The 1997 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland was held on 1 May with 18 MPs elected in single-seat constituencies using first-past-the-post as part of the wider general election in the United Kingdom. This was an increase of one seat in Northern Ireland, where the House of Commons as a whole had increased from 650 to 659 seats. 1,177,969 people were eligible to vote, up 53,069 from the 1992 general election. 67.39% of eligible voters turned out, down 2.6 percentage points from the last general election.