electionstracker

Ireland November 1982 general election

What was the result of the November 1982 general election in Ireland?

Fianna Fáil won 75 of 166 seats with 45.2% of the vote. 72.9% 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 75 of 166 seats with 45.2% of the vote; 72.9% of registered voters cast a ballot, down 0.9 points on 1982.

  • Fianna Fáil 75 −6 seats 45.2% −2.1 points
  • Fine Gael 70 +7 seats 39.2% +1.9 points
  • Labour Party 16 +1 seat 9.4% +0.2 points
  • Workers' Party 2 −1 seat 3.3% +1.0 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 February 1982 general election, party by party.

84 of 166 seats make a majority

Key numbers

  1. 45.2%

    Share of the vote won by Fianna Fáil

    Fianna Fáil won 75 of 166 seats. A majority needs 84.

  2. +7 seats

    Seats gained by Fine Gael

    The largest gain in seats compared with 1982. Fianna Fáil lost 6 seats.

  3. 72.9%

    Voter turnout

    Down 0.9 points on 1982.

Seats and votes by party

PartySeats± seats%± pointsVotes
Fianna Fáil75−645.2−2.1763,313
Fine Gael70+739.2+1.9662,284
Labour Party16+19.4+0.2158,115
Workers' Party2−13.3+1.054,888
Largest party without seats00.47,012
Independents3−1

± is the change against the Ireland February 1982 general election, party by party.

Votes by party
  • Fianna Fáil 763,313
  • Fine Gael 662,284
  • Labour Party 158,115
  • Workers' Party 54,888
  • Largest party without seats 7,012
  • 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?

72.9% of the 2,335,153 registered voters cast a ballot (1,701,385 ballots), down 0.9 points on 1982. 1,688,720 of them were valid votes. The lowest turnout since 1961 in our data.

How do the votes compare with the seats?

  • Fianna Fáil45.2% of votes45.2% of seats
  • Fine Gael39.2% of votes42.2% of seats
  • Labour Party9.4% of votes9.6% of seats
  • Workers' Party3.3% of votes1.2% of seats
Each party's share of the vote (outlined) and of the seats (filled)

The Gallagher index of disproportionality is 2.9 (0 when seats follow votes exactly); the effective number of parties is 2.7 by votes and 2.6 by seats; Fianna Fáil led Fine Gael by 6.0 points of the vote.

Time and source Data as of