Government of Ireland Act 1920

14 Constitution of the Parliaments

(1) The House of Commons of Southern Ireland shall consist of one hundred and twenty-eight members returned by the constituencies in Ireland named in Part I. of the Fifth Schedule to this Act, and the number of members to be returned by each such constituency shall be the number mentioned in the second column of that Part.

(2) The House of Commons of Northern Ireland shall consist of fifty-two members returned by the constituencies in Ireland named in Part II. of the Fifth Schedule to this Act, and the number of members to be returned by each such constituency shall be the number mentioned in the second column of that Part.

(3) The members shall be elected by the same electors and in the same manner as members returned by constituencies in Ireland to serve in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, except that at any contested election of the full number of members the election shall be according to the principle of proportional representation, each elector having one transferable vote, as defined by the [7 & 8 Geo. 5. c. 64.] Representation of the People Act, 1918, and His Majesty in Council shall have the same power of making regulations in respect thereto as he has under subsection (3) of section twenty of that Act, and that subsection shall apply accordingly.

(4) The House of Commons of Southern Ireland and the House of Commons of Northern Ireland when summoned shall, unless sooner dissolved, have continuance for five years from the day on which the summons directs the House to meet and no longer.

(5) After three years from the day of the first meeting of the Parliament of Southern Ireland or Northern Ireland, that Parliament may alter the qualification and registration of the electors, the law relating to elections and the questioning of elections, the constituencies, and the distribution of the members among the constituencies, provided that in any new distribution the number of the members shall not be altered, and due regard shall be had to the population of the constituencies other than University constituencies.