1997 Down District Council election

Main article: Northern Ireland local elections, 1997

1997 Down District Council election

←  1993 21 May 1997 (1997-05-21) 2001  →
All 23 seats to Down District Council 12 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Party SDLP Ulster Unionist DUP Seats won 12 6 2 Seat change 1 1 1   Fourth party Fifth party   Party Sinn Féin NI Women's Coalition Seats won 2 1 Seat change 2 1

Elections to Down District Council were held on 21 May 1997 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.

Election results

Down District Council Election Result 1997 ^[1]

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	SDLP	12	2	1	1	52.2	46.0	10,481	5.2
	Ulster Unionist	6	0	1	1	26.1	24.1	5,507	4.4
	DUP	2	0	1	1	8.7	11.9	2,724	2.0
	Sinn Féin	2	2	0	2	8.7	7.6	1,724	4.4
	NI Women's Coalition	1	1	0	1	4.3	1.9	430	New
	Alliance	0	0	0	0	0.0	3.7	850	0.1
	Ind. Unionist	0	0	0	0	0.0	2.3	521	2.3
	Labour Coalition	0	0	0	0	0.0	1.4	327	New
	Workers' Party	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.6	132	0.0
	Green (NI)	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.5	113	0.5

Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes.

Districts summary

^[1]

Results of the Down District Council election, 1997
by district

Ward	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	Total Cllrs
	SDLP		UUP		DUP		Sinn Féin		NIWC		Others
Ballynahinch	46.8	3	24.0	1	24.9	1	4.3	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	5
Downpatrick	61.0	5	13.2	1	0.0	0	10.8	1	0.0	0	15.0	0	7
Newcastle	47.2	3	17.6	1	9.4	0	14.2	1	7.4	1	4.2	0	6
Rowallane	26.6	1	43.9	3	15.1	1	0.0	0	0.0	0	14.4	0	5
Total	46.0	12	24.1	6	11.9	2	7.6	2	1.9	1	8.5	0	23

Districts results

Ballynahinch

1993: 2 x SDLP, 2 x UUP, 1 x DUP
1997: 3 x SDLP, 1 x UUP, 1 x DUP
1993-1997 Change: SDLP gain from UUP

Ballynahinch - 5 seats ^[2]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	DUP	William Alexander*	24.91%	1,362
	SDLP	Patrick Toman*	21.89%	1,197
	Ulster Unionist	Harvey Bicker	18.11%	990
	SDLP	Anne Marie McAleenan*	17.39%	951
	SDLP	Francis Casement	7.48%	409	413.2	672.64	821.91	823.11	856.51
	Ulster Unionist	John Reid	5.94%	325	769.5	772.62	776.86	851.5	852.06
	Sinn Féin	John Smyth	4.28%	234	234.7	249.58
Electorate: 9,536  Valid: 5,468 (57.34%)  Spoilt: 110  Quota: 912  Turnout: 5,578 (58.49%)

Downpatrick

1993: 6 x SDLP, 1 x UUP
1997: 5 x SDLP, 1 x Sinn Féin, 1 x UUP
1993-1997 Change: Sinn Féin gain from SDLP

Downpatrick - 7 seats ^[2]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
	SDLP	John Doris*	16.17%	991
	SDLP	Peter Craig	14.98%	918
	Ulster Unionist	Jack McIlheron*	13.09%	802
	SDLP	Dermot Curran*	12.20%	748	841.15
	SDLP	Owen Adams*	7.78%	477	534.5	580.91	622.71	623.31	626.13	657.29	764.52	806.52
	Sinn Féin	Patrick McGreevy	10.75%	659	664.29	668.88	670.4	670.4	674.1	700.09	712.23	757.15
	SDLP	Gerard Mahon	6.80%	417	431.03	455.17	465.24	465.78	469.03	476.89	623.69	654.46
	Alliance	Michael Healy	7.03%	431	437.44	444.41	448.02	472.62	476.25	536.88	542.1	594.88
	Labour Coalition	Patrick O'Connor	4.10%	251	253.53	255.23	255.99	256.83	269.39	323.38	329.61
	SDLP	John Irvine	3.08%	189	225.34	277.87	291.36	291.66	293.29	307.26
	Green (NI)	Keith Bradford	1.84%	113	116.45	118.49	119.82	122.76	123.22
	Workers' Party	Desmond O'Hagan	0.93%	57	57.92	59.28	59.47	59.65	59.88
	Labour Coalition	Edna Furey	0.67%	41	41.92	43.62	44.19	47.49	53.72
	Labour Coalition	Michael Kearney	0.57%	35	37.53	43.14	43.71	44.07
Electorate: 12,631  Valid: 6,129 (48.52%)  Spoilt: 80  Quota: 767  Turnout: 6,209 (49.16%)

Newcastle

1993: 4 x SDLP, 1 x UUP, 1 x DUP
1997: 3 x SDLP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Sinn Féin, 1 x Women's Coalition
1993-1997 Change: Sinn Féin and Women's Coalition gain from SDLP and DUP

Newcastle - 6 seats ^[2]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
	SDLP	Eamon O'Neill *	15.63%	913
	Sinn Féin	Hugh McDowell	14.22%	831	837
	Ulster Unionist	Gerald Douglas*	13.23%	773	775	792	1,009
	SDLP	Carmel O'Boyle	12.24%	715	733	755	758	758.99	1,006.99
	SDLP	Peter Fitzpatrick*	12.08%	706	711	723	723	724.98	870.98
	NI Women's Coalition	Anne Carr	7.36%	430	451	532	540	565.74	605.73	672.73	748.13	779.13
	DUP	Stanley Priestley	9.45%	552	552	554	588	729.57	731.56	732.56	733.08	734.08
	SDLP	Frances Flynn*	7.22%	422	431	456	459	461.97
	Ulster Unionist	Ronald Richey	4.43%	259	259	271
	Alliance	Adrienne Healy	2.86%	167	175
	Workers' Party	Edward O'Hagan	1.28%	75
Electorate: 10,884  Valid: 5,843 (53.68%)  Spoilt: 115  Quota: 835  Turnout: 5,958 (54.74%)

Rowallane

1993: 3 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x SDLP
1997: 3 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x SDLP
1993-1997 Change: No change

Rowallane - 5 seats ^[2]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	SDLP	Margaret Ritchie *	19.44%	1,044
	Ulster Unionist	Samuel Osborne*	15.76%	846	847.96	888.24	1,105.24
	DUP	William Dick*	15.09%	810	810.56	819.56	963.56
	Ulster Unionist	Albert Colmer*	15.22%	817	817.84	865.26	899.26
	Ulster Unionist	William Biggerstaff*	12.94%	695	695.28	734.28	801.56	925.56
	SDLP	John Moffat	7.15%	384	516.58	584.82	602.52	605.52
	Ind. Unionist	William Walker	9.70%	521	522.82	543.96
	Alliance	Barry Corscadden	4.69%	252	255.5
Electorate: 10,036  Valid: 5,369 (53.50%)  Spoilt: 78  Quota: 895  Turnout: 5,447 (54.27%)

References

1. "Down Council Elections, 1993-2011". www.ark.ac.uk.
2. "Local Government Results 1997". EONI. Retrieved 27 July 2021.