1981 North Down Borough Council election

Main article: Northern Ireland local elections, 1981

1981 North Down Borough Council election

20 May 1981 (1981-05-20)
All 20 seats to North Down Borough Council 11 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Party Alliance DUP UUP Seats won 6 5 4 Seat change 1 4 3   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Party UPUP Unionist Party NI Ind. Unionist Seats won 3 1 1 Seat change 3 0 0   Seventh party Eighth party   Party Vanguard UUUP Seats won 0 0 Seat change 2 1

Elections to North Down Borough Council were held on 20 May 1981 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 1981

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Alliance	6	0	1	1	30.0	25.2	6,132	13.3
	DUP	5	4	0	4	25.0	23.7	5,766	15.4
	UUP	4	0	3	3	20.0	22.6	5,477	4.7
	UPUP	3	3	0	3	15.0	17.6	4,272	New
	Ind. Unionist	1	0	0	0	5.0	6.1	1,477	1.7
	Unionist Party NI	1	0	0	0	5.0	3.8	892	5.4
	PUP	0	0	0	0	0.0	1.1	270	New

Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes.

Districts summary

Results of the North Down Borough Council election, 1981
by district

Ward	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	Total Cllrs
	Alliance		DUP		UUP		UPUP		UPNI		Others
Area A	26.4	1	19.3	1	18.7	1	7.6	0	10.3	1	17.7	1	5
Area B	15.0	1	36.7	2	11.3	0	29.1	2	0.0	0	7.9	0	5
Area C	31.7	2	21.3	1	23.8	1	23.2	1	0.0	0	0.0	0	5
Area D	30.1	2	15.3	1	41.1	2	9.9	0	3.5	0	0.0	0	5
Total	25.2	6	23.7	5	22.6	4	17.6	3	3.8	1	7.1	1	20

Districts results

Area A

1977: 2 x Alliance, 1 x UUP, 1 x UPNI, 1 x Independent Unionist
1981: 1 x Alliance, 1 x UUP, 1 x UPNI, 1 x DUP, 1 x Independent Unionist
1977-1981 Change: DUP gain from Alliance

North Down Area A - 5 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
	Ind. Unionist	Edmund Mills*	17.64%	1,216
	DUP	Raymond Trousdale	10.74%	740	742	744.8	752.9	753.9	794.55	1,356.55
	UUP	Bruce Mulligan*	10.05%	693	696	701.1	715.35	720.4	784.45	826.3	900.78	1,391.78
	Unionist Party NI	William Bailie*	9.50%	655	680	691.2	700.55	707.65	796.95	812.35	860.51	1,036.64	1,218.14
	Alliance	Donald Hayes	11.78%	812	821	825.95	834.05	984.35	1,023.6	1,024.65	1,034.17	1,053.48	1,092.48
	Alliance	Jane Copeland	10.30%	710	713	716.15	726.2	856.5	880	888.05	893.65	910.32	932.07
	UUP	George Allport	8.78%	605	609	618.25	631.6	632.75	703.75	728.75	798.19
	DUP	Elizabeth Loan	8.59%	592	592	594.6	612.75	612.85	672.45
	UPUP	Valerie Kinghan	4.05%	279	284	288.3	448.2	450.25
	Alliance	Julian Hamilton	4.32%	298	300	301.1	302.1
	UPUP	Margaret McGimpsey	3.58%	247	250	253.4
	Unionist Party NI	Dorothy Smith	0.81%	56
Electorate: 12,648   Valid: 6,893 (54.50%)   Spoilt: 176   Quota: 1,149   Turnout: 7,067 (55.87%)

Area B

1977: 2 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Vanguard
1981: 2 x DUP, 2 x UPUP, 1 x Alliance
1977-1981 Change: UPUP (two seats) and DUP gain from UUP (two seats) and Vanguard

North Down Area B - 5 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
	UPUP	George Green*	17.95%	1,200
	DUP	Wesley Graham	14.54%	972	975	978.99	986.41	1,005.11	1,026.18	1,029.18	1,052.6	1,082.74	1,406.79
	DUP	John McCormick	12.28%	821	823	828.18	835.39	857.02	893.23	895.37	909.07	927.49	1,273.82
	Alliance	James Magee*	10.96%	733	733	737.76	739.32	761.51	766.51	1,006.58	1,031.91	1,060.17	1,064.31	1,075.31	1,090.78
	UPUP	Cecil Braniff	4.58%	306	313	324.03	473.79	488.93	561.54	566.68	749.1	782.57	805.92	891.92	980.19
	UUP	Chalmers Quee	5.77%	386	387	393.72	397.42	443.26	455.47	463.89	495.15	771.25	792.67	851.67	906.27
	DUP	George McMurtry	9.91%	663	667	669.8	674.35	693.71	719.78	721.92	734.34	746.69
	UUP	Phyllis Brown	5.53%	370	373	376.92	388.69	417.25	429.39	441.46	454.65
	UPUP	William Elliott	3.50%	234	236	251.19	273.93	305.42	319.63	325.63
	Alliance	Anne Wilson	4.01%	268	268	268.7	269.84	286.26	288.26
	PUP	Thomas O'Brien	4.04%	270	272	273.4	276.54	285.75
	Ind. Unionist	John Shields*	3.48%	233	235	241.44	246.28
	UPUP	James Boyle*	3.04%	203	205	224.39
	Ind. Unionist	William Johnston	0.42%	28
Electorate: 14,099   Valid: 6,687 (47.43%)   Spoilt: 201   Quota: 1,115   Turnout: 6,888 (48.85%)

Area C

1977: 2 x Alliance, 2 x UUP, 1 x Vanguard
1981: 2 x Alliance, 1 x UUP, 1 x UPUP, 1 x DUP
1977-1981 Change: UPUP and DUP gain from UUP and Vanguard

North Down Area C - 5 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	UPUP	Mary O'Fee*	18.28%	1,021
	Alliance	William Morrow*	17.17%	959
	DUP	Alan Graham	16.24%	929	932.92
	UUP	Hazel Bradford*	16.24%	907	916.36	976.84
	Alliance	Brian Wilson	7.95%	444	447.6	454.68	464.68	459.94	460.02	776.08	834.24
	UUP	Terence McKeag	7.56%	422	428.55	471.72	512.72	513.32	514.16	551.04	765.48
	UPUP	Maisie McMullan*	4.89%	273	324.44	390	392	392.62	393.38	415.78
	Alliance	Thomas Rollins*	6.57%	367	370.84	378.84	378.84	391.18	391.18
	DUP	George McKinnie	4.71%	263	264.75
Electorate: 10,215   Valid: 5,585 (54.67%)   Spoilt: 135   Quota: 931   Turnout: 5,720 (56.00%)

Area D

1977: 2 x UUP, 2 x Alliance, 1 x UUUP
1981: 2 x UUP, 2 x Alliance, 1 x DUP
1977-1981 Change: DUP gain from UUUP

North Down Area D - 5 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
	UUP	Ellie McKay	21.01%	1,076
	UUP	John Auld*	15.68%	803	887.84
	DUP	Gordon Dunne	9.94%	509	524.54	534.96	542.59	804.16	882.16
	Alliance	Susan O'Brien	14.20%	727	738.97	741.39	751.81	752.23	764.38	767.89	769.13	841.13
	Alliance	Michael Clarke	8.26%	423	426.15	429.36	439.2	440.2	457.77	470.11	470.11	799.11
	UPUP	Frederick White*	7.30%	374	389.75	497.43	552.48	566.11	667.53	686.9	710.46	722.46
	Alliance	Irene Cave	7.64%	391	396.46	398.46	418.3	419.3	449.29	455.66	458.76
	UUP	Thomas Bussell*	4.39%	225	288.42	293.68	358.2	369.3
	DUP	Edith Cole	5.41%	277	283.72	287.93	297.35
	Unionist Party NI	Trevor Boyd	3.53%	181	187.51	191.93
	UPUP	Eric Griffith	2.64%	135	139.83
Electorate: 9,205   Valid: 5,121 (55.63%)   Spoilt: 125   Quota: 854   Turnout: 5,246 (56.99%)