1981 Strabane District Council election

Main article: Northern Ireland local elections, 1981

Elections to Strabane District Council were held on 20 May 1981 on the same day as the other Northern Irish local government elections. The election used three district electoral areas to elect a total of 15 councillors.

1981 Strabane District Council election

20 May 1981 (1981-05-20)
All 15 seats to Strabane District Council 8 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Party SDLP DUP Ind. Nationalist Seats won 4 4 4 Seat change 1 2 1   Fourth party   Party UUP Seats won 3 Seat change 2

Election results

Strabane District Council Election Result 1981

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Ind. Nationalist	4	1	0	1	26.7	26.1	4,459	11.2
	DUP	4	2	0	2	26.7	25.1	4,287	11.5
	SDLP	4	0	1	1	26.7	22.8	3,889	7.7
	UUP	3	0	2	1	20.0	20.7	3,545	8.8
	Independent	0	0	0	0	0.0	1.9	326	3.0
	Anti H-Block	0	0	0	0	0.0	1.7	296	New
	Alliance	0	0	0	0	0.0	1.7	288	1.3

Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes.

Districts summary

Results of the Strabane District Council election, 1981
by district

Ward	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	Total Cllrs
	DUP		SDLP		UUP		Others
Area A	35.4	2	17.2	1	25.2	1	22.2	1	5
Area B	30.9	2	24.3	1	27.3	1	17.5	1	5
Area C	7.0	0	27.3	2	8.5	1	57.2	2	5
Total	25.1	4	22.8	4	20.7	3	31.4	4	15

Districts results

Area A

1977: 2 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x Independent Nationalist
1981: 2 x DUP, 1 x UUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x Independent Nationalist
1977-1981 Change: DUP gain from UUP

Strabane Area A - 5 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4
	Ind. Nationalist	Denis McCrory*	22.11%	1,320
	DUP	Thomas Kerrigan	20.46%	1,221
	SDLP	Mary McCrea	17.24%	1,029
	DUP	Robert Anderson	9.72%	580	581	602.6	1,070.22
	UUP	Edward Turner*	13.94%	832	882	892.26	908.42
	UUP	Ernest Young*	11.26%	672	738	747.36	754.62
	DUP	David Baird	5.28%	315	321	497.22
Electorate: 7,833   Valid: 5,969 (76.20%)   Spoilt: 193   Quota: 995   Turnout: 6,162 (78.67%)

Area B

1977: 2 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x Independent Nationalist
1981: 2 x DUP, 1 x UUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x Independent Nationalist
1977-1981 Change: DUP gain from UUP

Strabane Area B - 5 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2
	SDLP	John Gallagher*	18.92%	1,101
	Ind. Nationalist	Francis McConnell*	17.44%	1,015
	UUP	Mary Britton*	16.91%	984
	DUP	Samuel Rogers*	16.72%	973
	DUP	George McIntyre*	14.21%	827	832
	UUP	Henry Henderson*	10.43%	607	624
	SDLP	Mary McAleer	5.38%	313
Electorate: 7,050   Valid: 5,820 (82.55%)   Spoilt: 177   Quota: 971   Turnout: 5,997 (85.06%)

Area C

1977: 3 x SDLP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Independent Nationalist
1981: 2 x SDLP, 2 x Independent Nationalist, 1 x UUP
1977-1981 Change: Independent Nationalist gain from SDLP

Strabane Area C - 5 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11
	Ind. Nationalist	James O'Kane	27.52%	1,459
	Ind. Nationalist	John O'Kane*	7.89%	418	818.98	826.8	836.62	857.54	890.18
	SDLP	Paul O'Hare	11.32%	600	659.45	666.27	670.27	682.91	688.32	836.83	902.83
	SDLP	William Flanagan	10.90%	578	599.73	601.14	605.14	610.55	619.78	727.29	790.16	807.96	886.96
	UUP	Robert Fleming*	8.49%	450	450.82	451.82	467.23	472.23	473.23	473.23	475.64	475.94	555.35	562.35
	DUP	Desmond Monteith	7.00%	371	371.41	371.41	377.41	385.41	394.41	394.41	394.41	394.41	397.41	399.41
	Anti H-Block	William Gallagher	5.58%	296	305.84	313.84	313.84	315.84	331.25	333.25	382.89	385.49	385.49
	Alliance	Patrick Wallace	5.43%	288	304.4	308.81	319.22	339.86	343.86	349.09	370.14	374.04
	Ind. Nationalist	John McCrory	4.66%	247	264.63	272.04	276.04	289.09	303.91	312.32
	SDLP	Jane O'Donnell	5.06%	268	280.3	280.71	281.71	288.94	294.94
	Independent	Michael Dunne	2.17%	115	119.92	123.92	131.92	131.92
	Independent	David Fleming	1.81%	96	108.71	109.71	110.71
	Independent	William Crichton	1.36%	72	73.64	73.64
	Independent	John Tracey	0.81%	43	46.28
Electorate: 7,630   Valid: 5,301 (69.48%)   Spoilt: 146   Quota: 884   Turnout: 5,447 (71.39%)