electionstracker

Ireland 1987 general election

What was the result of the 1987 general election in Ireland?

Fianna Fáil won 81 of 166 seats with 44.1% of the vote. 73.3% 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 81 of 166 seats with 44.1% of the vote; 73.3% of registered voters cast a ballot, up 0.5 points on 1982.

  • Fianna Fáil 81 +6 seats 44.1% −1.1 points
  • Fine Gael 51 −19 seats 27.1% −12.2 points
  • Progressive Democrats 14 11.8%
  • Labour Party 12 −4 seats 6.5% −2.9 points
  • Workers' Party 4 +2 seats 3.8% +0.5 points
  • Sinn Féin 0 1.9%
  • Democratic Socialist Party 1 0.4%
  • 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 November 1982 general election, party by party.

84 of 166 seats make a majority

Key numbers

  1. 44.1%

    Share of the vote won by Fianna Fáil

    Fianna Fáil won 81 of 166 seats. A majority needs 84.

  2. +6 seats

    Seats gained by Fianna Fáil

    The largest gain in seats compared with 1982. Fine Gael lost 19 seats.

  3. 73.3%

    Voter turnout

    Up 0.5 points on 1982.

Seats and votes by party

PartySeats± seats%± pointsVotes
Fianna Fáil81+644.1−1.1784,547
Fine Gael51−1927.1−12.2481,127
Progressive Democrats1411.8210,583
Labour Party12−46.5−2.9114,551
Workers' Party4+23.8+0.567,273
Sinn Féin01.932,933
Democratic Socialist Party10.47,424
Independents30

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

Votes by party
  • Fianna Fáil 784,547
  • Fine Gael 481,127
  • Progressive Democrats 210,583
  • Labour Party 114,551
  • Workers' Party 67,273
  • Sinn Féin 32,933
  • Democratic Socialist Party 7,424
  • 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?

73.3% of the 2,445,515 registered voters cast a ballot (1,793,406 ballots), up 0.5 points on 1982. 1,777,165 of them were valid votes.

How do the votes compare with the seats?

  • Fianna Fáil44.1% of votes48.8% of seats
  • Fine Gael27.1% of votes30.7% of seats
  • Progressive Democrats11.8% of votes8.4% of seats
  • Labour Party6.5% of votes7.2% of seats
  • Workers' Party3.8% of votes2.4% of seats
  • Democratic Socialist Party0.4% of votes0.6% of seats
Each party's share of the vote (outlined) and of the seats (filled)

The Gallagher index of disproportionality is 5.3 (0 when seats follow votes exactly); the effective number of parties is 3.5 by votes and 2.9 by seats; Fianna Fáil led Fine Gael by 17.1 points of the vote.

Time and source Data as of