1981 Newtownabbey Borough Council election

Main article: Northern Ireland local elections, 1981

1981 Newtownabbey Borough Council election

20 May 1981 (1981-05-20)
All 21 seats to Newtownabbey Borough Council 11 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Party Ulster Unionist DUP Alliance Seats won 9 5 3 Seat change 1 1 3   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Party Ind. Unionist Newtownabbey Labour Unionist Party NI Seats won 3 1 0 Seat change 3 0 1   Seventh party   Party Loyalist Seats won 0 Seat change 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

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Ulster Unionist	9	2	1	1	42.9	34.5	9,210	3.6
	DUP	5	1	0	1	23.8	34.7	9,275	15.8
	Alliance	3	0	3	3	14.3	15.6	4,174	5.3
	Ind. Unionist	3	3	0	3	9.5	8.8	2,356	8.8
	Newtownabbey Labour Party	1	0	0	0	4.8	3.8	1,028	1.3
	Republican Clubs	0	0	0	0	0.0	1.4	375	0.5
	Independent	0	0	0	0	0.0	1.2	323	1.2
	Communist	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.1	32	0.1

Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes.

Districts summary

Results of the Newtownabbey Borough Council election, 1981
by district

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

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4
	Ulster Unionist	Jim Wilson*	16.62%	850	951
	Ulster Unionist	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
	Ulster Unionist	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

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	DUP	David Hanna	34.78%	1,964
	Ulster Unionist	Fraser Agnew	19.30%	1,090
	Ulster Unionist	Letitia McCartney	9.69%	547	1,176.37
	Ulster Unionist	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

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	DUP	Samuel Neill*	33.68%	2,737
	Ulster Unionist	Clifford Forsythe	18.45%	1,499
	Ulster Unionist	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

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
	Ulster Unionist	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
	Ulster Unionist	Arthur Kell*	7.14%	560	781.56	833.04	914.4	926.24	993.24	1,169.24
	Ulster Unionist	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%)