In Northern Ireland, the British government introduced “one man, one vote” for local elections in April 1969, but it was fully implemented in time for the 1973 local government elections after major electoral reforms.
Here’s the background:
Before 1969, Northern Ireland’s local government elections didn’t use universal adult suffrage.
Only ratepayers (property owners) and their spouses could vote in council elections.
Businesses could have multiple votes depending on property holdings, which disproportionately benefited Unionists.
The civil rights movement in the late 1960s demanded reform, with “one man, one vote” becoming a rallying cry.
In April 1969, Prime Minister Terence O’Neill’s government announced the end of the property vote for local elections, under pressure from Westminster and escalating protests.
The 1972 suspension of Stormont and direct rule from London accelerated reform, and the Local Government Act (Northern Ireland) 1972 reorganised councils and entrenched universal adult suffrage for the 1973 elections.
So — the policy decision was made in 1969, but the first elections fully run under “one man, one vote” in Northern Ireland were in May 1973.
If you’re talking about Britain itself, universal adult suffrage in local elections was achieved much earlier — 1948, with the Representation of the People Act abolishing plural voting.
The resistance to “one man, one vote” in Northern Ireland is basically the story of how the Unionist political machine clung to a 19th-century system into the late 1960s, and only surrendered it under the combined pressure of street protests and Westminster arm-twisting.
1. Who Resisted
Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) – They had controlled Stormont since 1921 and saw the property-based franchise as a pillar of their dominance in local councils, especially in mixed or majority-Nationalist areas.
Unionist-dominated councils – Local authorities like Londonderry Corporation were infamous for gerrymandering and using the business vote to keep Unionist control despite a Catholic/Nationalist population majority.
Orange Order – Firmly opposed, claiming the reform would “reward disloyalty” and erode Protestant control.
2. Why They Resisted
Electoral advantage – The property and business vote meant wealthy business owners (often Unionists) could cast multiple votes, and tenants without property (often Catholics) had none.
Control over housing allocation – In many councils, housing lists were manipulated to give homes (and therefore votes) to Unionist supporters.
Fear of demographic change – Universal suffrage in local elections threatened to flip control of councils in areas with Catholic majorities, especially Derry, Newry, and parts of Tyrone and Fermanagh.
3. Why It Took Four Years to Implement
Half-measures in 1969 – O’Neill announced the end of the property vote for local elections in April 1969, but he didn’t overhaul the council boundaries or voting register immediately.
Political turmoil – O’Neill was ousted weeks later, and his successors (Chichester-Clark and then Brian Faulkner) slowed reform while trying to appease Unionist hardliners.
London’s reluctance – Westminster didn’t yet want to directly override Stormont’s authority, even as violence escalated.
Comprehensive reform only after Stormont fell – The British government suspended Stormont in March 1972 and imposed direct rule. The Local Government Act (Northern Ireland) 1972 redrew council boundaries, abolished gerrymandered wards, and entrenched universal adult suffrage for the 1973 local elections.
In short — 1969 was the political concession, but 1973 was the real “one man, one vote” in action.
The delay wasn’t because the mechanics were difficult — it was because the ruling Unionist elite knew exactly what the change would do to their grip on local power and stalled until London forced it through.
After three decades of war, and more than three thousand lives lost, the verdict is clear: Unionists — overwhelmingly Protestant — ran Northern Ireland as a rigged fiefdom until they were compelled, by blood and international pressure, to share power with the very people they had disenfranchised. This was not magnanimity; it was a sentence passed for crimes against democracy. And so it stands today: the United Kingdom still not a true democracy, it remains a hollow plea rather than a birthright.
Today, no Irish newspaper or broadcast organisation will dare produce content to reveal or event hint at the truth of how the Troubles were caused. However, they use, with gay abandon, the atrocities of the IRA, an organisation founded in the United Kingdom, to gaslight the Irish nation. That psychological phenomenon is known colloquially as begrudgery. “Internalised colonialism” is the academically precise term, but “cultural cringe” is easier to understand, as the belief that one’s own national culture is inferior to foreign ones.
EJ
