 Derry City lies near the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland . It has a majority nationalist population , and nationalists won a majority of seats in the 1920 local elections . Despite this , the Ulster Unionist Party controlled the local council , <unk> Corporation , from 1923 onwards . The <unk> maintained their majority , firstly , by manipulating the constituency boundaries ( <unk> ) so that the South Ward , with a nationalist majority , returned eight councillors while the much smaller North Ward and <unk> Ward , with unionist <unk> , returned twelve councillors between them ; <unk> , by allowing only <unk> to vote in local elections , rather than one man , one vote , so that a higher number of nationalists , who did not own homes , were disenfranchised ; and <unk> , by denying houses to nationalists outside the South Ward constituency . The result was that there were about 2 @,@ 000 nationalist families , and practically no unionists , on the housing waiting list , and that housing in the nationalist area was crowded and of a very poor condition . The South Ward comprised the <unk> , <unk> , <unk> , Bishop Street and Foyle Road , and it was this area that would become Free Derry . 
