electionstracker

Ireland 1957 general election

What was the result of the 1957 general election in Ireland?

Fianna Fáil won 78 of 147 seats with 48.3% of the vote. 71.3% 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 78 of 147 seats with 48.3% of the vote; 71.3% of registered voters cast a ballot, down 5.2 points on 1954.

  • Fianna Fáil 78 +13 seats 48.3% +5.0 points
  • Fine Gael 40 −10 seats 26.6% −5.3 points
  • Labour Party 12 −7 seats 9.1% −3.0 points
  • Workers' Party 4 +4 seats 5.3% +5.2 points
  • Clann na Talmhan 3 −2 seats 2.4% −0.7 points
  • Clann na Poblachta 1 −2 seats 1.7% −2.1 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 1954 general election, party by party.

74 of 147 seats make a majority

Key numbers

  1. 48.3%

    Share of the vote won by Fianna Fáil

    Fianna Fáil won 78 of 147 seats. A majority needs 74.

  2. +13 seats

    Seats gained by Fianna Fáil

    The largest gain in seats compared with 1954. Fine Gael lost 10 seats.

  3. 71.3%

    Voter turnout

    Down 5.2 points on 1954.

Seats and votes by party

PartySeats± seats%± pointsVotes
Fianna Fáil78+1348.3+5.0592,994
Fine Gael40−1026.6−5.3326,699
Labour Party12−79.1−3.0111,747
Workers' Party4+45.3+5.265,640
Clann na Talmhan3−22.4−0.728,905
Clann na Poblachta1−21.7−2.120,632
Largest party without seats00.44,797
Independents9+4

± is the change against the Ireland 1954 general election, party by party.

Votes by party
  • Fianna Fáil 592,994
  • Fine Gael 326,699
  • Labour Party 111,747
  • Workers' Party 65,640
  • Clann na Talmhan 28,905
  • Clann na Poblachta 20,632
  • Largest party without seats 4,797
  • 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?

71.3% of the 1,738,278 registered voters cast a ballot (1,238,559 ballots), down 5.2 points on 1954. 1,227,019 of them were valid votes. The lowest turnout of this kind in our data, which begins in 1948.

How do the votes compare with the seats?

  • Fianna Fáil48.3% of votes53.1% of seats
  • Fine Gael26.6% of votes27.2% of seats
  • Labour Party9.1% of votes8.2% of seats
  • Workers' Party5.3% of votes2.7% of seats
  • Clann na Talmhan2.4% of votes2.0% of seats
  • Clann na Poblachta1.7% of votes0.7% of seats
Each party's share of the vote (outlined) and of the seats (filled)

The Gallagher index of disproportionality is 5.9 (0 when seats follow votes exactly); the effective number of parties is 3.2 by votes and 2.7 by seats; Fianna Fáil led Fine Gael by 21.7 points of the vote.

Time and source Data as of