1981 Ballymoney Borough Council election
← 1977 20 May 1981 (1981-05-20) 1985 →
All 16 seats to Ballymoney Borough Council
9 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party Third party
 
Party DUP Ulster Unionist Independent
Seats won 7 3 3
Seat change Increase 4 Decrease 2 Steady 0
  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
Party SDLP Alliance Ind. Unionist
Seats won 2 1 0
Seat change Decrease 1 Steady 0 Decrease 1

Elections to Ballymoney Borough Council were held on 20 May 1981 on the same day as the other Northern Irish local government elections. The election used three district electoral areas to elect a total of 16 councillors.

Election results

Ballymoney Borough Council Election Result 1981[1]
Party Seats Gains Losses Net gain/loss Seats % Votes % Votes +/−
  DUP 7 4 0 Increase4 43.8 40.3 4,310 Increase21.1
  Ulster Unionist 3 0 2 Decrease2 18.8 24.0 2,563 Decrease5.4
  Independent 3 0 0 Steady0 18.8 17.8 1,899 Decrease7.0
  SDLP 2 0 1 Decrease1 12.5 9.9 1,054 Decrease5.2
  Alliance 1 1 1 Steady0 6.3 8.1 868 Decrease0.2

Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes.

Districts summary

Results of the Ballymoney Borough Council election, 1981
by district[1]
Ward %
Cllrs
 %
Cllrs
 %
 Cllrs
 %
 Cllrs
 %
 Cllrs
 Total
Cllrs
DUP UUP SDLP Alliance Others
Area A 53.8 2 27.2 1 0.0 0 19.0 1 0.0 0 4
Area B 31.6 3 30.3 2 21.3 2 0.0 0 16.8 1 8
Area C 42.3 2 10.8 0 11.6 0 0.0 0 35.3 2 4
Total 40.3 7 24.0 3 9.9 2 8.1 1 17.7 3 16

Districts results

Area A

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

Ballymoney Area A - 4 seats[2]
Party Candidate FPv% Count
1 2 3
DUP Robert Halliday* 21.17% 575    
Ulster Unionist Kenneth Bamford* 14.87% 404 666  
Alliance Hugh McFarland 19.00% 516 525 567
DUP James Patterson 17.82% 484 512 544
DUP Robert Wilson 14.84% 403 423 441
Ulster Unionist Adam Taylor* 6.92% 188    
DUP Olive Craig 5.38% 146    
Electorate: 3,877   Valid: 2,716 (70.05%)   Spoilt: 41   Quota: 544   Turnout: 2,757 (71.11%)  

Area B

1977: 3 x UUP, 3 x SDLP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Independent
1981: 3 x DUP, 2 x UUP, 2 x SDLP, 1 x Independent
1977-1981 Change: DUP (two seats) gain from UUP and SDLP

Ballymoney Area B - 8 seats[2]
Party Candidate FPv% Count
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
DUP Charles Steele* 16.01% 791                  
Independent Hugh Boyle* 12.45% 615                  
Ulster Unionist Joe Gaston* 12.06% 596                  
SDLP Harry Connolly* 6.78% 335 335 345.67 350.19 485.17 485.17 495.17 784.17    
SDLP Edward McClements 7.10% 351 351.62 376.59 477.94 502.04 502.11 506.11 529.17 735.17  
DUP William Gracey 9.59% 474 511.2 511.42 511.42 511.42 512.75 529.41 531.41 531.41 532.41
Ulster Unionist William Logan* 7.33% 362 382.77 384.75 384.86 386.3 413.18 501.02 502.55 503.55 516.55
DUP Bertie McIlhatton 6.03% 298 457.34 457.56 457.56 457.56 460.64 483.12 485.43 485.43 487.43
Ulster Unionist Patricia Ellis* 5.63% 278 284.2 285.08 285.08 285.19 290.44 399.22 399.33 400.33 411.33
SDLP John Mulholland* 5.48% 271 271.93 276.88 279.31 325.18 325.18 326.6      
Ulster Unionist Samuel Barlett 5.28% 261 274.33 275.32 275.32 276.43 281.05        
Independent Margaret Donnelly 4.29% 212 212 217.94 218.16            
SDLP Malachy McCamphill 1.96% 97 97.31 109.85              
Electorate: 6,904   Valid: 4,941 (71.57%)   Spoilt: 122   Quota: 550   Turnout: 5,063 (73.33%)  

Area C

1977: 2 x Independent, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Independent Unionist
1981: 2 x DUP, 2 x Independent
1977-1981 Change: DUP (two seats) gain from Alliance and Independent Unionist

Ballymoney Area C - 5 seats[2]
Party Candidate FPv% Count
1 2 3 4 5
DUP Cecil Cousley 24.60% 747        
DUP Ralph Stronge 17.71% 538 540 648.54    
Independent Mary Holmes* 18.67% 567 589 600.52 753.52  
Independent Robert McComb* 11.62% 353 379 386.56 511.98 617.98
Alliance Brendan Smyth* 11.59% 352 435 435.36 462.54 476.54
Ulster Unionist James Simpson 10.80% 328 337 342.04    
Independent Thomas McKenna 5.00% 152        
Electorate: 4,923   Valid: 3,037 (61.69%)   Spoilt: 65   Quota: 608   Turnout: 3,102 (63.01%)  

References

  1. ^ a b "Local Government Elections 1973-1981: Ballymoney". www.ark.ac.uk.
  2. ^ a b c "Local Government Results 1981". EONI. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
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