government led by the 51-year-old Prime Minister, Captain Terence O’Neill, resisted a Labour challenge in 17 areas and recaptured two of the four seats lost to Labour in Belfast seven years ago. With seven results still to come, the State of the parties today was: Unionists 32, Nationalists (the main Opposition partv) 6, Northern Ireland Labour 2, Republican 2. and Liberal. Independents and National Democrats one each.

In the previous administration of the six-county province with home rule status, the Unionists held 34 seats. Political observers expect them to retain at least four iof the remaining seven seats with the others going to the [Nationalist Party. I The main challenge to the ] Unionist Government came I from the Labour Party who • hoped to boost —possibly ' double—their representation of four.

Share Dropped

But even in the two seats they retained in their Belfast stronghold, their share of the poll dropped by more than 3500.

In Londonderry, Northern Ireland’s second city, police with batons charged a crowd of about 300 waiting for results outside the local courthouse during an incident with Unionists. The Unionist victor in the city division, the AttorneyGeneral, Mr Edward Jones, was leading a torchlight procession of supporters past the courthouse when the crowd tried to charge through the police cordon.