1981 Newtownabbey Borough Council election

Main article: Northern Ireland local elections, 1981
1981 Newtownabbey Borough Council election
← 1977 20 May 1981 (1981-05-20) 1985 →
All 21 seats to Newtownabbey Borough Council
11 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party Third party
 
Party UUP DUP Alliance
Seats won 9 5 3
Seat change Increase 1 Increase 1 Decrease 3
  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
Party Ind. Unionist Newtownabbey Labour Unionist Party NI
Seats won 3 1 0
Seat change Increase 3 Steady 0 Decrease 1
  Seventh party
 
Party Loyalist
Seats won 0
Seat change Decrease 1

Elections to Newtownabbey 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

Newtownabbey Borough Council Election Result 1981[1]
Party Seats Gains Losses Net gain/loss Seats % Votes % Votes +/−
  UUP 9 2 1 Increase1 42.9 34.5 9,210 Decrease3.6
  DUP 5 1 0 Increase1 23.8 34.7 9,275 Increase15.8
  Alliance 3 0 3 Decrease3 14.3 15.6 4,174 Decrease5.3
  Ind. Unionist 3 3 0 Increase3 9.5 8.8 2,356 Increase8.8
  Newtownabbey Labour Party 1 0 0 Steady0 4.8 3.8 1,028 Increase1.3
  Republican Clubs 0 0 0 Steady0 0.0 1.4 375 Increase0.5
  Independent 0 0 0 Steady0 0.0 1.2 323 Increase1.2
  Communist 0 0 0 Steady0 0.0 0.1 32 Increase0.1

Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes.

Districts summary

Results of the Newtownabbey Borough Council election, 1981
by district[1]
Ward %
Cllrs
 %
Cllrs
 %
 Cllrs
 %
 Cllrs
 Total
Cllrs
UUP DUP Alliance Others
Area A 45.3 2 32.2 2 10.8 0 11.7 1 5
Area B 37.0 2 34.8 1 11.6 1 16.6 1 6
Area C 34.2 2 33.7 1 19.1 1 13.0 0 5
Area D 25.2 2 37.3 1 17.5 1 20.0 1 5
Total 34.5 9 34.7 5 15.6 3 15.2 4 21

Districts results

Area A

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

Newtownabbey Area A - 5 seats[2]
Party Candidate FPv% Count
1 2 3 4
UUP Jim Wilson* 16.62% 850 951    
UUP Arthur Templeton* 14.82% 758 832 872  
DUP Trevor Kirkland 16.23% 830 852 853  
DUP Mary Harkness* 16.00% 818 833 836 836.73
Ind. Unionist Sidney Cameron* 11.69% 598 760 789 799.22
UUP John Anderson 13.88% 710 762 786 794.03
Alliance Pat McCudden* 10.75% 550      
Electorate: 8,958   Valid: 5,114 (57.09%)   Spoilt: 129   Quota: 853   Turnout: 5,243 (58.53%)  

Area B

1977: 2 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Newtownabbey Labour, 1 x Loyalist
1981: 3 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Newtownabbey Labour
1977-1981 Change: Loyalist joins UUP

Newtownabbey Area B - 6 seats[2]
Party Candidate FPv% Count
1 2 3 4 5 6
DUP David Hanna 34.78% 1,964          
UUP Fraser Agnew 19.30% 1,090          
UUP Letitia McCartney 9.69% 547 1,176.37        
UUP Cecil Stringer* 7.97% 450 809.1        
Newtownabbey Labour Robert Kidd* 7.67% 433 510.49 590.5 660.04 801.23 983.23
Alliance John Elliott* 6.42% 363 392.61 453.09 583.62 595.42 653.68
Alliance Hugh Montgomery 5.15% 291 307.38 351.48 409.62 417.08 445.11
Republican Clubs Austin Kelly 6.64% 375 378.78 381.93 384.78 396.78  
Newtownabbey Labour Alistair Keery 1.81% 102 123.42 151.14 169.38    
Communist William Stewart 0.57% 32 33.89 40.19 41.33    
Electorate: 12,043   Valid: 5,647 (46.89%)   Spoilt: 273   Quota: 807   Turnout: 5,920 (49.16%)  

Area C

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

Newtownabbey Area C - 5 seats[2]
Party Candidate FPv% Count
1 2 3 4 5 6
DUP Samuel Neill* 33.68% 2,737          
UUP Clifford Forsythe 18.45% 1,499          
UUP Robert Caul* 15.71% 1,277 2,242.25        
Ind. Unionist Desmond Dowds 9.93% 807 1,107.85 1,401      
Alliance Claire Martin* 6.89% 560 608.4 665.6 744.85 786.07 1,103.26
Alliance George Jones* 6.57% 534 548.3 634.1 752.8 816.34 1,044.29
Alliance Gordon Mawhinney 5.66% 460 488.05 523.8 555.65 593.99  
Newtownabbey Labour Brian Caul 3.10% 252 275.65 328.45      
Electorate: 15,006   Valid: 8,126 (54.15%)   Spoilt: 206   Quota: 1,355   Turnout: 8,332 (55.52%)  

Area D

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

Newtownabbey Area D - 5 seats[2]
Party Candidate FPv% Count
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
DUP James Smith* 37.29% 2,926            
Ind. Unionist George Herron* 12.12% 951 1,557.1          
UUP Ivan Hunter 12.10% 949 1,282.5 1,406.26        
Alliance James Rooney* 13.61% 1,068 1,091.2 1,096.14 1,096.62 1,193.2 1,793.2  
UUP Arthur Kell* 7.14% 560 781.56 833.04 914.4 926.24 993.24 1,169.24
UUP William McKee* 6.63% 520 889.46 942.5 955.94 962.68 991.52 1,065.52
Independent John Drysdale* 4.12% 323 330.54 333.66 333.9 396.48    
Alliance John Smith 3.93% 308 337.58 341.22 341.94 376.68    
Newtownabbey Labour Thomas Davidson 1.87% 147 159.76 161.84 161.84      
Newtownabbey Labour Lindsay Prior 1.20% 94 96.5 97.16 97.4      
Electorate: 14,796   Valid: 7,846 (53.03%)   Spoilt: 263   Quota: 1,308   Turnout: 8,109 (54.81%)  

References

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