electionstracker

Ireland 1951 general election

What was the result of the 1951 general election in Ireland?

Fianna Fáil won 69 of 147 seats with 46.3% of the vote. 75.3% 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 69 of 147 seats with 46.3% of the vote; 75.3% of registered voters cast a ballot, up 1.0 points on 1948.

  • Fianna Fáil 69 +1 seat 46.3% +4.4 points
  • Fine Gael 40 +9 seats 25.8% +5.9 points
  • Labour Party 16 +2 seats 11.4% +2.7 points
  • Clann na Poblachta 2 −8 seats 4.1% −9.1 points
  • Clann na Talmhan 6 −1 seat 2.9% −2.7 points
  • Seats won
  • Change on the previous election at the right
  • Share of the vote
  • Share at the previous election
  • Change in points at the right

Changes are against the Ireland 1948 general election, party by party.

74 of 147 seats make a majority

Key numbers

  1. 46.3%

    Share of the vote won by Fianna Fáil

    Fianna Fáil won 69 of 147 seats. A majority needs 74.

  2. +9 seats

    Seats gained by Fine Gael

    The largest gain in seats compared with 1948. Clann na Poblachta lost 8 seats.

  3. 75.3%

    Voter turnout

    Up 1.0 points on 1948.

Seats and votes by party

PartySeats± seats%± pointsVotes
Fianna Fáil69+146.3+4.4616,212
Fine Gael40+925.8+5.9342,922
Labour Party16+211.4+2.7151,828
Clann na Poblachta2−84.1−9.154,210
Clann na Talmhan6−12.9−2.738,872
Largest party without seats000.00.0295
Independents14+2

± is the change against the Ireland 1948 general election, party by party.

Votes by party
  • Fianna Fáil 616,212
  • Fine Gael 342,922
  • Labour Party 151,828
  • Clann na Poblachta 54,210
  • Clann na Talmhan 38,872
  • Largest party without seats 295
  • Independents

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.

How many people voted?

75.3% of the 1,785,144 registered voters cast a ballot (1,343,616 ballots), up 1.0 points on 1948. 1,331,573 of them were valid votes.

How do the votes compare with the seats?

  • Fianna Fáil46.3% of votes46.9% of seats
  • Fine Gael25.8% of votes27.2% of seats
  • Labour Party11.4% of votes10.9% of seats
  • Clann na Talmhan2.9% of votes4.1% of seats
  • Clann na Poblachta4.1% of votes1.4% of seats
Each party's share of the vote (outlined) and of the seats (filled)

The Gallagher index of disproportionality is 7.1 (0 when seats follow votes exactly); the effective number of parties is 3.4 by votes and 3.2 by seats; Fianna Fáil led Fine Gael by 20.5 points of the vote.

Time and source Data as of