1977 Larne Borough Council election

Main article: Northern Ireland local elections, 1977

1977 Larne Borough Council election

18 May 1977 (1977-05-18)
All 15 seats to Larne Borough Council 8 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Party Alliance Vanguard DUP Seats won 4 3 3 Seat change 1 3 3   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Party UUP Independent SDLP Seats won 2 2 1 Seat change 1 1   Seventh party Eighth party   Party Loyalist Ind. Unionist Seats won 0 0 Seat change 8 1

Elections to Larne Borough Council were held on 18 May 1977 on the same day as the other Northern Irish local government elections. The election used three district electoral areas to elect a total of 15 councillors.

Election results

Larne Borough Council Election Result 1977

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Alliance	4	1	0	1	26.7	25.8	1,965	0.3
	Vanguard	3	3	0	3	20.0	27.2	2,067	New
	DUP	3	3	0	3	20.0	24.9	1,898	New
	Independent	2	1	1		13.3	11.1	844	1.7
	UUP	2	1	0	1	13.3	6.8	515	2.0
	SDLP	1	1	0	1	6.7	0.0	0	4.1
	British Ulster Dominion Party	0	0	0		0.0	2.3	178	New
	UUUP	0	0	0		0.0	1.9	146	New

Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes.

Districts summary

Results of the Larne Borough Council election, 1977
by district

Ward	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	Total Cllrs
	Alliance		Vanguard		DUP		UUP		Others
Area A	N/A	1	N/A	0	N/A	1	N/A	1	N/A	1	4
Area B	21.5	1	23.3	1	36.9	1	18.3	1	0.0	0	4
Area C	27.7	2	28.8	2	19.7	1	1.7	0	22.1	2	7
Total	25.8	4	27.2	3	24.9	3	6.8	2	15.3	3	15

Districts results

Area A

1973: 1 x Alliance, 1 x UUP, 1 x Loyalist, 1 x Independent
1977: 1 x Alliance, 1 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x SDLP
1973-1977 Change: SDLP gain from Independent, Loyalist joins DUP

Larne Area A - 4 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1
	DUP	Samuel Martin*	N/A	N/A
	UUP	Thomas Robinson	N/A	N/A
	Alliance	Hugh Wilson*	N/A	N/A
	SDLP	John Turnley	N/A	N/A
Electorate: N/A   Valid: N/A   Spoilt: N/A   Quota: N/A   Turnout: N/A

• As only four candidates had been nominated for four seats, there was no vote in Area A and all four candidates were deemed elected.

Area B

1973: 3 x Loyalist, 1 x Independent Unionist
1977: 1 x DUP, 1 x Vanguard, 1 x Alliance, 1 x UUP
1973-1977 Change: Vanguard and Alliance gain from Loyalist (two seats), Loyalist joins DUP and Independent Unionist joins UUP

Larne Area B - 4 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3
	DUP	Roy Beggs*	29.20%	675
	Alliance	William Calwell	21.54%	498
	UUP	Alexander Hunter*	18.30%	423	457.88	517.88
	Vanguard	Laurence Niblock	13.02%	301	309.64	464.64
	DUP	Horace Stronge	7.66%	177	321	336
	Vanguard	Robert Semple*	10.29%	238	261.04
Electorate: 4,705   Valid: 2,312 (49.14%)   Spoilt: 103   Quota: 463   Turnout: 2,415 (51.33%)

Area C

1973: 4 x Loyalist, 2 x Alliance, 1 x Independent
1977: 2 x Alliance, 2 x Vanguard, 2 x Independent, 1 x DUP
1973-1977 Change: Independent gain from Loyalist, Loyalist (three seats) join Vanguard (two seats) and DUP

Larne Area C - 7 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11
	Vanguard	Thomas Seymour*	24.01%	1,273
	Alliance	William Kelly*	17.34%	919
	DUP	Jack McKee*	11.94%	633	645	645.84	650.84	679.84
	Alliance	Thomas Benson*	6.83%	362	419.6	564.36	572.8	575.28	575.28	577.76	579.04	735.04
	Independent	Kathleen O'Brien	9.32%	494	550.64	561.56	580.84	610.68	611.35	626.83	636.87	675.03
	Vanguard	Rosalie Armstrong*	3.24%	172	361.6	363	381.44	408.68	410.69	424.61	578.93	610.89	626.53	629.05
	Independent	Agnew Hamilton	6.60%	350	439.76	449.84	461.96	484.24	485.58	495.06	510.46	563.26	618.34	623.94
	DUP	Winston Fulton	7.79%	413	419.24	420.08	424.56	447.04	458.43	588.77	605.25	609.01	609.69	610.25
	Alliance	John Snoddy	3.51%	186	236.4	313.4	319.4	327.12	327.12	381.92	339.12
	Vanguard	Frederick Dodds	1.57%	83	183.8	186.04	194.96	213.88	213.88	220.88
	Dominion Party	James Wisely	3.36%	178	183.28	184.68	189.16	199.64	200.98
	UUUP	Thomas McKeever*	2.75%	146	168.08	168.64	182.68
	UUP	Alexander Marrs	1.74%	92	104.96	106.92
Electorate: 10,203   Valid: 5,301 (51.96%)   Spoilt: 145   Quota: 663   Turnout: 5,446 (53.38%)