1977 North Down Borough Council election

Main article: Northern Ireland local elections, 1977

1977 North Down Borough Council election

18 May 1977 (1977-05-18)
All 20 seats to North Down Borough Council 11 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Party Alliance UUP Vanguard Seats won 7 7 2 Seat change 0 2 2   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Party Unionist Party NI DUP UUUP Seats won 1 1 1 Seat change 1 1 1   Seventh party Eighth party   Party Ind. Unionist Loyalist Seats won 1 0 Seat change 1 4

Elections to North Down Borough Council were held on 18 May 1977 on the same day as the other Northern Irish local government elections. The election used four district electoral areas to elect a total of 20 councillors.

Election results

North Down Borough Council Election Result 1977

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Alliance	7	0	0	0	35.0	38.5	7,364	9.0
	UUP	7	0	2	2	35.0	27.3	5,220	18.7
	Vanguard	2	2	0	2	10.0	7.2	1,373	New
	Unionist Party NI	1	1	0	1	5.0	9.2	1,761	New
	DUP	1	1	0	1	5.0	8.3	1,625	New
	UUUP	1	1	0	1	5.0	3.1	593	New
	Ind. Unionist	1	1	0	0	5.0	6.0	1,184	4.8

Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes.

Districts summary

Results of the North Down Borough Council election, 1977
by district

Ward	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	Total Cllrs
	Alliance		UUP		Vanguard		UPNI		DUP		UUUP		Others
Area A	37.2	2	17.1	1	0.0	0	20.3	1	10.8	0	0.0	0	14.6	1	5
Area B	27.8	1	33.5	2	18.0	1	0.0	0	13.1	1	0.0	0	7.6	0	5
Area C	44.0	2	26.8	2	12.2	1	8.2	0	8.9	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	5
Area D	46.0	2	35.0	2	0.0	0	5.0	0	0.0	0	14.0	1	0.0	0	5
Total	38.5	7	27.3	7	7.2	2	9.2	1	8.3	1	3.1	1	6.4	1	20

Districts results

Area A

1973: 3 x UUP, 2 x Alliance
1977: 2 x Alliance, 1 x UUP, 1 x UPNI, 1 x Independent Unionist
1973-1977 Change: UPNI and Independent Unionist gain from UUP (two seats)

North Down Area A - 5 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	Alliance	Bertie McConnell*	23.71%	1,372
	Unionist Party NI	William Bailie	20.38%	1,179
	Ind. Unionist	Edmund Mills*	14.45%	836	863	943.37	980.37
	Alliance	James Hamilton*	7.17%	415	667.9	703.81	711.78	729.06	1,074.06
	UUP	Thomas Barkley	8.14%	471	478.8	516.23	595.41	933.1	941.1
	DUP	Sammy Wilson	10.82%	626	628.7	636.11	645.11	663.53	666.53
	Alliance	Clifford Creighton	6.33%	366	472.2	492.53	494.21	502.35
	UUP	Hugh Irvine	4.84%	280	286.3	304.35	415.1
	UUP	Lillie Navan	4.17%	241	244.9	257.44
Electorate: 11,231   Valid: 5,786 (51.52%)   Spoilt: 121   Quota: 965   Turnout: 5,907 (52.60%)

Area B

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

North Down Area B - 5 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	Vanguard	George Green*	18.00%	823
	Alliance	James Magee*	17.08%	781
	UUP	Bruce Mulligan	10.89%	498	539	554.92	555.6	864.6
	DUP	James Boyle	4.58%	598	713	721.96	722.28	748.76
	UUP	John Shields	12.05%	551	594	610.16	610.78	742.68
	Alliance	John Hoy	10.69%	489	522	526.88	539.56	570.22
	UUP	Amy Corry*	10.61%	485	514	526.72	527.32
	Ind. Unionist	William Ash	4.02%	184
	Ind. Unionist	William Alexander	3.59%	164
Electorate: 12,454   Valid: 4,573 (36.73%)   Spoilt: 172   Quota: 763   Turnout: 4,745 (38.10%)

Area C

1973: 2 x Alliance, 2 x UUP, 1 x Loyalist
1977: 2 x Alliance, 2 x UUP, 1 x Vanguard
1973-1977 Change: Loyalist joins Vanguard

North Down Area C - 5 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	UUP	Hazel Bradford	14.05%	635	717	793
	Alliance	William Morrow	15.95%	721	725	791
	Vanguard	Mary O'Fee*	12.17%	550	565	624	630.6	797.6
	Alliance	Thomas Rollins	14.09%	637	643	701	707.6	710.6	711.04	732.16
	UUP	Maisie McMullan	7.19%	325	439	496	519.1	662.1	703.9	709.02
	Alliance	Jane Copeland	13.96%	631	635	674	676.2	680.2	681.52	691.76
	DUP	Alan Graham	8.87%	401	413	423	423
	Unionist Party NI	Frank Gill	8.16%	369	376
	UUP	Archibald Pollock	5.55%	251
Electorate: 9,940   Valid: 4,520 (45.47%)   Spoilt: 77   Quota: 754   Turnout: 4,597 (46.25%)

Area D

1973: 2 x UUP, 2 x Alliance, 1 x Loyalist
1977: 2 x UUP, 2 x Alliance, 1 x UUUP
1973-1977 Change: UUUP gain from Loyalist

North Down Area D - 5 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	UUP	John Auld*	24.57%	1,042
	Alliance	Keith Jones*	21.72%	921
	Alliance	Kenneth Kennedy	12.24%	519	557.4	706.67	769.67
	UUP	Thomas Bussell	5.99%	254	456.24	458.08	724.08
	UUUP	Frederick White	13.98%	593	615.08	615.54	662.25	669.25	678.71
	Alliance	Susan O'Brien	12.07%	512	524.16	577.06	613.34	654.34	661.82
	Unionist Party NI	Robert Todd	5.02%	213	227.4	230.16
	UUP	Henry Clouston	4.41%	187	226.04	227.65
Electorate: 9,242   Valid: 4,241 (45.89%)   Spoilt: 157   Quota: 707   Turnout: 4,398 (47.59%)