The election followed changes by the Unionist government, which had redrawn electoral districts, abolished PR for local elections, and implemented a requirement for members of local authorities to take an oath of allegiance.

[1] These changes are now widely considered by historians as gerrymandering intended to manipulate the election outcome in favour of the Ulster Unionists.

Northern Ireland's county and district councils had last been elected in the all-Ireland 1920 Irish local elections using the single transferable vote (STV) voting system, which had been introduced in the hopes of preventing Sinn Féin from winning the same kind of landslide that the FPTP ward system had allowed it in the 1918 general election.

In contrast, Nationalists favoured the retention of a proportional representation based system as a safeguard for minorities.

[1] Overall the results saw large defeats for Nationalists, Sinn Féin, and Labour candidates.