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Irish general election, 1973
165 of 166 seats in Dáil Éireann
28 February 1973
		First party	Second party	Third party
Leader		Jack Lynch	Liam Cosgrave	Brendan Corish
Party		Fianna Fáil	Fine Gael	Labour Party
Leader since		1966	1965	1960
Leader's seat		Cork City North West	Dún Laoghaire and Rathdown	Wexford
Last election		74 seats, 44.6%	50 seats, 33.3%	18 seats, 16.6%
Seats won		68	54	19
Seat change		-6	+4	+1
Percentage		46.2%	35.1%	13.7%
Swing		+1.6%	+1.8%	-2.9%
Incumbent Taoiseach Jack Lynch Fianna Fáil Taoiseach-elect Liam Cosgrave Fine Gael

The Irish general election of 1973 was held on 28 February 1973. The newly elected 144 members of the 20th Dáil assembled at Leinster House on 4 March when the new Taoiseach and government were appointed.

The general election took place in 42 parliamentary constituencies throughout Ireland for 144 seats in the lower house of parliament, Dáil Éireann.

Contents 1 Campaign 2 Result 3 First time TDs 4 By-elections 5 Outgoing TDs 6 See also 7 References

[edit] Campaign

By the time the general election was called in 1973, Fianna Fáil had been in power for almost sixteen consecutive years. During that period the party had seen three different leaders, Éamon de Valera, Seán Lemass and the current leader of the party, Jack Lynch. As a result of this, much of the electorate believed it was time for a change of government. Lynch had hoped to dissolve the Dáil in December 1972, however events conspired against him and the election was eventually called for February 1973.

While Fine Gael and the Labour Party had pursued their own opposition policies since 1957 they now realised that the only way to oust Fianna Fáil would be to join forces. Not long after the general election was called both parties agreed to a pre-election pact in order to fight the election together on the issues that united them. The National Coalition as it was known offered the electorate the first alternative credible government in many years.

While Fianna Fáil actually increased its percentage of the vote, it lost seats. The increase in the percentage was remarkable considering the party had been in power for so long, and also because of the "Arms Crisis". A clever use of transfers between the National Coalition parties in the single transferable vote system enabled a change of government to take place.

Coverage of the general election by the national broadcaster, Radio Telefís Éireann, also saw a unique event. Jack Lynch, in an interview with Brian Farrell on the programme, became the first Taoiseach to concede defeat live on Irish television. Although the full result was not known Lynch was certain that the transfers to other candidates would result in Fianna Fáil losing the general election.

[edit] Result

20th Irish general election – 28 February 1973^[1][2]

Party		Leader	Seats	±	% of seats	First Pref votes	% FPv	±%
	Fianna Fáil	Jack Lynch	68	–6	47.2		46.2	+1.6
	Fine Gael	Liam Cosgrave	54	+4	37.5		35.1	+1.8
	Labour Party	Brendan Corish	19	+1	13.2		13.7	–2.9
	Independent	N/A	2	+1	1.4		5.0	–0.5
	Ceann Comhairle	N/A	1	N/A	0.7	N/A	N/A	N/A
Total			144	0	100		100	—

• Fine Gael–Labour Party coalition government formed. Turnout: 76%

[edit] First time TDs

The following 22 TDs were elected for the first time:

[edit] By-elections

• Máire Geoghegan-Quinn
• Enda Kenny
• Brendan Toal
• Michael Kitt
• Brendan Halligan
• Paddy Keaveney

[edit] Outgoing TDs

• Frank Aiken (Retired)
• Terence Boylan (Lost seat)
• Michael Hilliard (Lost seat)
• John O'Donovan (Lost seat)
• Micheál Ó Móráin (Lost seat)

[edit] See also

• Members of the 20th Dáil
• Government of the 20th Dáil
• Ministers of State of the 20th Dáil

[edit] References

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