1977 Northern Ireland local elections

Elections for local government were held in Northern Ireland in May 1977.

1977 Northern Ireland local elections

18 May 1977
All council seats
Leader Harry West Gerry Fitt Ian Paisley Party UUP SDLP DUP Seats won 176 113 74 Seat change 18 31 53 Popular vote 166,971 114,775 70,670 Percentage 30.0% 20.6% 12.8% Swing 13.0% 7.2% 8.7%   Leader Oliver Napier N/A Ernest Baird Party Alliance Independent UUUP Seats won 70 42 12 Seat change 7 10 12 Popular vote 80,282 42,841 15,831 Percentage 14.4% 7.6% 2.8% Swing 0.7% 0.6% New party
Colours denote the winning party with outright control
Colours denote the party with the most seats

The elections saw good performances by the four largest parties: the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), Alliance Party of Northern Ireland and Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), while smaller parties failed to make a breakthrough. The DUP took control of their first council, Ballymena, while the UUP retained control of Banbridge. The SDLP lost control of Magherafelt, their only council.[1]

Results

Overall

Party[2]		Councillors		Votes
		Total	+/-	% share	Total
	UUP	176	-18	30.0	166,971
	SDLP	113	+31	20.6	114,775
	Alliance	70	+7	14.4	80,282
	DUP	74	+53	12.8	70,670
	Independent	42	-10	7.6	42,841
	UUUP	12	N/A	2.8	15,831
	Republican Clubs	6	-2	2.6	14,277
	Unionist Party NI	6	N/A	2.5	13,691
	Independent Unionist	10	-16	1.7	9,202
	Vanguard	5	-5	1.5	8,135
	Unity	2	-4	1.0	5,528
	NI Labour	1	-3	0.8	4,960
	Nationalist	4	0	0.5	2,836
	Independent Loyalist	2	-14	0.3	2,534
	Independent Community	1	-2	0.3	1,731
	British Ulster Dominion	0	N/A	0.1	644
	United Ratepayer	1	N/A	0.1	635
	Independent Labour	1	+1	0.1	484
	Independent Ratepayer	0	0	0.1	321
	Independent Nationalist	0	0	0.0	227
	Communist Party	0	0	0.0	115
	Independent Socialist	0	N/A	0.0	107

Belfast

Belfast A[3]
Party		Candidate	1st Pref
	Alliance	Basil Glass	2,580
	UUP	Grace Bannister	2,367
	DUP	Raymond McCrea	1,912
	DUP	Robert J. Newman	1,549
	SDLP	Alasdair McDonnell	1,364
	UUP	Billy Blair	1,026
	Unionist Party NI	T. Jordan	954
	UUUP	Ben Horan	954
	Alliance	Dennis Loretto	667
	NI Labour	B. Garrett	594
	UUP	T. Gildea	483
	UUP	W. Shannon	452
	Independent Unionist	W. Elliot	379
	UUP	A. Shaw	378
	UUUP	P. Moles	345
	Republican Clubs	T. W. McGrattan	278
	NI Labour	D. Peters	93
Turnout			16,898
	Social Democratic and Labour gain from Labour (NI)
	Democratic Unionist gain from Ulster Unionist
	Democratic Unionist gain from Vanguard
	Alliance gain from Ulster Unionist

Belfast B[3]
Party		Candidate	1st Pref
	Unionist Party NI	Joshua Cardwell	2,722
	Alliance	Oliver Napier	2,703
	UUP	Tommy Patton	2,209
	Alliance	Michael Brown	2,045
	UUP	John Allen	1,903
	DUP	H. B. Evans	1,058
	UUUP	Reg Empey	981
	DUP	T. McIntyre	920
	Alliance	D. Wonnacott	781
	UUP	William Corry	664
	NI Labour	W. J. Gunning	631
	UUP	Dorothy Dunlop	622
	UUP	J. Hanna	541
	UUUP	S. Morgan	237
Turnout			18,741
	Unionist Party NI gain from Ulster Unionist
	Democratic Unionist gain from United Loyalist
	Alliance gain from Ulster Unionist

Belfast C[3]
Party		Candidate	1st Pref
	Alliance	David Cook	2,748
	Unionist Party NI	Victor Brennan	1,446
	UUP	Andrew Cairns	1,287
	Alliance	Muriel Pritchard	1,274
	UUP	Margaret Crooks	1,142
	SDLP	M. O. Scott	923
	Alliance	W. H. Jeffrey	892
	DUP	A. McMeekin	872
	Vanguard	R. Jordan	780
	UUP	John William Kennedy	630
	UUP	W. D. Gilmore	619
	DUP	W. Spence	604
	Independent Unionist	J. Webster	340
	NI Labour	Macartney	330
	Independent	W. Weir	313
	UUUP	R. A. W. Johnston	199
	UUUP	J. Robinson	119
Turnout			15,041
	Alliance gain from Ulster Unionist
	Unionist Party NI gain from Ulster Unionist

Belfast D[3]
Party		Candidate	1st Pref
	SDLP	Paddy Devlin	7,087
	Alliance	Dan McGuinness	1,235
	Republican Clubs	Bernard McDonagh	942
	SDLP	Cormac Boomer	905
	SDLP	Mary Sullivan	760
	Republican Clubs	M. Lynch	723
	Alliance	R. Turkington	575
	Republican Clubs	K. Smyth	527
	SDLP	W. Hunter	477
	Independent Socialist	G. Campbell	107
Turnout			14,932
No change

Belfast E[3]
Party		Candidate	1st Pref
	UUP	Billy Bell	3,297
	Independent	Jimmy Weir	2,184
	DUP	Fred Proctor	1,755
	Alliance	Alfred Egerton	1,223
	Independent Unionist	Hugh Smyth	1,140
	NI Labour	G. Chambers	809
	Independent	H. Stackman	718
	DUP	W. Lavery	715
	UUP	D. Smylie	667
	UUP	J. Sands	412
	UUP	Alfie Ferguson	366
	Independent	Peter Emerson	236
Turnout			14,228
	Independent gain from United Loyalist
	Ulster Unionist gain from Labour (NI)

Belfast F[3]
Party		Candidate	1st Pref
	SDLP	Owen Allen	1,886
	UUP	James Stewart	1,681
	Republican Clubs	Jim Sullivan	1,099
	UUP	Harry Fletcher	1,081
	Alliance	Will Glendinning	1,077
	DUP	Billy Dickson	949
	SDLP	T. Lappin	899
	DUP	J. H. Parkes	525
	UUP	T. G. Murphy	369
	Republican Clubs	S. O'Hare	306
	Communist Party	James Stewart	115
Turnout			11,040
	Alliance gain from Ulster Unionist

Belfast G[3]
Party		Candidate	1st Pref
	SDLP	Gerry Fitt	3,006
	DUP	Frederick Ashby	1,377
	Republican Clubs	Seamus Lynch	1,323
	UUP	Herbert Ditty	1,043
	UUP	Cecil Walker	779
	DUP	G. A. Haffey	742
	UUP	M. Laird	592
	UUP	Sammy Millar	515
	Independent Unionist	H. H. Kidd	387
	Alliance	McKeown	320
Turnout			10,970
	Democratic Unionist gain from Ulster Unionist
	Republican Clubs gain from Independent Unionist

Belfast H[3]
Party		Candidate	1st Pref
	SDLP	Paschal O'Hare	2,414
	Independent Unionist	Frank Millar	2,321
	UUP	John Carson	2,250
	UUP	Myles Humphreys	1,942
	Alliance	John Cushnahan	1,865
	DUP	William Annon	1,507
	SDLP	Alban Maginness	1,099
	Alliance	R. O. Jamison	944
	NI Labour	Alan Carr	502
	Unionist Party NI	J. E. Gibson	462
	DUP	Cynthia McDowell	441
	UUP	J. S. Kennet	439
	UUP	Mary Creighton	331
	Dominion Party	A. Beattie	114
Turnout			17,316
	Alliance gain from Ulster Unionist
	Democratic Unionist gain from Ulster Unionist
	Independent Unionist gain from Ulster Unionist

References

1. "Four main parties do well", Irish Times, 20 May 1977
2. Local Government Elections 1977, Northern Ireland Elections
3. The Local Government Elections 1973–1981: Belfast, Northern Ireland Elections