electionstracker

Ireland 1938 general election

What was the result of the 1938 general election in Ireland?

Fianna Fáil won 77 of 138 seats with 51.9% of the vote. 73.5% of registered voters cast a ballot.

  • Ireland
  • Held:
  • Final result
  • ParlGov, read 5 October 2026

Which party won the most seats?

Final results from ParlGov, read : Fianna Fáil won 77 of 138 seats with 51.9% of the vote; 73.5% of registered voters cast a ballot.

  • Fianna Fáil 77 51.9%
  • Fine Gael 45 33.3%
  • Labour Party 9 10.0%
  • Seats won
  • Share of the vote
70 of 138 seats make a majority

Key numbers

  1. 51.9%

    Share of the vote won by Fianna Fáil

    Fianna Fáil won 77 of 138 seats. A majority needs 70.

  2. 73.5%

    Voter turnout

Seats and votes by party

PartySeats%Votes
Fianna Fáil7751.9667,996
Fine Gael4533.3428,633
Labour Party910.0128,945
Independents74.760,685
Votes by party
  • Fianna Fáil 667,996
  • Fine Gael 428,633
  • Labour Party 128,945
  • Independents 60,685

ParlGov lists parties with at least 1 percent of the vote or 2 seats, so the rows do not add up to the valid votes.

ParlGov marks results before 1945 as experimental: they may need revision, so we compare them with no other election.

How many people voted?

73.5% of the 1,770,422 registered voters cast a ballot (1,302,070 ballots). 1,286,259 of them were valid votes.

How do the votes compare with the seats?

  • Fianna Fáil51.9% of votes55.8% of seats
  • Fine Gael33.3% of votes32.6% of seats
  • Labour Party10.0% of votes6.5% of seats
Each party's share of the vote (outlined) and of the seats (filled)

The Gallagher index of disproportionality is 3.7 (0 when seats follow votes exactly); the effective number of parties is 2.5 by votes and 2.4 by seats; Fianna Fáil led Fine Gael by 18.6 points of the vote.

Time and source Data as of