electionstracker

Ireland 1981 general election

What was the result of the 1981 general election in Ireland?

Fianna Fáil won 78 of 166 seats with 45.3% of the vote. 76.2% 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 166 seats with 45.3% of the vote; 76.2% of registered voters cast a ballot, down 0.1 points on 1977.

  • Fianna Fáil 78 −6 seats 45.3% −5.4 points
  • Fine Gael 65 +22 seats 36.5% +6.0 points
  • Labour Party 15 −2 seats 9.9% −1.7 points
  • Anti H-Block 2 2.4%
  • Workers' Party 1 +1 seat 1.7% 0.0 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 1977 general election, party by party.

84 of 166 seats make a majority

Key numbers

  1. 45.3%

    Share of the vote won by Fianna Fáil

    Fianna Fáil won 78 of 166 seats. A majority needs 84.

  2. +22 seats

    Seats gained by Fine Gael

    The largest gain in seats compared with 1977. Fianna Fáil lost 6 seats.

  3. 76.2%

    Voter turnout

    Down 0.1 points on 1977.

Seats and votes by party

PartySeats± seats%± pointsVotes
Fianna Fáil78−645.3−5.4777,616
Fine Gael65+2236.5+6.0626,376
Labour Party15−29.9−1.7169,990
Anti H-Block22.442,803
Workers' Party1+11.70.029,561
Unnamed party with one seat10.47,107
Largest party without seats00.0571
Independents40

± is the change against the Ireland 1977 general election, party by party.

Votes by party
  • Fianna Fáil 777,616
  • Fine Gael 626,376
  • Labour Party 169,990
  • Anti H-Block 42,803
  • Workers' Party 29,561
  • Unnamed party with one seat 7,107
  • Largest party without seats 571
  • 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?

76.2% of the 2,275,450 registered voters cast a ballot (1,734,379 ballots), down 0.1 points on 1977. 1,718,211 of them were valid votes. The lowest turnout since 1965 in our data.

How do the votes compare with the seats?

  • Fianna Fáil45.3% of votes47.0% of seats
  • Fine Gael36.5% of votes39.2% of seats
  • Labour Party9.9% of votes9.0% of seats
  • Anti H-Block2.4% of votes1.2% of seats
  • Workers' Party1.7% of votes0.6% of seats
Each party's share of the vote (outlined) and of the seats (filled)

The Gallagher index of disproportionality is 3.1 (0 when seats follow votes exactly); the effective number of parties is 2.9 by votes and 2.6 by seats; Fianna Fáil led Fine Gael by 8.8 points of the vote.

Time and source Data as of