1997 Ballymoney Borough Council election

Main article: Northern Ireland local elections, 1997

Elections to Ballymoney Borough Council were held on 21 May 1997 on the same day as the other Northern Irish local government elections. The election used three district electoral areas to elect a total of 16 councillors.

1997 Ballymoney Borough Council election

21 May 1997 (1997-05-21)
All 16 seats to Ballymoney Borough Council 9 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Party DUP UUP SDLP Seats won 6 4 3 Seat change 0 2 0   Fourth party Fifth party   Party Independent Sinn Féin Seats won 2 1 Seat change 1 1

Election results

Ballymoney Borough Council Election Result 1997

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	DUP	6	0	0	0	37.5	32.7	3,102	1.8
	UUP	6	0	2	2	37.5	26.0	2,467	7.5
	SDLP	3	1	1	0	18.8	23.7	2,249	4.8
	Independent	2	1	0	1	12.5	9.8	927	1.9
	Sinn Féin	1	0	0	1	6.3	5.3	508	2.1
	PUP	0	0	0	0	0.0	1.9	180	New
	NI Women's Coalition	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.6	66	New

Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes.

Districts summary

Results of the Ballymoney Borough Council election, 1997
by district

Ward	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	Total Cllrs
	DUP		UUP		SDLP		Sinn Féin		Others
Ballymoney Town	28.5	2	20.9	2	9.2	0	0.0	0	41.4	2	5
Bann Valley	35.2	2	24.6	2	27.4	1	12.8	1	0.0	0	6
Bushvale	33.1	2	33.0	1	32.7	2	0.0	0	1.2	0	5
Total	32.7	6	26.0	6	23.7	3	5.3	1	12.3	2	16

Districts results

Ballymoney Town

1993: 2 x DUP, 2 x UUP, 1 x Independent
1997: 2 x Independent, 2 x DUP, 1 x UUP
1993-1997 Change: Independent gain from UUP

Ballymoney Town - 5 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	DUP	Cecil Cousley*	17.90%	493
	Independent	Robert McComb*	15.72%	433	435	469
	UUP	Tom McKeown*	12.09%	333	334	370	422	438
	Independent	Bill Williamson	9.48%	261	265	274	340	413
	DUP	Samuel McConaghie*	10.64%	293	293	326	344	346
	UUP	James Simpson*	8.79%	242	242	263	326	336
	SDLP	Joan McCaffrey	9.26%	255	269	272	294
	Independent	Colin McVicker	8.46%	233	239	260
	PUP	Jeffrey Balmer	6.54%	180	181
	NI Women's Coalition	Mary McCusker	1.13%	31
Electorate: 5,905   Valid: 2,754 (46.64%)   Spoilt: 53   Quota: 460   Turnout: 2,807 (47.54%)

Bann Valley

1993: 2 x DUP, 2 x UUP, 2 x SDLP
1997: 2 x DUP, 2 x UUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x Sinn Féin
1993-1997 Change: Sinn Féin gain from SDLP

Bann Valley - 6 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	UUP	Joe Gaston*	18.09%	719
	SDLP	Malachy McCamphill*	17.76%	706
	DUP	Robert Halliday*	15.30%	608
	DUP	Robert Wilson*	11.09%	441	454.44	454.63	482.35	743.35
	UUP	John Watt*	6.54%	260	382.85	382.85	385.07	463.49	578.49
	Sinn Féin	Martin O'Neill	12.78%	508	508.21	519.42	519.42	519.42	519.42	519.42
	SDLP	Mary McPoland	9.61%	382	382	502.27	502.27	503.27	503.27	504.27
	DUP	John Finlay	8.83%	351	361.29	361.29	367.11
Electorate: 6,991   Valid: 3,975 (56.86%)   Spoilt: 80   Quota: 568   Turnout: 4,055 (58.00%)

Bushvale

1993: 2 x DUP, 2 x UUP, 1 x SDLP
1997: 2 x DUP, 2 x SDLP, 1 x UUP
1993-1997 Change: SDLP gain from UUP

Bushvale - 5 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	SDLP	Harry Connolly*	26.17%	725
	DUP	Frank Campbell*	17.08%	473
	DUP	Bill Kennedy*	15.99%	443	443.38	450.5	455.52	491.52
	UUP	William Logan*	12.64%	350	351.52	351.98	356.76	456.68	473.68
	SDLP	Francis McCluskey	6.53%	181	429.14	429.16	445.96	445.98	445.98	445.98
	UUP	John Ramsay*	12.31%	341	341	341.56	346.56	425.28	433.28	444.92
	UUP	William Johnston	8.01%	222	222.76	223.88	225.88
	NI Women's Coalition	Joan Cosgrove	1.26%	35	42.6	42.64
Electorate: 5,387   Valid: 2,770 (51.42%)   Spoilt: 49   Quota: 462   Turnout: 2,819 (52.33%)