1977 Armagh District Council election

Main article: Northern Ireland local elections, 1977

1977 Armagh District Council election

←  1973 18 May 1977 (1977-05-18) 1981  →
All 20 seats to Armagh District Council 11 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Party Ulster Unionist SDLP DUP Seats won 9 7 2 Seat change 2 2 0   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Party UUUP Independent Nationalist Alliance Seats won 1 1 0 Seat change 1 1 1   Seventh party   Party Independent Seats won 0 Seat change 1

Elections to Armagh District Council were held on 18 May 1977 on the same day as the other Northern Irish local government elections. The election used four district electoral areas to elect a total of 20 councillors.

Election results

Armagh District Council Election Result 1977 ^[1]

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Ulster Unionist	9	0	2	2	45.0	38.8	8,116	6.6
	SDLP	7	2	0	2	35.0	30.3	6,341	7.6
	DUP	2	0	0	0	10.0	12.8	2,665	1.5
	UUUP	1	1	0	1	5.0	4.5	932	New
	Independent Nationalist	1	1	0	1	5.0	4.0	839	4.0
	Alliance	0	0	1	1	0.0	6.4	1,332	1.4
	Republican Clubs	0	0	0	0	0.0	2.4	507	2.3
	Independent	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.8	169	4.1

Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes.

Districts summary

^[1]

Results of the Armagh District Council election, 1977
by district

Ward	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	Total Cllrs
	UUP		SDLP		DUP		UUUP		Others
Area A	37.2	2	33.2	1	23.0	1	6.6	0	0.0	0	4
Area B	47.1	3	15.4	1	20.7	1	9.8	1	7.0	0	6
Area C	36.9	2	51.7	3	0.0	0	0.0	0	11.4	0	5
Area D	30.5	2	28.5	2	7.0	0	0.0	0	34.0	1	5
Total	38.8	9	30.3	7	12.8	2	4.5	1	13.6	1	20

Districts results

Area A

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

Armagh Area A - 4 seats ^[2]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4
	DUP	Douglas Hutchinson *	23.00%	821
	Ulster Unionist	Mary Huey*	19.27%	688	785
	Ulster Unionist	Samuel Foster*	17.93%	640	738
	SDLP	Francis McIlvanna	17.70%	632	633	650	651
	SDLP	Francis Kernan	15.49%	553	561	598	605
	UUUP	Noel Lyttle	6.61%	236
Electorate: 5,767  Valid: 3,570 (61.90%)  Spoilt: 222  Quota: 715  Turnout: 3,792 (65.75%)

Area B

1973: 4 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x SDLP
1977: 3 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x UUUP
1973-1977 Change: UUUP gain from UUP

Armagh Area B - 6 seats ^[2]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	Ulster Unionist	William Henning*	16.55%	1,177
	SDLP	Seamus Mallon *	15.35%	1,092
	DUP	Thomas Black*	15.14%	1,077
	Ulster Unionist	William McClelland	13.51%	961	1,044.85
	UUUP	Francis Little	7.79%	554	561.93	562.23	572.43	659.79	662.24	977.33	988.36
	Ulster Unionist	Jim Speers	9.86%	701	727.39	727.49	729.49	745.3	754.15	807.96	895.12
	Ulster Unionist	George Parks	7.21%	513	539.65	539.85	544.5	555.78	572.53	622.83	794.32
	Alliance	James McAfee	4.37%	311	311.91	360.31	360.51	361.51	530.1	530.1
	DUP	Mervyn Spratt	5.58%	397	398.69	398.69	430.34	454.26	455.46
	Alliance	Christina Glendinning	2.64%	188	190.6	210.7	211.5	214.65
	UUUP	David Robb	2.00%	142	143.43	143.43	147.03
Electorate: 10,579  Valid: 7,113 (67.24%)  Spoilt: 257  Quota: 1,017  Turnout: 7,370 (69.67%)

Area C

1973: 2 x SDLP, 2 x UUP, 1 x Alliance
1977: 3 x SDLP, 2 x UUP
1973-1977 Change: SDLP gain from Alliance

Armagh Area C - 5 seats ^[2]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4
	Ulster Unionist	Eleanor Boyd	23.24%	1,153
	SDLP	Patrick Fegan*	19.27%	956
	SDLP	James McKernan	17.66%	876
	Ulster Unionist	Jim Nicholson	13.71%	680	985.08
	SDLP	Joseph Fullerton	14.82%	735	737.61	741.09	851.13
	Alliance	Eugene Connolly*	11.31%	561	575.21	691.5	708.3
Electorate: 7,216  Valid: 4,961 (68.75%)  Spoilt: 280  Quota: 827  Turnout: 5,241 (72.63%)

Area D

1973: 3 x UUP, 2 x SDLP
1977: 2 x UUP, 2 x SDLP, 1 x Independent Nationalist
1973-1977 Change: SDLP gain from UUP, Independent Nationalist leaves SDLP

Armagh Area D - 6 seats ^[2]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
	Ulster Unionist	Frederick Armstrong*	19.17%	1,008
	Independent Nationalist	Bernard McManus*	15.96%	839	839.78	866.91	866.91	896.91
	SDLP	Oliver Tobin*	13.05%	686	686	711	712.13	784.52	981.52
	Ulster Unionist	Norman Creswell*	7.51%	395	481.84	485.84	697.65	807.47	808.47	1,124.47
	SDLP	Pat Brannigan	9.76%	513	513.78	528.78	531.78	555.91	658.04	660.3	673.3	765.7
	Republican Clubs	Patrick Houlahan	9.64%	507	507	546	547	553	582	583.39	590.39	602.39
	DUP	Letitia McClenaghan	7.04%	370	374.42	374.55	385.72	394.24	394.24
	SDLP	James McAvinchey	5.67%	298	298.26	317.26	318.26	339.39
	Alliance	Norah Dawson	5.17%	272	274.73	302.99	309.03
	Ulster Unionist	Robert Mercer*	3.80%	200	233.41	237.54
	Independent Labour	Paddy Grimes	3.21%	169	169.65
Electorate: 8,619  Valid: 5,257 (60.99%)  Spoilt: 240  Quota: 877  Turnout: 5,497 (63.78%)

References

1. "Local Government Election 1973-1981: Armagh". www.ark.ac.uk.
2. "Local Government Results 1977". EONI. Retrieved 25 July 2021.