1981 Ballymena Borough Council election

Main article: Northern Ireland local elections, 1981

1981 Ballymena Borough Council election

20 May 1981 (1981-05-20)
All 21 seats to Ballymena Borough Council 11 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Party DUP UUP Independent Seats won 13 5 2 Seat change 2 1 0   Fourth party Fifth party   Party Ind. Unionist Alliance Seats won 1 0 Seat change 2 1

Elections to Ballymena 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 21 councillors.

Election results

Ballymena Borough Council Election Result 1981

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	DUP	13	2	0	2	61.9	55.5	12,739	15.4
	UUP	5	1	0	1	28.6	30.0	6,886	10.5
	Independent	2	0	0	0	9.5	10.6	2,438	3.1
	Ind. Unionist	1	0	2	2	4.8	3.4	790	18.0
	UUUP	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.5	108	New

Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes.

Districts summary

Results of the Ballymena Borough Council election, 1981
by district

Ward	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	Total Cllrs
	DUP		UUP		Others
Area A	42.8	2	37.8	1	19.4	1	4
Area B	68.0	4	32.0	2	0.0	0	6
Area C	66.6	4	31.5	1	1.9	0	5
Area D	41.9	3	21.7	1	36.4	2	6
Total	55.5	13	30.0	5	14.5	3	21

Districts results

Area A

1977: 2 x DUP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Independent
1981: 2 x DUP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Independent
1977-1981 Change: No change

Ballymena Area A - 4 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4
	UUP	Desmond Armstrong	22.71%	964
	DUP	John Armstrong	19.39%	823	945
	DUP	Samuel Hanna	13.74%	583	842	852.32
	Independent	James Woulahan*	19.42%	824	826	826.48	827.48
	UUP	James McKay	15.08%	640	656	754.52	798.52
	DUP	James Millar*	9.66%	410
Electorate: 5,861   Valid: 4,244 (72.41%)   Spoilt: 121   Quota: 549   Turnout: 4,365 (74.48%)

Area B

1977: 4 x DUP, 2 x UUP
1981: 4 x DUP, 2 x UUP
1977-1981 Change: No change

Ballymena Area B - 6 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
	DUP	Roy Gillespie*	19.20%	1,254
	DUP	Sandy Spence*	15.02%	981
	DUP	John Greer*	13.06%	853	1,075.3
	UUP	Hugh Simpson*	8.22%	537	538.56	539.52	590.52	593.12	793.19	1,109.19
	UUP	William Wright*	7.10%	464	474.14	474.78	605.56	608.91	661.68	807.62	972.07
	DUP	Tommy Nicholl	11.33%	740	763.66	771.34	793.34	824.04	831.75	844.29	848.19	860.54
	DUP	Hubert Nicholl*	9.43%	616	649.02	765.82	765.82	773.67	794.06	830.53	835.08	853.93
	UUP	Robert Nelson	6.33%	413	431.2	438.88	473.88	474.73	561.18
	UUP	Thomas Smyth	6.16%	402	409.8	410.28	435.28	436.93
	UUP	John Sutter	4.15%	271	272.04	272.04
Electorate: 9,994   Valid: 6,531 (65.35%)   Spoilt: 240   Quota: 934   Turnout: 6,771 (67.75%)

Area C

1977: 3 x DUP, 2 x Independent Unionist
1981: 4 x DUP, 1 x UUP
1977-1981 Change: DUP and UUP gain from Independent Unionist (two seats)

Ballymena Area C - 5 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4
	DUP	Roy West	19.43%	1,082
	DUP	Martin Clarke	17.56%	978
	UUP	William Brownlees	14.63%	815	953
	DUP	Edwin Maternaghan	14.81%	825	839	953.8
	DUP	John McAuley*	14.81%	825	846	870.22	915.62
	UUP	William Simpson	12.46%	694	844	851.14	852.94
	UUP	William McConnell	4.36%	243
	UUUP	Ernest Johnston	1.94%	108
Electorate: 9,902   Valid: 5,570 (56.25%)   Spoilt: 143   Quota: 929   Turnout: 5,713 (57.70%)

Area D

1977: 2 x DUP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Independent, 1 x Independent Unionist
1981: 3 x DUP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Independent, 1 x Independent Unionist
1977-1981 Change: DUP gain from Alliance

Ballymena Area D - 6 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	Independent	Patrick Burke*	20.12%	1,331
	DUP	Maurice Mills*	16.82%	1,113
	Ind. Unionist	Samuel Henry*	11.94%	790	972.35
	DUP	James Alexander*	13.57%	898	900.1	983.2
	UUP	Gordon Wilson	8.27%	547	553.65	558.45	558.87	560.91	803.69	917.34
	DUP	Robert Maternaghan	11.46%	758	758.7	824.55	860.25	860.31	868.8	893.26
	UUP	Kenneth Wood	7.57%	501	524.1	527.25	527.6	530.96	662.67	802.89
	Independent	Samuel Barr	4.28%	283	434.2	436.9	437.18	455.9	472.22
	UUP	James Rainey	5.97%	395	408.65	413.75	414.1	415.3
Electorate: 11,475   Valid: 6,616 (57.66%)   Spoilt: 139   Quota: 946   Turnout: 6,755 (58.87%)