Local Elections
Introduction from Chronology
In local elections for county and rural district councils, Sinn Féin
(and nationalists) win control of all but four county councils (these four
are Armagh, Londonderry, Antrim and Down). Out of 206 rural district
councils, republicans were in the majority in 172.
More Detail
1. Examples
In Mayo, all 31 county councillors are Sinn Féin members. In Kildare, 28
of the 29 county councillors are either Sinn Féin or Labour.
2. Landslide
Quoting Laffen, Regan notes the “The election
resulted in a Sinn Féin landslide … In the provinces of Munster and Connaught
every single county council member was a member of Sinn Féin or the Labour
Party”. Subsequently, many local councils
vote to give allegiance to the Dáil.
3. Six Counties
Significantly, in the six counties
earmarked to become Northern Ireland in the British Government of Ireland Bill,
control of Fermanagh county council was retained by a
combination of 6 Sinn Féin and 5 Nationalist county councillors and control
of Tyrone county council was seized for the first time by a combination of the
same two parties. In addition, in the 55 rural district councils in
Ulster, 36 were controlled by Sinn Féin on its own or in alliance with the
Nationalists.
The London Daily News
commented “Without firing a shot the Republican forces have got control of all
the effective machinery of government in the entire area of the proposed
Southern Parliament and in a greater part of the area in the proposed Northern Parliament.”
The Belfast Newsletter described the
result as the most severe blow which the Unionists of the country had ever
sustained.
Phoenix comments that “Both sides of northern nationalism were jubilant
at what they regarded as irrefutable evidence of the unworkability of
partition."
Reviewing the various reasons put forward for the outbreak of rioting in
Derry City – see Jun-18 to 26- 20/1 – and in Belfast – see Jul-21 to 25-20/1 – Matthews comments
the likeliest “explanation for the sudden explosion of Unionist anger can be
found in the returns for the county councils and rural district councils in
June”.
4. Support for IRA Violence?
Quoting Hart, Regan notes that “[r]evolutionary casualties between
January and March … [1920] were three times those of the preceding three
months. They doubled and tripled again
over the next six months”. Regan goes on
to ask “Was in 1920 a vote for Sinn Féin and Labour tacit endorsement of
rapidly spreading republican violence too? Whatever the answer, both local elections
[in January and June 1920] must first be acknowledged before any assumption can
be made about the relationship between republican violence and the absence of
legitimacy”.