1977 Ards Borough Council election

Elections to Ards Borough Council were held on 18 May 1977 on the same day as the other Northern Irish local government elections. The election used three district electoral areas to elect a total of 17 councillors.

1977 Ards Borough Council election
← 1973 18 May 1977 (1977-05-18) 1981 →

All 17 seats to Ards Borough Council
9 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party Third party
 
Party UUP Alliance DUP
Seats won 6 5 3
Seat change Decrease 5 Increase 3 Increase 3

  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
Party NI Labour SDLP Ind. Unionist
Seats won 1 1 1
Seat change Steady 0 Steady 0 Steady 0

  Seventh party
 
Party Loyalist Coalition
Seats won 0
Seat change Decrease 1

Election results

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Ards Borough Council Election Result 1977[1]
Party Seats Gains Losses Net gain/loss Seats % Votes % Votes +/−
  UUP 6 0 5  5 35.3 31.8 5,368  22.7
  Alliance 5 3 0  3 29.4 20.8 3,507  6.0
  DUP 3 3 0  3 17.6 13.8 2,322 New
  NI Labour 1 0 0  0 5.9 8.0 1,349  2.7
  Ind. Unionist 1 1 1  0 0.0 6.2 1,042  2.0
  SDLP 1 0 0  0 5.9 5.7 964  0.1
  Independent 0 0 0  0 0.0 5.8 971  5.8
  Unionist Party NI 0 0 0  0 0.0 5.3 886 New
  Vanguard 0 0 0  0 0.0 1.6 277  5.6
  UUUP 0 0 0  0 0.0 1.0 170 New

Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes.

Districts summary

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Results of the Ards Borough Council election, 1977
by district[1]
Ward %
Cllrs
%
Cllrs
%
Cllrs
%
Cllrs
%
Cllrs
%
Cllrs
Total
Cllrs
UUP Alliance DUP NILP SDLP Others
Area A 32.1 3 23.3 2 12.5 1 0.0 0 14.7 1 17.4 0 7
Area B 30.1 2 21.2 2 13.0 1 22.5 1 0.0 0 13.2 0 6
Area C 33.8 1 16.5 1 13.1 1 0.0 0 0.0 0 36.6 1 4
Total 31.8 6 20.8 5 13.8 3 8.0 1 5.7 1 19.9 1 17

Districts results

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Area A

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1973: 6 x UUP, 1 x SDLP
1977: 3 x UUP, 2 x Alliance, 1 x DUP, 1 x SDLP
1973-1977 Change: Alliance (two seats) and DUP gain from UUP (three seats)

Ards Area A - 7 seats[2]
Party Candidate FPv% Count
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Alliance Charles Dunleath 20.39% 1,339                      
DUP Joseph Thompson* 14.94% 981                      
SDLP Patrick Doherty* 14.68% 964                      
Alliance William Sheldon 2.89% 190 568.8 571.86 600.93 601.93 607.61 612.61 629.49 636.46 796.17 896.17  
UUP John Scott* 6.79% 446 453.6 467.71 468.22 471.41 480.36 491.1 500.27 672.78 674.29 823.29  
UUP William Caughey 6.87% 451 471.8 487.61 487.95 489.66 507.16 561.82 567.52 630.82 632.62 692.58 706.58
UUP Robert Ambrose 4.37% 287 294.6 320.1 320.61 335.46 373.95 437.32 535.52 565.02 575.44 626.94 647.94
UUP Oliver Johnston* 7.01% 460 466.4 475.41 475.92 477.09 480.28 493.12 497.8 529.42 531.42 566.01 578.01
Unionist Party NI Michael Long 5.65% 371 401.4 406.67 407.69 408.09 411.77 421.11 451.85 477.96 499.54    
Independent James McMullan 4.77% 313 343.8 343.97 446.14 446.14 447.71 449.91 453.1 454.27      
UUP Henry Cosbey* 4.69% 308 316 325.69 326.03 327.2 333.61 343.69 346.77        
Independent Francis McMaster 1.95% 128 133.2 142.72 144.76 175.45 207.96 218.98          
UUP William Keag 2.41% 158 166 172.97 173.99 179.84 193.41            
Ind. Unionist Robert Mason 1.55% 102 108.4 150.56 150.73 169.78              
Ind. Unionist Vera Shaw 1.04% 68 71.2 83.1 83.1                
Electorate: 13,817   Valid: 6,566 (47.52%)   Spoilt: 227   Quota: 821   Turnout: 6,793 (49.16%)  

Area B

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1973: 3 x UUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x NILP, 1 x Loyalist
1977: 2 x UUP, 2 x Alliance, 1 x NILP, 1 x DUP
1973-1977 Change: Alliance and DUP gain from UUP and Loyalist

Ards Area B - 6 seats[2]
Party Candidate FPv% Count
1 2 3 4 5 6
NI Labour Robert Gaw* 14.06% 843 874        
DUP Hugh Boyd 13.01% 780 868        
UUP John Algie* 13.71% 822 861        
UUP William Boal 6.36% 381 415 418.5 512.5 774.5 852.2
Alliance Herbert Gallagher 10.94% 656 667 669.8 685.8 720.8 813.5
Alliance Owen Dorrian* 10.23% 613 621 621 626 638.7 802.4
Unionist Party NI Cecilia Cooke* 8.59% 515 536 537.4 562.4 649.1 733.5
NI Labour William Allen 8.44% 506 515 520.6 541.3 567.3  
UUP Hugh Yeaman 5.24% 314 323 325.1 457.8    
UUP William Spratt 4.80% 288 302 303.4      
Vanguard Robert Brown* 4.62% 277          
Electorate: 15,342   Valid: 5,995 (39.08%)   Spoilt: 232   Quota: 857   Turnout: 6,227 (40.59%)  

Area C

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1973: 2 x UUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Independent Unionist
1977: 1 x UUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x DUP, 1 x Independent Unionist
1973-1977 Change: DUP gain from UUP

Ards Area C - 4 seats[2]
Party Candidate FPv% Count
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
UUP Hamilton McKeag* 19.16% 823 842 869            
Ind. Unionist John Shields 12.11% 520 542 552 558 585 639 1,049    
Alliance Jim McBriar* 10.43% 448 451 452 687 706 779 824 917.84  
DUP Thomas Gourley 13.06% 561 578 701 701 716 747 768 796.56 804.96
UUP Harold Porter 8.10% 348 350 352 356 540 611 681 744.92 793.92
Independent James Middleton 9.73% 418 434 442 452 482 584      
Ind. Unionist James Caughey* 8.20% 352 359 363 365 379        
UUP Adela Hamilton 6.57% 282 284 291 292          
Alliance Alice Rudnitzky 6.08% 261 264 265            
UUUP William Dempster 3.77% 170 187              
Independent Arthur Spence 2.61% 112                
Electorate: 9,514   Valid: 4,295 (45.14%)   Spoilt: 120   Quota: 860   Turnout: 4,415 (46.41%)  

References

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  1. ^ a b "Local Government Elections 1973-1981: Ards". www.ark.ac.uk.
  2. ^ a b c "Local Government Results 1977". EONI. Retrieved 8 July 2021.