United Kingdom general election, 1886 (Ireland)

Irish (UK) general election, 1886
(part of United Kingdom general election, 1886)

1–27 July 1886
101 of the 670 seats to the House of Commons
First party Second party Third party   Leader Charles Stewart Parnell Lord Salisbury William Ewart Gladstone Party Irish Parliamentary Conservative and Liberal Unionist Liberal Leader since 17 October 1882 April 1881 April 1880 Leader's seat Cork City Marquess of Salisbury Midlothian Last election 85 16 0 Seats won 84 17 0 Seat change 1 1 Popular vote 94,883 98,201 1,910 Percentage 48.6 50.4 1.0 Swing 19.2 25.6 5.8
300px Results of the 1886 election in Ireland.   Conservative   Liberal Unionist   Irish Parliamentary Party

The 1886 general election in Ireland took place from 1–27 July 1886 following the collapse of the Liberal government of William Gladstone after his failed attempt to implement Home Rule for Ireland.

In response to Gladstone's attempt to implement Home Rule a unionist wing of the Liberals broke off to found the Liberal Unionist Party, which entered into an alliance with the Conservatives in an effort to block any attempt to implement Home Rule.

The election also saw the emergence of the Irish Loyal and Patriotic Union; one of the forerunners of the Irish Unionist Alliance. The IPLU sought to maximize the number of candidates elected from unionist parties in the three southern Irish provinces. In doing this the party would support individual candidates in various constituencies, and encourage Irish unionists to vote for these candidates, instead of splitting their vote between the various parties. Despite the IPLU's attempts, no southern Unionists were elected.

Results

The Irish Liberal Party, having lost all seats in the 1885 election, saw its share of the vote further plummet, to 3%. In comparison, the relative share of the vote enjoyed by the Conservatives nearly doubled. This in part is explained by the fact that the election saw a far lower turnout than that seen the previous year. Despite a drop in their relative share of the vote the Parliamentary party only lost one seat, with the bulk of their seats - 66 - being unopposed. In total the Parliamentary party stood some 97 candidates, the Conservatives 28 (three of whom were unopposed), the Liberal Unionists seven, and the Liberals just three.

Whilst the Liberal Unionists gained two seats - South Londonderry and South Tyrone - the Conservatives lost the seat of Belfast West to the Parliamentary party.

Not included in the totals are the two Dublin University seats, which were retained by Conservatives standing on a Unionist ticket.

Party		Leader	Seats			Votes
			# of Seats	% of Seats	Seat Change	# of Votes	% of Votes	Vote Change
	Irish Parliamentary	Charles Stewart Parnell	84	83.2	1	91,083	46.7	20.6
	Conservative	Lord Salisbury	15	14.9	1	76,257	39.1	16.2
	Liberal Unionist	Joseph Chamberlain	2	2.0	2	21,944	11.3	11.3
	Liberal	William Ewart Gladstone	0	0		5,710	2.9	3.7
Totals			101	100		194,994	100
Source: B.M. Walker