2023 Mid Ulster District Council election

Main article: 2023 Northern Ireland local elections

2023 Mid Ulster District Council election

←  2019 18 May 2023 2027 →
All 40 council seats 21 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Leader Michelle O'Neill [n 1] Jeffrey Donaldson Colum Eastwood Party Sinn Féin DUP SDLP Seats before 17 9 6 Seats won 19 11 5 Seat change 2 2 1 Popular vote 31,834 14,045 5,660 Percentage 47.2% 20.8% 8.4% Swing 7.4% 2.4% 6.0%   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader Doug Beattie Party Independent UUP Seats before 2 6 Seats won 3 2 Seat change 1 4 Popular vote 5,230 4,908 Percentage 7.8% 7.3% Swing 2.0% 6.3%
Council control before election No overall control Council control after election TBC

The 2023 election to Mid Ulster District Council was scheduled and held on 18 May 2023, alongside other local elections in Northern Ireland, two weeks after local elections in England. ^[1] The Northern Ireland elections were delayed by 2 weeks to avoid overlapping with the coronation of King Charles III. ^[2]

They returned 40 members to the council via Single Transferable Vote.

Election results

Mid Ulster District Council Election Result 2023

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Sinn Féin	19	2	0	2	47.50	47.16	31,834	7.31
	DUP	11	2	0	2	27.50	20.81	14,045	2.37
	SDLP	5	1	2	1	12.50	8.38	5,660	6.02
	Independent	3 (a)	1	0	1	7.50	7.75	5,230	1.96
	UUP	2	0	4	4	5.00	7.27	4,908	6.30
	TUV	0	0	0	0	0.00	3.97	2,682	3.58
	Alliance	0	0	0	0	0.00	2.82	1,904	1.59
	Aontú	0	0	0	0	0.00	1.44	974	0.01
	Labour Alternative	0	0	0	0	0.00	0.40	268	New
Total		40						67,505

Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes.

• (a) The three independents identify themselves as Independent Republican.
• The electorate was 105,819 , the turnout 68,361 (64.60%) and there was 856 spoilt votes.

Districts summary

Results of the 2023 Mid Ulster District Council election
by district

District Electoral Area (DEA)	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	Total cllrs
	Sinn Féin		DUP		SDLP		UUP		TUV		Alliance		Independents and others
Carntogher	65.47	4 1	13.69	1	9.39	0 1	0.00	0	6.00	0	0.00	0	5.45	0	5
Clogher Valley	35.79	2	30.04	2	9.74	0 1	11.74	1	0.00	0	0.00	0	12.68	1 1	6
Cookstown	49.99	3	19.61	2 1	7.48	1	11.94	1 1	6.44	0	4.12	0	0.43	0	7
Dungannon	28.39	2 1	28.64	2	6.25	1	5.48	0 1	3.11	0	4.90	0	23.13	1	6
Magherafelt	43.68	2	25.55	2	9.74	1	7.11	0	8.13	0	5.79	0	0.00	0	5
Moyola	57.21	3	17.07	1	7.11	1 1	6.47	0 1	5.67	0	2.70	0	3.79	0	5
Torrent	51.61	3	11.00	1 1	9.04	1	6.72	0 1	0.00	0	2.67	0	18.97	1	6
Total	47.16	19 2	20.81	11 2	8.39	5 1	7.27	2 4	3.97	0	2.82	0	9.59	3 1	40

District results

Carntogher

2019: 3 x Sinn Féin, 1 x SDLP, 1 x DUP

2023: 4 x Sinn Féin, 1 x DUP

2019–2023 Change: Sinn Féin gain from SDLP

Carntogher - 5 seats ^[3]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	Sinn Féin	Brian McGuigan*	21.62%	1,909
	Sinn Féin	Sean McPeake*	17.44%	1,540
	Sinn Féin	Paddy Kelly	11.88%	1,049	1,397.26	1,407.10	1,518.10
	Sinn Féin	Córa Corry*	14.53%	1,283	1,335.36	1,381.20	1,472.62
	DUP	Kyle Black*	13.69%	1,209	1,209.00	1,209.04	1,227.04	1,681.04
	SDLP	Martin Kearney*	9.39%	829	843.08	847.52	979.00	994.00
	TUV	James Artt	6.00%	530	530.00	530.00	533.00
	Aontú	Noreen McEldowney	5.45%	481	486.06	487.38
Electorate: 12,744  Valid: 8,830 (69.29%)  Spoilt: 81  Quota: 1,472  Turnout: 8,911 (69.92%)

Clogher Valley

2019: 2 x DUP, 2 x Sinn Féin, 1 x UUP, 1 x SDLP

2023: 2 x DUP, 2 x Sinn Féin, 1 x UUP, 1 x Ind (Rep)

2019–2023 Change: Ind (Rep) gain from SDLP

Clogher Valley - 6 seats ^[3]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	DUP	Frances Burton*	15.43%	1,656
	DUP	Mark Robinson*	14.61%	1,568
	Sinn Féin	Gael Gildernew	13.75%	1,475	1,475.91	1,720.91
	Independent	Kevin McElvogue	12.68%	1,361	1,361.56	1,567.56
	Sinn Féin	Eugene McConnell	11.29%	1,212	1,212.07	1,408.07	1,497.32	1,497.36
	UUP	Meta Graham*	11.74%	1,260	1,367.59	1,452.36	1,458.31	1,487.83
	Sinn Féin	Sean McGuigan*	10.75%	1,154	1,154.21	1,327.35	1,417.45	1,417.47
	SDLP	Sharon McAleer*	9.74%	1,045	1,046.82
Electorate: 15,846  Valid: 10,731 (67.72%)  Spoilt: 108  Quota: 1,534  Turnout: 10,839 (68.40%)

Cookstown

2019: 3 x Sinn Féin, 2 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x SDLP

2023: 3 x Sinn Féin, 2 x DUP, 1 x UUP, 1 x SDLP

2019–2023 Change: DUP gain from UUP

Cookstown - 7 seats ^[3]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
	Sinn Féin	Cathal Mallaghan* †	20.97%	2,157
	Sinn Féin	John McNamee*	17.21%	1,771
	Sinn Féin	Gavin Bell*	11.81%	1,215	2,010.20
	SDLP	Kerri Martin*	7.48%	769	813.80	1,013.00	1,381.48
	DUP	Wilbert Buchanan*	12.14%	1,249	1,249.80	1,249.80	1,250.74	1,252.74	1,252.74	1,360.74
	UUP	Trevor Wilson*	6.82%	702	702.40	702.40	708.04	708.04	712.64	983.27	1,002.87	1,201.33
	DUP	Eva Cahoon	7.47%	768	768.00	768.00	769.41	769.41	769.41	843.41	886.81	919.54
	TUV	Timothy Hagan	6.44%	663	663.00	663.80	667.56	669.56	670.02	707.02	716.12	740.19
	Alliance	Chris Hillcox	4.12%	424	435.60	480.40	569.70	598.25	684.96	711.89	713.29
	UUP	Mark Glasgow*	5.11%	526	527.60	530.00	530.47	531.47	532.39
	Independent	Louise Taylor	0.43%	44	46.40	51.60	62.41
Electorate: 17,175  Valid: 10,288 (59.90%)  Spoilt: 145  Quota: 1,287  Turnout: 10,433 (60.75%)

Dungannon

2019: 2 x DUP, 1 x Sinn Féin, 1 x UUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x Independent (Rep)

2023: 2 x DUP, 2 x Sinn Féin, 1 x SDLP, 1 x Independent (Rep)

2019–2023 Change: Sinn Féin gain from UUP

Dungannon - 6 seats ^[3]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
	DUP	Clement Cuthbertson*	21.81%	2,096
	Sinn Féin	Dominic Molloy*	15.81%	1,519
	DUP	James Burton	6.83%	656	1,198.30	1,198.57	1,200.57	1,218.57	1,407.57
	Sinn Féin	Deirdre Varsani	12.58%	1,219	1,219.00	1,325.65	1,347.37	1,363.37	1,366.37	1,414.37
	Independent	Barry Monteith*	12.28%	1,180	1,181.02	1,185.70	1,211.79	1,274.79	1,275.79	1,310.88	1,868.88
	SDLP	Karol McQuade	6.25%	601	604.06	615.67	636.12	684.21	687.89	913.92	979.17	1,139.17
	UUP	Ian Irwin	5.48%	527	588.54	588.72	589.72	617.46	781.69	907.47	911.47	913.47
	Independent	Marian Vincent	6.54%	628	628.00	632.59	654.68	673.77	675.86	699.86
	Alliance	Claire Hackett	4.90%	471	478.14	480.21	489.30	549.98	556.02
	TUV	Kinley Tenner	3.11%	299	385.70	385.88	396.22	398.90
	Labour Alternative	Gerry Cullen	2.79%	268	273.78	274.05	285.39
	Aontú	Denise Mullen*	1.52%	146	147.36	148.98
Electorate: 16,325  Valid: 9,610 (58.87%)  Spoilt: 201  Quota: 1,373  Turnout: 9,811 (60.10%)

Magherafelt

2019: 2 x Sinn Féin, 2 x DUP, 1 x SDLP

2023: 2 x Sinn Féin, 2 x DUP, 1 x SDLP

2019–2023 Change: No change

Magherafelt - 5 seats ^[3]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	Sinn Féin	Darren Totten*	25.15%	2,077
	Sinn Féin	Sean Clarke*	18.53%	1,530
	SDLP	Christine McFlynn*	9.74%	804	1,336.40	1,457.24
	DUP	Paul McLean*	13.84%	1,143	1,146.96	1,147.68	1,147.92	1,283.92	1,616.92
	DUP	Wesley Brown*	11.71%	967	967.88	967.88	967.88	1,230.32	1,526.32
	Alliance	Padraic Farrell	5.79%	478	628.04	650.36	706.64	779.92	786.92
	TUV	Raymond Love	8.13%	671	673.64	673.88	674.24	767.80
	UUP	Ian Brown	7.11%	587	589.64	589.88	591.20
Electorate: 13,741  Valid: 8,257 (60.09%)  Spoilt: 58  Quota: 1,377  Turnout: 8.315 (60.51%)

Moyola

2019: 3 x Sinn Féin, 1 x DUP, 1 x UUP

2023: 3 x Sinn Féin, 1 x DUP, 1 x SDLP

2019–2023 Change: SDLP gain from UUP

Moyola - 5 seats ^[3]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	Sinn Féin	Ian Milne*	24.24%	2,219
	Sinn Féin	Jolene Groogan	20.47%	1,874
	DUP	Anne Forde*	17.07%	1,563
	Sinn Féin	Donal McPeake*	12.50%	1,144	1,775.47
	SDLP	Denise Johnston	7.11%	651	676.73	888.70	1,022.20	1,220.96	1,221.14	1,227.91	1,486.61
	UUP	Derek McKinney*	6.47%	592	592.93	594.98	595.88	631.30	658.68	1,108.52	1,112.86
	Aontú	Sheila Fullerton	3.79%	347	368.39	445.88	528.98	558.06	558.38	561.46
	TUV	Glenn Moore	5.67%	519	519.31	519.72	519.72	523.43	536.29
	Alliance	Caleb Ross	2.70%	247	251.03	299.82	325.32
Electorate: 13,524  Valid: 9,156 (67.70%)  Spoilt: 90  Quota: 1,527  Turnout: 9,246 (68.37%)

Torrent

2019: 3 x Sinn Féin, 1 x SDLP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Independent (Rep)

2023: 3 x Sinn Féin, 1 x SDLP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Independent (Rep)

2019–2023 Change: DUP gain from UUP

Torrent - 6 seats ^[3]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	Sinn Féin	Eimear Carney	15.78%	1,678
	Sinn Féin	Niall McAleer*	15.67%	1,666
	Independent	Dan Kerr*	13.12%	1,395	1,431.00	1,443.69	1,994.96
	DUP	Jonathan Buchanan	11.00%	1,170	1,181.00	1,181.09	1,182.09	1,186.09	1,823.09
	SDLP	Malachy Quinn*	9.04%	961	1,084.00	1,093.63	1,113.90	1,170.90	1,244.90	1,434.90	1,448.42
	Sinn Féin	Nuala McLernon	10.79%	1,147	1,161.00	1,182.87	1,195.05	1,243.05	1,243.05	1,245.05	1,349.13
	Sinn Féin	Paul Kelly	9.37%	996	1,012.00	1,117.30	1,155.57	1,288.57	1,291.66	1,296.66	1,310.34
	UUP	Robert Colvin*	6.72%	714	777.00	777.09	777.09	777.09
	Independent	Teresa Quinn	5.85%	622	628.00	628.90
	Alliance	Simon Graham	2.67%	284
Electorate: 16,464  Valid: 10,633 (64.58%)  Spoilt: 173  Quota: 1,520  Turnout: 10,806 (65.63%)

Changes during the term

† Co-options

Date co-opted	Electoral Area	Party		Outgoing	Co-optee	Reason
17 July 2024	Cookstown		Sinn Féin	Cathal Mallaghan	Donna Mullin	Cathal Mallaghan elected as the Member of Parliament for Mid Ulster in the 2024 general election. [4]

Notes

1. The leader of Sinn Féin is Mary Lou McDonald, who sits as a TD in the Irish Dáil Éireann for Dublin Central. O'Neill is the leader of the party in Northern Ireland.

References

1. "Local government elections in Northern Ireland". www.electoralcommission.org.uk. Retrieved 2022-05-19.
2. "NI council election moved to avoid coronation clash". BBC News. 21 December 2022. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
3. "Northern Ireland council election: List of all the candidates in the May 2023 poll". Belfast Live. Retrieved 2023-05-06.
4. "New Councillor - Cookstown District Electoral Area".