1997 Ards Borough Council election

Main article: Northern Ireland local elections, 1997

1997 Ards Borough Council election

21 May 1997 (1997-05-21)
All 23 seats to Ards Borough Council 12 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Party UUP DUP Alliance Seats won 10 5 5 Seat change 1 1 1   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Party SDLP Ind. Unionist Independent Seats won 1 2 0 Seat change 1 1 1

Elections to Ards Borough Council were held on 21 May 1997 on the same day as the other Northern Irish local government elections. The election used four district electoral areas to elect a total of 23 councillors.

Election results

Ards Borough Council Election Result 1997

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	UUP	10	1	0	1	43.5	39.6	7,754	4.9
	DUP	5	1	2	1	21.7	22.6	4,431	5.7
	Alliance	5	0	1	1	21.7	21.1	4,138	2.3
	Ind. Unionist	2	1	0	1	8.7	6.3	1,240	0.4
	SDLP	1	1	0	1	4.3	3.9	901	New
	Independent	0	0	1	1	0.0	1.6	337	1.8
	PUP	0	0	0	0	0.0	2.3	441	2.3
	UK Unionist	0	0	0	0	0.0	1.4	269	New
	Ulster Democratic	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.3	55	New
	Green (NI)	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.2	33	New

Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes.

Districts summary

Results of the Ards Borough Council election, 1997
by district

Ward	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	Total Cllrs
	UUP		DUP		Alliance		SDLP		Others
Ards East	52.1	4	23.0	1	15.3	1	0.0	0	9.6	0	6
Ards West	56.1	3	18.8	1	25.1	2	0.0	0	0.0	0	6
Newtownards	26.6	2	18.6	1	15.4	1	0.0	0	39.4	2	6
Peninsula	22.6	1	29.7	2	28.8	1	18.2	1	0.7	0	5
Total	39.6	10	22.6	5	21.1	5	4.6	1	12.1	0	23

Districts results

Ards East

1993: 3 x UUP, 2 x DUP, 1 x Alliance
1997: 4 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Alliance
1993-1997 Change: UUP gain from DUP

Ards East - 6 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	UUP	Thomas Benson*	17.40%	882
	UUP	Ronald Ferguson*	13.33%	676	762.4
	DUP	Hamilton Gregory	12.25%	621	628.2	629.53	656.71	811.71
	UUP	John Shields*	11.95%	606	618.24	622.44	656.62	668.05	668.64	752.64
	Alliance	Linda Cleland	8.24%	418	422.32	422.53	437.71	441.71	442.89	462.07	792.07
	UUP	Jeffrey Magill*	9.47%	480	508.98	533.69	582.23	616.56	621.87	680.76	694.05
	DUP	St Clair McAlister*	5.82%	295	299.32	299.95	309.95	369.2	447.67	509.28	518.64
	Alliance	Laurence Thompson*	6.94%	352	355.06	355.48	363.48	363.48	363.48	378.66
	UK Unionist	Thomas Sheridan	5.31%	269	271.16	271.93	283.93	287.93	287.93
	DUP	Hamilton Lawther	4.95%	251	254.96	255.87	274.87
	PUP	Georgina McCrory	4.34%	220	221.26	221.33
Electorate: 14,904   Valid: 5,070 (34.02%)   Spoilt: 114   Quota: 725   Turnout: 5,184 (34.78%)

Ards West

1993: 3 x UUP, 2 x Alliance, 1 x DUP
1997: 3 x UUP, 2 x Alliance, 1 x DUP
1993-1997 Change: No change

Ards West - 6 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	UUP	Robert Gibson*	22.59%	1,103
	UUP	David McNarry	21.83%	1,066
	Alliance	Kathleen Coulter*	15.18%	741
	UUP	Margaret Craig*	11.71%	572	871.52
	DUP	David Gilmore	13.00%	635	683.75	877.19
	Alliance	Jim McBriar*	9.85%	481	511.03	595.27	599.43	654.81	693.81
	DUP	Lorraine Gilmore	5.84%	285	311.13	398.49	552.93	649.26	650.58
Electorate: 12,917   Valid: 4,883 (37.80%)   Spoilt: 70   Quota: 698   Turnout: 4,953 (38.34%)

Newtownards

1993: 2 x UUP, 2 x DUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Independent Unionist
1997: 2 x DUP, 2 x Independent Unionist, 1 x DUP, 1 x Alliance
1993-1997 Change: Independent Unionist gain from DUP

Newtownards - 6 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
	Ind. Unionist	Wilbert Magill*	19.41%	914
	Alliance	Alan McDowell*	15.37%	724
	UUP	David Smyth*	14.65%	690
	DUP	George Ennis*	10.89%	653	692.44
	UUP	Thomas Hamilton*	12.00%	565	628.22	635.8	651.6	656.36	666.68	728.68
	Ind. Unionist	Bobby McBride	6.92%	326	377.33	382.33	388.83	391.38	391.78	426.07	507.6	534.6
	Ind. Unionist	Nancy Orr*	7.15%	337	393.26	407.42	430.62	433.68	434.68	461.61	503.67	510.67
	DUP	John Purdy	4.78%	225	238.63	245.08	246.28	253.76	254.62	305.39
	PUP	Alfred McCrory	4.69%	221	231.15	245.15	249.45	250.47	250.73
	Ulster Democratic	Billy McKeown	1.17%	55	59.93
Electorate: 12,942   Valid: 4,710 (36.39%)   Spoilt: 120   Quota: 673   Turnout: 4,830 (37.32%)

Peninsula

1993: 2 x Alliance, 1 x DUP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Independent
1997: 2 x DUP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x SDLP
1997-2001 Change: DUP and SDLP gain from Alliance and Independent

Peninsula - 5 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	UUP	Paul Carson	22.57%	1,114
	Alliance	Kieran McCarthy*	21.21%	1,047
	DUP	Jim Shannon*	20.12%	993
	DUP	Robert Drysdale	10.25%	473	687.21	696.01	849.01
	SDLP	Daniel McCarthy	15.60%	770	777.44	808.9	810.52	930.52
	Alliance	William Sheldon*	3.12%	154	202.98	315.62	325.16	346.72
	Alliance	John Smyth	4.48%	221	227.82	279.3	281.82	296.02
	SDLP	Iain Bell	2.65%	131	131	141.12	141.48
	Green (NI)	Owen Crawford	0.67%	33	40.75	44.49	45.75
Electorate: 11,165   Valid: 4,936 (44.21%)   Spoilt: 101   Quota: 824   Turnout: 5,037 (45.11%)