1985 Ballymena Borough Council election

Main article: Northern Ireland local elections, 1985

1985 Ballymena Borough Council election

15 May 1985 (1985-05-15)
All 23 seats to Ballymena Borough Council 12 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Party DUP Ulster Unionist SDLP Seats won 15 6 1 Seat change 2 1 1   Fourth party Fifth party   Party Ind. Unionist Independent Seats won 1 0 Seat change 0 2

Elections to Ballymena Borough Council were held on 15 May 1985 on the same day as the other Northern Irish local government elections. The election used four district electoral areas to elect a total of 23 councillors.

Election results

Ballymena Borough Council Election Result 1985

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	DUP	15	2	0	2	65.2	55.6	12,014	0.1
	Ulster Unionist	6	1	0	1	26.1	28.6	6,190	1.4
	SDLP	1	1	0	1	4.3	6.3	1,367	New
	Ind. Unionist	1	0	0	0	4.3	5.6	1,204	2.1
	Independent	0	0	2	2	0.0	4.0	856	6.6

Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes.

Districts summary

Results of the Ballymena Borough Council election, 1985
by district

Ward	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	Total Cllrs
	DUP		UUP		SDLP		Others
Ballymena Town	37.7	3	22.8	2	21.0	1	18.5	1	7
Braid Valley	48.5	3	35.3	2	0.0	0	16.2	0	5
Kells Water	73.6	5	26.4	1	0.0	0	0.0	0	6
The Main	68.8	4	31.2	1	0.0	0	0.0	0	5
Total	55.6	15	28.6	6	6.3	1	9.5	2	23

District results

Ballymena Town

1985: 3 x DUP, 2 x UUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x Independent Unionist

Ballymena Town - 7 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	SDLP	Patrick McAvoy	17.33%	1,126
	Ind. Unionist	Samuel Henry*	13.48%	876
	Ulster Unionist	Robert Coulter	12.22%	794	794.28	807.58	886.58
	Ulster Unionist	Gordon Wilson*	6.20%	403	403.56	419.17	581.16	711.3	775.3	841.22
	DUP	Maurice Mills*	10.89%	708	708.28	711.71	722.99	753.18	756.18	764
	DUP	Richard McKeown	9.85%	640	640.84	642.94	644.08	677.99	679.99	691.12
	DUP	Robert Maternaghan*	8.66%	563	563.28	566.22	571.36	635.41	637.41	639.32
	DUP	John Wilson	8.28%	538	538	539.33	550.89	589.45	591.45	600.37
	SDLP	Malachy Reynolds	3.71%	241	550.12	552.29	555.43	565.99	565.99
	Ind. Unionist	James Alexander*	5.05%	328	329.4	340.67	352.72
	Ulster Unionist	Warren Wray	4.34%	282	282	288.72
Electorate: 12,497   Valid: 6,499 (52.00%)   Spoilt: 105   Quota: 813   Turnout: 6,604 (52.84%)

Braid Valley

1985: 3 x DUP, 2 x UUP

Braid Valley - 5 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	DUP	John Armstrong*	11.85%	628	981
	Ulster Unionist	Margaret Alexander	11.81%	626	635	925
	Ulster Unionist	Desmond Armstrong*	14.28%	757	794	921
	DUP	Samuel Hanna*	14.07%	746	787	829	850.33	869.58	892.2
	DUP	John Porter	13.66%	724	753	778	850.63	865.88	875.16	882.36
	Independent	James Woulahan*	16.15%	856	857	860	860	865.25	869.89	870.79
	Ulster Unionist	Harbinson McCullough	9.24%	490	493
	DUP	Samuel Martin	8.94%	474
Electorate: 7,829   Valid: 5,301 (67.71%)   Spoilt: 110   Quota: 884   Turnout: 5,411 (69.11%)

Kells Water

1985: 5 x DUP, 1 x UUP

Kells Water - 6 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4
	Ulster Unionist	William Brownlees*	17.86%	856
	DUP	John McAuley*	17.63%	845
	DUP	Roy West*	16.60%	796
	DUP	Martin Clarke*	14.50%	695
	DUP	Edwin Maternaghan*	12.04%	577	586.4	693.37
	DUP	David McClintock	12.83%	615	623.4	657.41	753.17
	Ulster Unionist	Victoria Brownlees	8.55%	410	558.8	570.96	579.92
Electorate: 9,621   Valid: 4,794 (49.83%)   Spoilt: 133   Quota: 685   Turnout: 4,927 (51.21%)

The Main

1985: 4 x DUP, 1 x UUP

The Main - 5 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4
	DUP	Roy Gillespie*	21.36%	1,076
	DUP	Tommy Nicholl*	19.06%	960
	DUP	Sandy Spence*	15.80%	796	831.64	925.48
	DUP	Hubert Nicholl	12.57%	633	792.94	804.7	876.75
	Ulster Unionist	Ian Johnston*	16.12%	812	834.88	838.24	841.76
	Ulster Unionist	William Wright*	15.09%	760	774.08	777.92	782.43
Electorate: 8,309   Valid: 5,037 (60.62%)   Spoilt: 213   Quota: 840   Turnout: 5,250 (63.18%)