1981 Larne Borough Council election

Main article: Northern Ireland local elections, 1981
1981 Larne Borough Council election
← 1977 20 May 1981 (1981-05-20) 1985 →
All 15 seats to Larne Borough Council
8 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party Third party
 
Party DUP UUP Alliance
Seats won 6 4 3
Seat change Increase 3 Increase 2 Decrease 1
  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
Party United Loyalist Ind. Nationalist Vanguard
Seats won 1 1 0
Seat change Increase 1 Increase 1 Decrease 3
  Seventh party Eighth party
 
Party Independent SDLP
Seats won 0 0
Seat change Decrease 2 Decrease 1

Elections to Larne 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 15 councillors.

Election results

Larne Borough Council Election Result 1981[1]
Party Seats Gains Losses Net gain/loss Seats % Votes % Votes +/−
  DUP 6 3 0 Increase3 40.0 37.2 4,366 Increase12.3
  UUP 4 2 0 Increase2 26.7 24.2 2,845 Increase17.4
  Alliance 3 0 1 Decrease1 20.0 17.4 2,042 Decrease8.4
  Ind. Nationalist 1 0 0 Increase1 6.7 7.5 875 Increase7.5
  United Loyalist 1 1 0 Increase1 6.7 6.2 728 Increase6.2
  Independent 0 0 2 Decrease2 0.0 4.3 504 Decrease6.8

Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes.

Districts summary

Results of the Larne Borough Council election, 1981
by district[1]
Ward %
Cllrs
 %
Cllrs
 %
 Cllrs
 %
 Cllrs
 Total
Cllrs
DUP UUP Alliance Others
Area A 30.8 1 27.7 1 14.5 1 27.0 1 4
Area B 44.6 2 16.7 1 8.6 0 30.1 1 4
Area C 37.2 3 26.0 2 23.4 2 13.4 0 7
Total 37.2 6 24.2 4 17.4 3 21.2 2 15

Districts results

Area A

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

Larne Area A - 4 seats[2]
Party Candidate FPv% Count
1 2 3
UUP Thomas Robinson* 27.71% 897    
Ind. Nationalist William Cunning 27.03% 875    
DUP Rachel Rea* 17.98% 582 715.4  
Alliance Hugh Wilson* 14.49% 469 520.91 745.19
DUP Robert Campbell 12.79% 414 470.26 472.42
Electorate: 5,107   Valid: 3,237 (63.38%)   Spoilt: 74   Quota: 648   Turnout: 3,311 (64.83%)  

Area B

1977: 1 x DUP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Vanguard
1981: 2 x DUP, 1 x UUP, 1 x United Loyalist
1977-1981 Change: DUP and United Loyalist gain from Alliance and Vanguard

Larne Area B - 4 seats[2]
Party Candidate FPv% Count
1 2 3
DUP John Alexander 23.13% 647    
DUP Samuel McAllister 21.45% 600    
UUP Laurence Niblock* 19.56% 547 562.96  
United Loyalist Roy Beggs* 16.66% 466 514.26 575.26
UUP Alexander Hunter* 10.58% 296 314.81 429.81
Alliance William Calwell* 11.54% 241 244.61  
Electorate: 4,510   Valid: 2,797 (62.02%)   Spoilt: 68   Quota: 560   Turnout: 2,865 (63.53%)  

Area C

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

Larne Area C - 7 seats[2]
Party Candidate FPv% Count
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
DUP Jack McKee* 25.18% 1,436                    
UUP Robert Robinson 13.50% 770                    
DUP Winston Fulton 8.93% 509 927                  
Alliance William Kelly* 8.91% 508 514.5 515.8 532.8 557.8 559.41 605.38 620.42 927.42    
Alliance Thomas Benson* 7.50% 428 428.5 430.06 442.56 464.56 467.36 504.62 518.95 641.52 847.12  
DUP Leonard Sluman 3.12% 178 348 529.48 539.48 551 552.54 565.84 628.8 630.3 630.3 633.5
UUP Rosalie Armstrong* 6.79% 387 405.5 413.04 419.54 439.3 460.02 498.9 597.22 598.79 601.99 629.99
UUP Joseph Wallace 5.70% 325 348 354.24 360.24 393.74 412.57 459.91 533.55 541.62 544.82 564.82
Alliance Amelia Kelly 6.94% 396 398.5 398.5 412.5 423.5 423.78 467.92 474.06      
United Loyalist Samuel Martin* 4.59% 262 302.5 309.78 317.28 326.78 330.98 358.14        
Independent James Clements 3.82% 218 233.5 236.36 281.36 302.12 304.71          
Independent Agnew Hamilton* 2.74% 156 160 161.56 173.56              
Independent Patrick Todd 1.21% 69 74.5 75.28                
Independent William Fleck 1.07% 61 65.5 66.02                
Electorate: 10,614   Valid: 5,703 (53.73%)   Spoilt: 191   Quota: 713   Turnout: 5,894 (55.53%)  

References

  1. ^ a b "Local Government Elections 1983-1981: Larne". www.ark.ac.uk.
  2. ^ a b c "Local Government Results 1981". EONI. Retrieved 8 July 2021.