IRISH GENERAL ELECTION, 1922

The 'Irish general election of 1922' took place in Southern Ireland on June 16, 1922, under the provisions of the 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty to elect a constituent assembly paving the way for the establishment of the Irish Free State. For Irish Republicans this chose 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.

Contents

Campaign

Result

Retiring TDs

See also

Campaign

As in the Irish elections, 1921 in the south, Sinn Féin stood one candidate for every seat, except those for the University of Dublin and one other; 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, other parties stood in most constituencies forcing single transferable vote elections, with Sinn Féin losing 30 seats.
To avoid a deeper split Éamon de Valera and Michael Collins worked out a "pact" on 20 May 1922. It was agreed that the pro-treaty and anti-treaty factions would fight the general election jointly and form a coalition government afterwards. 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 had been made public in the Treaty Debates which had ended in January 1922.
Despite the Pact, the election started the effective division of Sinn Féin into separate parties.
After the election on 16 June, the elected anti-treaty members boycotted the assembly and both parts of Sinn Féin launched the Irish civil war leading to the killing of Collins in an anti-treaty ambush. The boycott gave an effective majority 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 – June 16, 1922
Party		Leader	# of Seats	Gains/ Losses	% of Dáil
	Sinn Féin (Pro-Treaty)	Michael Collins	58 (17 unopposed)	-30	45.3
	Sinn Féin (Anti-Treaty)	Éamon de Valera	36 (16 unopposed)		28.1
	Labour Party	Thomas Johnson	17	+17	13.3
	Farmers' Party	Denis Gorey	7	+7	5.5
	Independents		10 (4 unopposed)	+6	7.8
'Totals'			128	+0	100.0

Retiring TDs

★ Kathleen Clarke (Lost seat)

See also

★ Members of the 3rd Dáil

★ Government of the 3rd Dáil