Northern Ireland local government elections, 1977

Northern Ireland 1973–98
This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Northern Ireland
Interim bodies
Northern Ireland Assembly (1973) Northern Ireland Executive (1974) Constitutional Convention (1975) Northern Ireland Assembly (1982) Northern Ireland Forum (1996)
Elections
1973 · 1975 · 1982 · 1996
Members
1973 · 1975 · 1982 · 1996
See also
Anglo-Irish Agreement New Ireland Forum Northern Ireland by-elections, 1986 Northern Ireland sovereignty referendum, 1973
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Elections for local government were held in Northern Ireland in May 1977.

The elections saw good performances by the four largest parties: the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), Alliance Party of Northern Ireland and Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), while smaller parties failed to make a breakthrough. The DUP took control of their first council, Ballymena, while the UUP retained control of Banbridge. The SDLP lost control of Magherafelt, their only council.^[1]

Results

Overall

Party[2]		Councillors		Votes
		Total	+/-	% share	Total
	Ulster Unionist	176	-18	30.0	166,971
	SDLP	113	+31	20.6	114,775
	Alliance	70	+7	14.4	80,282
	Democratic Unionist	74	+53	12.8	70,670
	Independent	42	-10	7.6	42,841
	United Ulster Unionist	12	N/A	2.8	15,831
	Republican Clubs	6	-2	2.6	14,277
	Unionist Party NI	6	N/A	2.5	13,691
	Independent Unionist	10	-16	1.7	9,202
	Vanguard	5	-5	1.5	8,135
	Unity	2	-4	1.0	5,528
	Labour (NI)	1	-3	0.8	4,960
	Nationalist (NI)	4	0	0.5	2,836
	Independent Loyalist	2	-14	0.3	2,534
	Independent Community	1	-2	0.3	1,731
	British Ulster Dominion	0	N/A	0.1	644
	United Ratepayer	1	N/A	0.1	635
	Independent Labour	1	+1	0.1	484
	Independent Ratepayer	0	0	0.1	321
	Independent Nationalist	0	0	0.0	227
	Communist Party	0	0	0.0	115
	Independent Socialist	0	N/A	0.0	107

By council

Antrim

Ards

Armagh

Ballymena

Banbridge

Belfast

Belfast A[3]
Party		Candidate	1st Pref
	Alliance	Basil Glass	2,580
	Ulster Unionist	Grace Bannister	2,367
	Democratic Unionist	Raymond McCrea	1,912
	Democratic Unionist	Robert J. Newman	1,549
	SDLP	Alasdair McDonnell	1,364
	Ulster Unionist	Billy Blair	1,026
	Unionist Party NI	T. Jordan	954
	United Ulster Unionist	Ben Horan	954
	Alliance	Dennis Loretto	667
	Labour (NI)	B. Garrett	594
	Ulster Unionist	T. Gildea	483
	Ulster Unionist	W. Shannon	452
	Independent Unionist	W. Elliot	379
	Ulster Unionist	A. Shaw	378
	United Ulster Unionist	P. Moles	345
	Republican Clubs	T. W. McGrattan	278
	Labour (NI)	D. Peters	93
Turnout			16,898
	Social Democratic and Labour gain from Labour (NI)
	Democratic Unionist gain from Ulster Unionist
	Democratic Unionist gain from Vanguard
	Alliance gain from Ulster Unionist

Belfast B[3]
Party		Candidate	1st Pref
	Unionist Party NI	Joshua Cardwell	2,722
	Alliance	Oliver Napier	2,703
	Ulster Unionist	Tommy Patton	2,209
	Alliance	Michael Brown	2,045
	Ulster Unionist	John Allen	1,903
	Democratic Unionist	H. B. Evans	1,058
	United Ulster Unionist	Reg Empey	981
	Democratic Unionist	T. McIntyre	920
	Alliance	D. Wonnacott	781
	Ulster Unionist	William Corry	664
	Labour (NI)	W. J. Gunning	631
	Ulster Unionist	Dorothy Dunlop	622
	Ulster Unionist	J. Hanna	541
	United Ulster Unionist	S. Morgan	237
Turnout			18,741
	Unionist Party NI gain from Ulster Unionist
	Democratic Unionist gain from United Loyalist
	Alliance gain from Ulster Unionist

Belfast C[3]
Party		Candidate	1st Pref
	Alliance	David Cook	2,748
	Unionist Party NI	Victor Brennan	1,446
	Ulster Unionist	Andrew Cairns	1,287
	Alliance	Muriel Pritchard	1,274
	Ulster Unionist	Margaret Crooks	1,142
	SDLP	M. O. Scott	923
	Alliance	W. H. Jeffrey	892
	Democratic Unionist	A. McMeekin	872
	Vanguard	R. Jordan	780
	Ulster Unionist	John William Kennedy	630
	Ulster Unionist	W. D. Gilmore	619
	Democratic Unionist	W. Spence	604
	Independent Unionist	J. Webster	340
	Labour (NI)	Macartney	330
	Independent	W. Weir	313
	United Ulster Unionist	R. A. W. Johnston	199
	United Ulster Unionist	J. Robinson	119
Turnout			15,041
	Alliance gain from Ulster Unionist
	Unionist Party NI gain from Ulster Unionist

Belfast D[3]
Party		Candidate	1st Pref
	SDLP	Paddy Devlin	7,087
	Alliance	Dan McGuinness	1,235
	Republican Clubs	Bernard McDonagh	942
	SDLP	Cormac Boomer	905
	SDLP	Mary Sullivan	760
	Republican Clubs	M. Lynch	723
	Alliance	R. Turkington	575
	Republican Clubs	K. Smyth	527
	SDLP	W. Hunter	477
	Independent Socialist	G. Campbell	107
Turnout			14,932
No change

Belfast E[3]
Party		Candidate	1st Pref
	Ulster Unionist	Billy Bell	3,297
	Independent	Jimmy Weir	2,184
	Democratic Unionist	Fred Proctor	1,755
	Alliance	Alfred Egerton	1,223
	Independent Unionist	Hugh Smyth	1,140
	Labour (NI)	G. Chambers	809
	Independent	H. Stackman	718
	Democratic Unionist	W. Lavery	715
	Ulster Unionist	D. Smylie	667
	Ulster Unionist	J. Sands	412
	Ulster Unionist	Alfie Ferguson	366
	Independent	Peter Emerson	236
Turnout			14,228
	Independent gain from United Loyalist
	Ulster Unionist gain from Labour (NI)

Belfast F[3]
Party		Candidate	1st Pref
	SDLP	Owen Allen	1,886
	Ulster Unionist	James Stewart	1,681
	Republican Clubs	Jim Sullivan	1,099
	Ulster Unionist	Harry Fletcher	1,081
	Alliance	Will Glendinning	1,077
	Democratic Unionist	Billy Dickson	949
	SDLP	T. Lappin	899
	Democratic Unionist	J. H. Parkes	525
	Ulster Unionist	T. G. Murphy	369
	Republican Clubs	S. O'Hare	306
	Communist Party	J. Stewart	115
Turnout			11,040
	Alliance gain from Ulster Unionist

Belfast G[3]
Party		Candidate	1st Pref
	SDLP	Gerry Fitt	3,006
	Democratic Unionist	Frederick Ashby	1,377
	Republican Clubs	Seamus Lynch	1,323
	Ulster Unionist	Herbert Ditty	1,043
	Ulster Unionist	Cecil Walker	779
	Democratic Unionist	G. A. Haffey	742
	Ulster Unionist	M. Laird	592
	Ulster Unionist	Sammy Millar	515
	Independent Unionist	H. H. Kidd	387
	Alliance	McKeown	320
Turnout			10,970
	Democratic Unionist gain from Ulster Unionist
	Republican Clubs gain from Independent Unionist

Belfast H[3]
Party		Candidate	1st Pref
	SDLP	Paschal O'Hare	2,414
	Independent Unionist	Frank Millar	2,321
	Ulster Unionist	John Carson	2,250
	Ulster Unionist	Myles Humphreys	1,942
	Alliance	John Cushnahan	1,865
	Democratic Unionist	William Annon	1,507
	SDLP	Alban Maginness	1,099
	Alliance	R. O. Jamison	944
	Labour (NI)	Andy Carr	502
	Unionist Party NI	J. E. Gibson	462
	Democratic Unionist	Cynthia McDowell	441
	Ulster Unionist	J. S. Kennet	439
	Ulster Unionist	Mary Creighton	331
	Dominion Party	A. Beattie	114
Turnout			17,316
	Alliance gain from Ulster Unionist
	Democratic Unionist gain from Ulster Unionist
	Independent Unionist gain from Ulster Unionist

Carrickfergus

Castlereagh

Coleraine

Cookstown

Craigavon

Derry

Down

Dungannon

Fermanagh

Larne

Limavady

Lisburn

Magherafelt

Moyle

Newry and Mourne

Newtownabbey

North Down

Omagh

Strabane

References

1. ^ "Four main parties do well", Irish Times, 20 May 1977
2. ^ Local Government Elections 1977, Northern Ireland Elections
3. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h} The Local Government Elections 1973–1981: Belfast, Northern Ireland Elections