The 1997 Local Government Elections in Northern Ireland

Map by Conal Kelly

The Elections

The elections for Northern Ireland's 26 local councils took place on May 21, 1997, less than three weeks after the Westminster election which had brought the Labour government to power. This was the seventh set of elections since the local councils were reorganised in 1973. Councillors are elected for a four-year term by Single Transferable Vote from local electoral areas returning five, six or seven councillors. You can look at all the local election results since 1973 here, and compare specifically with the 1993 and 2001 elections elsewhere.

The Results

I have taken my figures from the Irish News archive which may explain why I have some differences with the figures in CAIN. Also it can be difficult to interpret exactly which Independent councillors are Independent Unionists. (See also spreadsheet archive.)

These elections saw a marked advance for Sinn Féin at the expense of the other main parties.

Total valid vote: 632,197; Spoiled votes: 12,580; Percentage turnout: 54.7%

This graph contrasts the 1997 first preference votes across the whole of Northern Ireland with those cast in the local government elections of 2001, 1993, 1989, 1985, 1981, 1977 and 1973.

This table has been corrected from the one compiled by CAIN. Changes for the main parties since 1993 are indicated by + or - signs, so for instance 9+ in the box for the UUP on Antrim council indicates that this was an increase from 8 councillors at the 1993 elections. I have not done this in the 'Others' column. Also I have not allowed for by-elections or changes of allegiance. (NB there was no change in party strengths in Dungannon or Limavady.)

Difficulties with categorisation

• Belfast: I count Billy Hutchinson, Hughie Smyth and David Ervine as PUP, Frank McCoubrey as UDP and Alan Crowe as an Independent Unionist. Flackes and Elliott have 3 Loyalists/Unionists and 1 Other (Crowe?). Crowe seems to have since rejoined the UUP.
• Carrickfergus: I count William Hamilton, Nicholas Wady and Charles Johnston as Independents, and James Brown and Sam Crowe as Independent Unionists. Flackes and Elliott count 3 Loyalists/Unionists (presumably Brown and Crowe - who was elected as a Conservative in 1993 - but who else?) and two Others.
• Castlereagh: I count Grant Dillon as UKUP and William Abraham as Ind U. Flackes and Elliott include both as Loyalists/Unionists.
• Down: I count Anne Carr as Women's Coalition; Flackes and Elliott count her as Other.
• Dungannon: I count Gerry Cullen as Dem Left, and Jim Canning as an Independent. Flackes and Elliott have 1 Labour and 1 Other (possible mix-up with Johnny McLaughlin in Omagh?).
• Fermanagh: I count Tony McPhillips as an Ind Nat, Flackes and Elliott include him with Others.
• Lisburn: I count Gary McMichael and David Adams as UDP, Ronnie Crawford as Ind U and William Beattie as Prot U; Flackes and Elliott count all four as Loy/U.
• Moyle: I count Oliver McMullan and Randal McDonnell as Ind Nats, Seamus Blaney and Chris McCaughan as Independents, while being conscious that these distinctions are blurry.
• Newtownabbey: I count ten UUP councillors (Bingham, Crilly, Gilliland, Hollis, Hunter, Johnston, Kell, McWilliams, Robinson and Turkington), Bob Kidd and Mark Langhammer as Labour (though they ran with slightly differing labels), John Blair and WJ Webb as Newtownabbey Ratepayers, Fraser Agnew, Andy Beattie and George Heron as Independent Unionists, Tommy Kirkham as UDP and William Greer as PUP. Flackes and Elliott count also ten UUP, two Loyalists/Unionists (presumably Kirkham and Greer), but only one Labour and six Others. (Incidentally, this is also my one serious point of disagreement with the 1997 elections page on CAIN, which seems to count Agnew, Beattie and Heron as UUP, giving that party 13 councillors and Others 4).
• North Down: I count Valerie Kinghan, Elizabeth Roche and William Keery as UKUP, Ernest Steele and William Currie as PUP, Alan Chambers as an Ind U and Austin Lennon, Brian Wilson and Dennis Ogborn as Independents. Flackes and Elliott have five Loyalists/Unionists (presumably UKUP and PUP) and four Others (presumably including Chambers).
• Omagh: I count Johnny McLaughlin as Labour, Flackes and Elliott count him as Other (possible mix-up with Dungannon?).

Parliamentary constituencies

• East Belfast includes parts of Belfast and Castlereagh
• North Belfast includes parts of Belfast and Newtownabbey
• South Belfast includes parts of Belfast and Castlereagh
• West Belfast includes parts of Belfast and Lisburn
• East Antrim includes Carrickfergus, Larne and parts of Newtownabbey
• North Antrim includes Ballymena, Ballymoney and Moyle
• South Antrim includes Antrim and parts of Newtownabbey
• North Down includes North Down and parts of Ards
• South Down includes parts of Banbridge, Down and Newry and Mourne
• Fermanagh and South Tyrone includes Fermanagh and parts of Dungannon
• Foyle is exactly equivalent to Derry
• Lagan Valley includes parts of Lisburn and Banbridge
• East Londonderry includes Coleraine and Limavady
• Mid Ulster includes Cookstown, Magherafelt, and parts of Dungannon
• Newry and Armagh includes Armagh and parts of Newry and Mourne
• Strangford includes parts of Ards, Castlereagh, and Down
• West Tyrone includes Omagh and Strabane
• Upper Bann includes Craigavon and parts of Banbridge

See also:

Other sites based at ARK: ORB (Online Research Bank) | CAIN (Conflict Archive on the INternet) | Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey

Your comments, please! Send an email to me at nicholas.whyte@gmail.com.

Nicholas Whyte, 7 June 1998; modified 17 February 2001.