1990 Upper Bann by-election

The 1990 by-election in Upper Bann was caused by the death of the sitting Ulster Unionist Party Member of Parliament Harold McCusker on 2 February 1990.

1990 Upper Bann by-election
17 May 1990
 
Candidate David Trimble Bríd Rodgers
Party UUP SDLP
Popular vote 20,547 6,698
Percentage 58.0% 18.9%
MP before election

Harold McCusker
UUP

 Subsequent MP

David Trimble
UUP

The by-election was especially notable for three reasons. Firstly, the Sinn Féin candidate in the election, Sheena Campbell, was murdered by the UVF in Belfast on 16 October 1992.

Eleven candidates stood in the by-election, which to date is the record for a parliamentary election in Northern Ireland. Secondly, amongst the eleven were candidates for the Conservative Party and the Social Democratic Party (SDP), both contesting parliamentary elections in Northern Ireland for the first time since the "Equal Citizenship" campaign had sought to get the major UK parties to organise in the province. Finally the successful Ulster Unionist candidate was David Trimble, who five years later would become the leader of the party.

The SDP candidate took only 154 votes, and finished in eleventh and last place – the worst performance in a by-election by any party with MPs sitting in the House of Commons since the English National Party in the 1976 Rotherham by-election.

Results
1990 Upper Bann by-election[1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
UUP David Trimble 20,547 58.0 −3.5
SDLP Bríd Rodgers 6,698 18.9 −1.6
Sinn Féin Sheena Campbell 2,033 5.7 −1.7
Ulster Independence Hugh Ross 1,534 4.3 New
Workers' Party Tom French 1,083 3.1 −1.6
NI Conservatives Colette Jones 1,038 3.0 New
Alliance William Ramsay 948 2.7 −3.2
Ulster Democratic Gary McMichael 600 1.7 New
Green Peter Doran 576 1.6 New
Independent Labour Erskine Holmes 235 0.6 New
SDP Alistair Dunn 154 0.4 New
Majority 13,849 39.1 -1.9
Turnout 35,446 53.4 −12.6
Registered electors 66,377
UUP hold Swing

General Election result, 1987
General election 1987: Upper Bann[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
UUP Harold McCusker 25,137 61.5 +4.6
SDLP Bríd Rodgers 8,676 20.5 +3.7
Sinn Féin Brendan Curran 3,126 7.4 −2.0
Alliance Mary Cook 2,487 5.9 New
Workers' Party Tom French 2,004 4.7 −0.8
Majority 17,361 41.0 -20.4
Turnout 41,430 66.0 −6.0
Registered electors 64,540
UUP hold Swing

References
  1. Boothroyd, David. "Results of Byelections in the 1987–92 Parliament". United Kingdom Election Results. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
  2. "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
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