This election is probably the most difficult to analyse of all elections covered on this site. As will be apparent from the list above, there is huge potential for confusion among the various candidate designations. In general I have followed the descriptions given in my main source, James Knight and Nicolas Baxter-Moore's Northern Ireland Local Government Elections, 1973. I have made one major systematic exception: in electoral areas where a candidate or candidates described as "Unionist" were not opposed by anyone calling themselves an "Official Unionist", I have added them to the UUP tally. This affects 74 elected councillors and and about 95,000 votes. I have noted where I did this on individual council pages below. I'm well aware that in some cases the "Unionist" may have had more support from local UUP members than the "Official Unionist" but this is the best I can do thirty years on. Individuals who think I have misdescribed them are very welcome to get in touch. Less controversially (I hope), I have merged the "Vanguard Loyalist" elected in Down with the other Vanguard candidates and the "Loyalist and Democratic Unionist" councillors in Lisburn, Newtownabbey and Ards with the DUP; and the Loyalist Unionist Coalition candidates of Craigavon have had their votes reallocated to their secondary affiliations. An additional irritation, not obvious below but clear from the 26 pages dealing with each council, is that Knight gave only the surnames of candidates (and the marital status of women!).

Results by Council

This is a particularly difficult election to analyse given the plethora of candidate descriptions, especially on the Unionist side. The list below details my numerous differences from the summary provided by Flackes and Elliott, also to be found on CAIN:

• Antrim: Allen, elected in Area C, ran as a "Unionist" against three "Official Unionists": I therefore have counted him separately from the UUP tally.
• Ards: Flackes and Elliot have 1 Vanguard councillor and no "Loyalists"; Knight records the opposite. Brown, the successful Loyalist Coalition candidate, was subsequently a Vanguard candidate, but I am following Knight here.
• Armagh: Cresswell, elected in Area D, ran as a "Unionist" against two "Official Unionists": I therefore have counted him separately from the UUP tally. Flackes and Elliot seem to count the Republican Clubs councillor as SDLP.
• Ballymoney: I'm baffled by Flackes and Elliot's figure of nine Official Unionists. Knight has only four, with two more "Unionists" running against "Official Unionist" candidates. Three of the six independent/non-party councillors appear to be counted as UUP by Flackes and Elliot.
• Banbridge: The seven "Unionists" elected in Area B were not competing with "Official Unionist" candidates, so I count them as UUP. The three "Unionists" elected in Area A were however in competition with two "Official Unionists" so I count them separately.
• Belfast: Knight has no "Official Unionist" candidates, so I count all "Unionists" as UUP.
• Castlereagh: The three "Unionists" elected in Area C were not competing with "Official Unionist" candidates, so I count them as UUP. The "Unionists" elected in Areas A and B were however in competition with "Official Unionists" so I count them separately.
• Coleraine: Anderson, elected in Area A, ran as a "Unionist" against two "Official Unionists": I therefore have counted him separately from the UUP tally.
• Cookstown: S. Glasgow, elected in Area A, ran as a "Unionist" against two "Official Unionists": I therefore have counted him separately from the UUP tally despite his long later history inside the party.
• Craigavon: Baird, Cairns and Creith, elected in Area D, ran against an "Official Unionist": I therefore have counted them separately from the UUP tally.
• Down: Knight has no "Official Unionist" candidates, so I count all "Unionists" as UUP.
• Dungannon: Knight has no "Official Unionist" candidates, so I count all "Unionists" as UUP.
• Fermanagh: Three of the four "Unionists" elected ran against "Official Unionist" candidates and so are not tallied with the UUP here. The fourth, Scott in Area E, ran against an "Independent Unionist" (Cathcart, presumably the same who was later a UPNI candidate in 1975 and 1977) so I have tallied him as UUP. Flackes and Elliot seem to have tallied Cathcart, the "Unionists" and the "Official Unionists" as UUP.
• Magherafelt: The four "Unionists" elected had no opposition from "Official Unionists" and so are tallied with the UUP. However Brown, the unsuccessful "Unionist" in Area C, ran against three "Official Unionists" and so is tallied separately.
• Newry and Mourne: Knight has no "Official Unionist" candidates, so I count all "Unionists" as UUP.
• North Down: The "Unionists" in Area D had no opposition from "Official Unionists" and so are tallied with the UUP. However the "Unionist" in Area C was opposed by three "Official Unionist" candidates and so is tallied separately.
• Omagh: Knight has no "Official Unionist" candidates, so I count all "Unionists" as UUP.
• Strabane: Knight has no "Official Unionist" candidates, so I count all "Unionists" as UUP.