British General Election 1918
The British general election in 1918 was held on 14 December 1918, to the Members of the House of Commons to determine new (House of Commons). A coalition recommended by the previous Lloyd George government, especially around the Conservative Party and parts of the Liberal Party , received 47.1% of the votes and 473 of the 707 seats in the lower house.
background
The last general election took place in December 1910 , the legislative period was extended because of the First World War . In November 1918 it was decided to dissolve the House of Commons on November 25th and to re-elect it on December 14th, 1918.
Electoral system and parties
Voting was based on the majority voting system, there was no threshold clause . For the first time, all men over the age of 21 were entitled to vote regardless of income and assets, and women were also allowed to vote with a minimum age of 30. The number of those entitled to vote rose so sharply.
In the summer of 1918, Prime Ministers agreed David Lloyd George ( Liberal Party ) and the leader of the Conservative Party , Andrew Bonar Law , on a list of MPs who should receive a letter of recommendation to the government for election at the next election. These letters, also known as the Coalition Coupon , received 159 Liberal Party candidates, 364 Conservative candidates, 20 National Democratic and Labor Party candidates and 2 Labor Party candidates .
In the case of the Liberal Party, this was an expression of the split into MPs who followed Prime Minister Lloyd George and those who stood behind the actual party leader and Prime Minister Herbert Henry Asquith , who resigned in 1916 . In the next election in 1922 , both wings then ran as independent parties. Of the 80 Conservative candidates who had not received a coupon, only 23 ran against a candidate with a coupon, 35 ran as Unionists in Ireland and 22 in constituencies without a coupon.
In Ireland, the Sinn Féin party stood up for the first time , advocating national self-determination for the Irish.
Outcome of the election
Due to the large number of votes cast by soldiers, the election was not counted until December 28, and the turnout was 57.2%. The coalition won a two-thirds majority of the seats, with the Conservative candidates doing particularly well. Although they had more MPs than the Liberals, Lloyd George remained Prime Minister.
With the Liberals, the wing around Asquith lost much of its importance and most of the seats, even Asquith could not win a mandate. Conservative MPs who won their seats without a coupon still generally voted with the government. The Labor Party was able to increase its share of the vote significantly, but received comparatively few mandates due to the majority vote.
Sinn Féin won 70% of the seats awarded in Ireland, despite a large number of candidates in prison at the time of the election. The MPs did not take up their mandates, however, but merged to form the Dáil Éireann . The first meeting of the Dáil on January 21, 1919 also marked the beginning of the Irish War of Independence .
With Constance Markiewicz woman was first elected to the House; like the other Sinn Féin MPs, she did not take up her mandate.
Election result
Political party | be right | Seats | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
number | % | +/- | number | +/- | ||
Conservative party | 4,003,848 | 38.4 | −8.2 | 379 | +108 | |
Coalition Conservative | 3,393,167 | 32.5 | 332 | |||
Non-Coalition Conservative | 610,681 | 5.9 | 47 | |||
Liberal party | 2,674,242 | 25.6 | −17.6 | 163 | −109 | |
Coalition Liberal | 1,318,844 | 12.6 | 127 | |||
Non-Coalition Liberal | 1,355,398 | 13.0 | 36 | |||
Labor Party | 2,211,871 | 21.2 | +14.9 | 61 | +19 | |
Coalition Labor | 40,641 | 0.4 | 4th | |||
Non-Coalition Labor | 2,171,230 | 20.8 | 57 | |||
Sinn Féin | 476.458 | 4.6 | +4.6 | 73 | +73 | |
Irish Parliamentary Party | 226,498 | 2.2 | +0.3 | 7th | −67 | |
National Democratic and Labor Party | 174,825 | 1.7 | +1.7 | 9 | +9 | |
Coalition National Democratic and Labor | 156.834 | 1.5 | 9 | |||
Non-Coalition National Democratic and Labor | 17,991 | 0.2 | 0 | |||
Independent Labor | 116,322 | 1.1 | +1.0 | 2 | +2 | |
Independent | 114,535 | 1.1 | +1.1 | 3 | +3 | |
Coalition Independents | 9,274 | 0.1 | 1 | |||
Non-Coalition Independents | 105.261 | 1.0 | 2 | |||
National Party | 94,389 | 0.9 | +0.9 | 2 | +2 | |
Independent NFDSS / NADSS | 66,451 | 0.6 | +0.6 | 1 | +1 | |
Co-operative party | 57,785 | 0.6 | +0.6 | 1 | +1 | |
Independent Conservative | 44,637 | 0.4 | +0.3 | 1 | ± 0 | |
Ulster Unionist Labor Association | 30,304 | 0.3 | +0.3 | 3 | +3 | |
Independent liberal | 24,985 | 0.2 | +0.2 | 0 | ± 0 | |
Agriculturalist | 19,412 | 0.2 | +0.2 | 0 | ± 0 | |
NFDSS | 12,329 | 0.1 | +0.1 | 0 | ± 0 | |
Belfast Labor Party | 12.164 | 0.1 | +0.1 | 0 | ± 0 | |
National Socialist Party | 11.013 | 0.1 | +0.1 | 1 | +1 | |
Highland Land League | 8,710 | 0.1 | +0.1 | 0 | ± 0 | |
Women's party | 8,614 | 0.1 | +0.1 | 0 | ± 0 | |
British Socialist Party | 8,394 | 0.1 | +0.1 | 0 | ± 0 | |
Independent Democratic | 8,351 | 0.1 | +0.1 | 0 | ± 0 | |
Independent nationalist | 8,183 | 0.1 | +0.1 | 0 | ± 0 | |
Socialist Labor Party | 7,567 | 0.1 | +0.1 | 0 | ± 0 | |
Scottish Prohibition Party | 5,212 | 0.0 | ± 0 | 0 | ± 0 | |
Independent progressives | 5,077 | 0.0 | ± 0 | 0 | ± 0 | |
Independent Labor and Agriculturalist | 1,972 | 0.0 | ± 0 | 0 | ± 0 | |
Christian socialist | 597 | 0.0 | ± 0 | 0 | ± 0 | |
total | 10,434,700 | 100.0 | 707 | |||
Coalition | 4,918,760 | 47.1 | 473 | |||
Non-coalition | 5,515,940 | 52.9 | 234 | |||
Source: |
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b General Election Results 1885-1979 United Kingdom Election Results (English)