Irish general election, 1922

Irish general election, 1922

16 June 1922
All 128 seats in Dáil Éireann 65 seats were needed for a majority
First party Second party   Leader Michael Collins Éamon de Valera Party Sinn Féin (Pro-Treaty) Sinn Féin (Anti-Treaty) Leader since 1922 1917 Leader's seat Cork Mid, etc. Clare Seats won 58 36   Third party Fourth party   100px Leader Thomas Johnson Denis Gorey Party Labour Party Farmers' Party Leader since 1922 1922 Leader's seat Dublin County Carlow–Kilkenny Seats won 17 7
450px Percentage of seats gained by each of the three major parties, and number of seats gained by smaller parties and independents.
Chairman of the Provisional Government before election Michael Collins Sinn Féin (Pro-Treaty) Subsequent Chairman of the Provisional Government Michael Collins Sinn Féin (Pro-Treaty)

The Irish general election of 1922 took place in Southern Ireland on 16 June 1922, under the provisions of the 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty to elect a constituent assembly paving the way for the formal establishment of the Irish Free State. For Irish republicans this chose part of the membership of the Third Dáil of the Irish Republic; under the provisions of the treaty it was a provisional parliament replacing the parliament of Southern Ireland. From 6 December 1922 it was the Dáil Éireann of the Irish Free State.

The election was by the single transferable vote version of proportional representation.

Campaign

As in the 1921 elections, Sinn Féin stood one candidate for every seat, except those for the University of Dublin and one other; however the treaty had divided the party between 65 pro-treaty candidates, 57 anti-treaty and 1 nominally on both sides. Unlike the elections a year earlier where Sinn Féin had been returned unopposed in almost every constituency, this time other parties stood in most constituencies and thus forced elections. A divided Sinn Féin could expect significant losses.

To minimise these losses, Éamon de Valera and Michael Collins worked out a pact approved on 20 May 1922. They agreed that the pro-treaty and anti-treaty factions would fight the general election jointly and form a coalition government afterwards. The sitting member would not be opposed by the other faction. This pact prevented voters giving their opinions on the treaty itself, especially in uncontested seats. However, the draft constitution of the Irish Free State was then published on 15 June, and so the anti-treaty Sinn Féin group's 36 seats out of 128 seemed to many to be a democratic endorsement of the pro-treaty Sinn Féin's arrangements. Others argued that insufficient time was available to understand the draft constitution, but the main arguments and debates had already been made public during and after the Dáil "Treaty Debates" that had ended on 10 January 1922, nearly six months before.

Winston Churchill, then Secretary of State for the Colonies, opposed the Pact as undemocratic, and made a long statement on 31 May. He was responsible at the time for steering the transitional arrangements between the Provisional Government and Britain, in the period between the ratification of the Treaty and the creation of the Irish Free State.

Despite the Pact, the election results started the effective division of Sinn Féin into separate parties. The anti-Treaty TDs then boycotted the new Dáil, even though they had requested, negotiated and approved the terms of the Pact. In hindsight it was a tactical ploy. This boycott gave uncontested control to the pro-treaty members of Sinn Féin, and so enabled W. T. Cosgrave to establish the Second Irish Provisional Government and later the First Executive Council of the Irish Free State.

Result

3rd Irish general election – 16 June 1922

Party		Leader	Seats	±	% of seats	First Pref votes	% FPv	±%
	Sinn Féin (Pro-Treaty)	Michael Collins	58	N/A	45.3	239,195	38.5	N/A
	Sinn Féin (Anti-Treaty)	Éamon de Valera	36	N/A	28.1	135,310	21.8	N/A
	Labour Party	Thomas Johnson	17	New	13.3	132,565	21.3	New
	Farmers' Party	Denis Gorey	7	New	5.5	48,718	7.8	New
	Businessmen's Party		1	New	0.8	14,542	2.3	New
	Ratepayers' Association		0	New	0	2,617	0.4	New
	Independent	N/A	9	N/A	7.0	48,638	7.8	N/A
Spoilt votes						19,684	—	—
Total			128	—	100	641,271	100	—
Electorate/Turnout						1,430,104	62.5%	—

Many seats were won unopposed; 17 by the Pro-Treaty Sinn Féin, 16 by the Anti-Treaty Sinn Féin and 4 by independents.

Votes cast

Out of a valid poll of 621,587 votes, the pro-Treaty part of the Sinn Féin party won 239,195 votes and their anti-Treaty rivals secured 135,310 votes. The other parties and independents (see above) all supported the Treaty and secured a further 247,080 votes.

The vote was seen as significant in several ways:

• The pro-Treaty parties had secured support from over 75% of the electorate on the eve of the Irish Civil War.
• The non-Sinn Féin parties had support from over 40% of the electorate.

Further, the anti-Treaty candidates had taken part in an election that was required under the articles of the Treaty, even though they had argued that it was completely flawed. Their opponents argued that this revealed that their anti-Treaty stance was opportunist, and not principled.

In that the anti-Treaty forces wanted to establish an all-Ireland republic, this election result when considered with the 1921 result in Northern Ireland shows that the anti-Treaty party had an enormous uphill struggle to achieve their constitutional aim.

Within 12 days, on 28 June 1922, as a result of the tensions between pro and anti-Treatyites, the Irish Civil War broke out, when the Provisional Government's troops began a bombardment of the Anti-Treaty IRA in the Four Courts, Dublin.

Outgoing TDs

• Kathleen Clarke (Lost seat)

See also

• Members of the 3rd Dáil
• Government of the 3rd Dáil
• Irish Civil War
• United Kingdom general election, 1922 (November) (includes Northern Ireland)