1977 Magherafelt District Council election

Main article: Northern Ireland local elections, 1977

1977 Magherafelt District Council election

18 May 1977 (1977-05-18)
All 15 seats to Magherafelt District Council 8 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Party SDLP UUP DUP Seats won 5 4 3 Seat change 1 1 3   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Party Republican Clubs UUUP Ind. Nationalist Seats won 1 1 1 Seat change 0 1 0   Seventh party Eighth party   Party Vanguard United Loyalist Seats won 0 0 Seat change 1 1

Elections to Magherafelt District 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

Magherafelt District Council Election Result 1977

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	SDLP	5	0	1	1	33.3	35.1	5,451	2.9
	UUP	4	1	2	1	26.7	20.1	3,127	9.0
	DUP	3	3	0	3	20.0	18.7	2,897	New
	Republican Clubs	1	0	0	0	0.0	8.5	1,323	0.6
	UUUP	1	1	0	1	6.7	6.3	972	New
	Ind. Nationalist	1	0	0	0	6.7	4.4	685	0.8
	Alliance	0	0	0	0	0.0	4.7	727	0.1
	Unionist Party NI	0	0	0	0	0.0	1.2	181	New
	Vanguard	0	0	0	0	0.0	1.1	165	5.2

Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes.

Districts summary

Results of the Magherafelt District Council election, 1977
by district

Ward	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	Total Cllrs
	SDLP		UUP		DUP		RC		UUUP		Others
Area A	47.8	2	26.2	2	10.0	0	17.0	1	0.0	0	0.0	0	5
Area B	21.5	1	24.5	2	14.8	1	9.1	0	10.1	1	20.0	1	5
Area C	36.5	2	10.2	1	31.4	2	0.0	0	8.4	0	13.5	0	5
Total	35.1	5	20.1	4	18.7	3	8.5	1	6.3	1	11.3	1	15

Districts results

Area A

1973: 3 x SDLP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Republican Clubs
1977: 2 x SDLP, 2 x UUP, 1 x Republican Clubs
1973-1977 Change: UUP gain from SDLP

Magherafelt Area A - 5 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	SDLP	Philip Bradley*	24.87%	1,243
	Republican Clubs	Francis Donnelly*	11.20%	560	619.4	682.76	844.92
	UUP	Francis Thompson	13.07%	653	653	654	654	654	927
	SDLP	Patrick Sweeney*	13.81%	690	789	806.08	830.32	832.48	832.48
	UUP	John Henning	13.13%	656	656.72	656.72	656.72	657.08	827.24
	SDLP	Francis McKendry	9.10%	455	674.24	676.24	689.92	692.44	693.52
	DUP	Phyllis Charlton	8.98%	449	455.12	455.12	455.12	455.12
	Republican Clubs	Kevin Murphy	3.86%	193	213.52	225.88
	Republican Clubs	Peter Merron	1.98%	99	100.8
Electorate: 6,853   Valid: 4,998 (72.93%)   Spoilt: 285   Quota: 834   Turnout: 5,283 (77.09%)

Area B

1973: 2 x UUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x Vanguard, 1 x Independent Nationalist
1977: 1 x UUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x DUP, 1 x UUUP, 1 x Independent Nationalist
1973-1977 Change: DUP and UUUP gain from UUP and Vanguard

Magherafelt Area B - 5 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
	DUP	Matthew Hyndman	14.81%	768	809	812	812	812	960
	Ind. Nationalist	Vincent O'Neill*	13.21%	685	685	698	712	753	753	753	912
	UUP	Thomas Kelso*	11.27%	584	647	667	667	667	713	726	727	986
	UUUP	Robert Overend	10.13%	525	545	597	597	597	686	760.75	761.75	914.75
	SDLP	Patrick Scullion*	9.82%	509	509	530	568	602	602	602	651	654	658	661	685.96
	SDLP	John Madden	7.29%	378	379	388	405	566	566	566	626	630	637	639	660.32
	UUP	Robert Shiels	7.35%	381	393	414	414	414	451	456.85	461.85
	Republican Clubs	Murty Dorrity	5.42%	281	283	289	397	402	402	402
	UUP	David Porte	5.90%	306	321	326	328	328
	SDLP	Frank McWilliams	4.38%	227	227	234	243
	Republican Clubs	Michael Scullion	3.67%	190	190	198
	Alliance	Thomas Smyth	3.57%	185	190
	Vanguard	Ian Davidson*	3.18%	165
Electorate: 6,757   Valid: 5,184 (76.72%)   Spoilt: 192   Quota: 865   Turnout: 5,376 (79.56%)

Area C

1973: 2 x SDLP, 2 x UUP, 1 x United Loyalist
1977: 2 x SDLP, 2 x DUP, 1 x UUP
1973-1977 Change: DUP gain from UUP, United Loyalist joins DUP

Magherafelt Area C - 5 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	DUP	William McCrea*	24.73%	1,322
	SDLP	Michael O'Neill*	14.65%	783	783	791	791	793	1,012
	SDLP	William Conaghan	15.23%	814	814.32	819.32	820.32	820.32	920.32
	DUP	George Miller	6.70%	358	665.2	665.54	682.84	772.04	772.04	772.04	980.04
	UUP	Thomas Bradley*	10.23%	547	575.8	578.8	657.12	686.88	686.88	689.88	839.36
	Alliance	Wilfred Brennan	8.75%	468	474.08	519.4	551.4	555.04	570.04	670.04	697.88
	UUUP	Robert Ditty	4.86%	260	294.88	294.88	333.84	434.92	435.92	435.92
	SDLP	Joseph Walls	6.58%	352	352	358	358	362
	UUUP	Ruby Speer	3.50%	187	227.96	227.96	234.28
	Unionist Party NI	William Galway*	3.39%	181	182.92	182.92
	Alliance	George Logue	1.38%	74	74.64
Electorate: 7,307   Valid: 5,346 (73.16%)   Spoilt: 272   Quota: 892   Turnout: 5,618 (76.89%)