2001 Ards Borough Council election

Main article: Northern Ireland local elections, 2001

Elections to Ards Borough Council were held on 7 June 2001 on the same day as the other Northern Irish local government elections. The election used four district electoral areas to elect a total of 23 councillors.

2001 Ards Borough Council election

7 June 2001 (2001-06-07)
All 23 seats to Ards Borough Council 12 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Leader Ian Paisley David Trimble Seán Neeson Party DUP UUP Alliance Seats won 9 8 4 Seat change 4 2 1 Percentage 37.0% 31.7% 16.7% Swing 14.4% 7.9% 4.4%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader John Hume N/A Party SDLP Independent Ind. Unionist Seats won 1 1 0 Seat change 0 1 2 Percentage 3.9% 9.8% Swing 0.7% 8.2%
2001 Ards Borough Council Election Results, shaded by plurality of First Preference Votes.

Election results

Ards Borough Council Election Result 2001

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	DUP	9	4	0	4	39.1	37.0	8,133	14.4
	UUP	8	0	2	2	34.8	31.7	6,968	7.9
	Alliance	4	0	1	1	17.4	16.7	3,668	4.4
	Independent	1	1	0	1	4.3	9.8	2,135	8.2
	SDLP	1	0	0	0	4.3	3.9	860	0.7
	NI Conservatives	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.9	190	0.9

Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes.

Districts summary

Results of the Ards Borough Council election, 2001
by district

Ward	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	Total Cllrs
	DUP		UUP		Alliance		SDLP		Others
Ards East	N/A	2	N/A	3	N/A	1	N/A	0	N/A	0	6
Ards West	36.9	3	42.2	2	18.5	1	0.0	0	2.4	0	6
Newtownards	37.5	2	33.3	2	12.2	1	0.0	0	17.0	0	6
Peninsula	36.8	2	17.9	1	19.2	1	12.5	1	13.6	0	5
Total	37.0	9	31.7	8	16.7	4	3.9	1	10.7	0	23

Districts results

Ards East

1997: 4 x UUP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Alliance
2001: 3 x DUP, 2 x DUP, 1 x Alliance
1997-2001 Change: DUP gain from UUP

Ards East - 6 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1
	Alliance	Linda Cleland*	N/A	N/A
	UUP	Ronald Ferguson*	N/A	N/A
	DUP	Hamilton Gregory*	N/A	N/A
	UUP	Jeffrey Magill*	N/A	N/A
	UUP	John Shields*	N/A	N/A
	DUP	Terence Williams	N/A	N/A
Electorate: N/A   Valid: N/A   Spoilt: N/A   Quota: N/A   Turnout: N/A

• As only six candidates had been nominated for six seats, there was no vote in Ards East and all six candidates were deemed elected.

Ards West

1997: 3 x UUP, 2 x Alliance, 1 x DUP
2001: 3 x DUP, 2 x UUP, 1 x Alliance
1997-2001 Change: DUP (two seats) gain from UUP and Alliance

Ards West - 6 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	UUP	Robert Gibson*	30.56%	2,454
	DUP	Margaret Craig*	15.32%	1,230
	UUP	Philip Smith	7.78%	625	1,516.55
	DUP	William Montgomery	12.94%	1,039	1,098.95	1,100.56	1,117.89	1,124.49	1,175.49
	Alliance	Jim McBriar*	9.41%	756	835.75	840.35	866.23	867.07	1,023.47
	DUP	David Gilmore*	8.63%	693	789.25	794.08	810.63	873.15	1,001.09
	Alliance	Kathleen Coulter*	9.12%	732	791.4	795.08	842.96	843.92	965.11
	UUP	Arthur Spence	3.87%	311	412.75	762.35	829.73	830.93
	NI Conservatives	Christopher Connolly	2.37%	190	205.4	207.01
Electorate: 13,602   Valid: 8,030 (59.04%)   Spoilt: 223   Quota: 1,148   Turnout: 8,253 (60.67%)

Newtownards

1997: 2 x UUP, 2 x Independent Unionist, 1 x DUP, 1 x Alliance
2001: 2 x DUP, 2 x UUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Independent Unionist
1997-2001 Change: DUP gain from Independent Unionist, Independent Unionist becomes Independent

Newtownards - 6 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	DUP	George Ennis*	22.81%	1,608
	UUP	Thomas Hamilton*	18.27%	1,288
	UUP	David Smyth*	15.04%	1,060
	Independent	Wilbert Magill*	12.61%	889	923.2	1,043.2
	Alliance	Alan McDowell*	12.18%	859	863.94	915.32	1,075.9
	DUP	Hamilton Lawther	5.15%	363	838	877.14	944.41	967.66
	DUP	Bobby McBride*	9.52%	671	734.46	779.5	830.96	852.04
	Independent	Nancy Orr	4.43%	312	322.66
Electorate: 12,965   Valid: 7,050 (54.38%)   Spoilt: 218   Quota: 1,008   Turnout: 7,268 (56.06%)

Peninsula

1997: 2 x DUP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x SDLP
2001: 2 x DUP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x SDLP
1997-2001 Change: No change

Peninsula - 5 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	DUP	Jim Shannon*	26.53%	1,824
	Alliance	Kieran McCarthy*	18.71%	1,286
	DUP	Robert Drysdale*	10.25%	705	1,222.92
	SDLP	Daniel McCarthy*	12.51%	860	865.85	899.51	918.84	1,025.08	1,025.88	1,430.88
	UUP	Angus Carson	10.33%	710	748.22	755.81	766.28	864.5	894.8	944.8	1,008.8
	UUP	Paul Carson*	7.56%	520	583.96	593.97	603.82	671.15	710.75	731.42	765.42
	Independent	Joe Boyle	7.65%	526	528.73	543.58	553.75	646.87	648.67
	Independent	Robert Ambrose	3.71%	255	289.32	298.01	307.13
	Independent	James McMullan	2.23%	153	155.73	162.99	166.58
	Alliance	Stephen McSherry	0.51%	35	38.12	85.2
Electorate: 11,849   Valid: 6,874 (58.01%)   Spoilt: 211   Quota: 1,146   Turnout: 7,085 (59.79%)