2023 Mid and East Antrim District Council election

Main article: 2023 Northern Ireland local elections

2023 Mid and East Antrim 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 Jeffrey Donaldson Doug Beattie Naomi Long Party DUP UUP Alliance Last election 15 7 7 Seats won 14 8 7 Seat change 1 1 0 Popular vote 15,627 8,764 9,571 Percentage 30.9% 17.3% 18.9% Swing 1.1% 0.9% 3.1%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Jim Allister Michelle O'Neill [n 1] None Party TUV Sinn Féin Independent Last election 5 2 3 Seats won 5 4 2 Seat change 0 2 1 Popular vote 8,050 4,700 2,205 Percentage 15.9% 9.3% 4.4% Swing 0.7% 2.9% 3.8%
Council control before election No overall control Council control after election Democratic Unionist Party

The 2023 election to Mid and East Antrim District Council was 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.

Controversies

Tyler Hoey was selected as a DUP candidate to contest the 2023 Mid and East Antrim Council elections. In 2020, Hoey 'liked' a social media post commemorating the Greysteel massacre, which stated, "On this day 27 years ago, An Ulster Freedom Fighters Active Service Unit from North Antrim-Londonderry Brigade 'Trick or Treated' its way into the republican Rising Sun bar in Greysteel in order to gain revenge for the Shankill Bombing. Spirit of '93". ^[3] Following this revelation, DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson said that Hoey "deeply regrets some of the things that he said in the past" and that he is "entitled to a second chance." ^[4]

Election results

Mid and East Antrim District Council Election Result 2023

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	DUP	14	0	1	1	32.50	30.90	15,627	1.08
	UUP	8	1	0	1	20.00	17.33	8,764	0.91
	Alliance	7	0	0	0	17.50	18.93	9,571	3.11
	TUV	5	0	0	0	12.50	15.92	8,050	0.70
	Sinn Féin	4	2	0	2	10.00	9.29	4,700	2.89
	Independent	2	0	1	1	5.00	4.36	2,205	3.89
	SDLP	0	0	1	1	0.00	2.01	1,016	0.20
	Green (NI)	0	0	0	0	0.00	0.92	464	0.37
	PUP	0	0	0	0	0.00	0.32	164	0.33
Total		40						50,571

Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes.

Districts summary

Results of the 2023 Mid and East Antrim District Council election
by district

District Electoral Area (DEA)	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	Total cllrs
	DUP		UUP		Alliance		TUV		Sinn Féin		SDLP		Independents and others
Ballymena	23.09	2	13.28	1 1	12.29	1	13.58	1	12.69	1 1	11.03	0 1	14.04	1 1	7
Bannside	23.85	2	10.74	1	8.75	0	39.54	2	14.72	1	2.40	0	0.0	0	6
Braid	35.31	2 1	18.68	1	10.74	1	21.51	2	13.76	1 1	0.0	0	0.0	0	7
Carrick Castle	39.22	2	23.30	2	25.70	1	6.99	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	4.79	0	5
Coast Road	32.65	2	13.3	1	26.23	1	5.79	0	20.08	1	0.0	0	1.95	0	5
Knockagh	31.99	2	19.04	1	25.53	1	5.37	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	18.07	1	5
Larne Lough	32.15	2	25.27	1	32.56	2	6.67	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	3.35	0	5
Total	30.90	14 1	17.33	8 1	18.93	7	15.92	5	9.29	4 2	2.01	0 1	5.60	2 1	40

District results

Ballymena

2019: 2 x DUP, 2 x Independent, 1 x TUV, 1 x SDLP, 1 x Alliance

2023: 2 x DUP, 1 x TUV, 1 x UUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Independent

2019–2023 Change: Sinn Féin and UUP gain from SDLP and Independent

Ballymena - 7 seats ^[5]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4
	Independent	Rodney Quigley*	14.02%	1,023
	TUV	Matthew Armstrong*	13.58%	991
	UUP	Colin Crawford †	13.28%	969
	Sinn Féin	Bréanainn Lyness	12.69%	926
	DUP	Reuben Glover	12.51%	913
	Alliance	John Hyland* †	12.29%	897	913.80
	DUP	Lawrie Philpott ‡	6.33%	462	514.64	831.80	906.90
	SDLP	Eugene Reid*	11.03%	805	816.62	820.04	822.84
	DUP	Andrew Wright	4.25%	310	337.58
Electorate: 16,173  Valid: 7,296 (45.11%)  Spoilt: 40  Quota: 913  Turnout: 7,336 (45.55%)

Bannside

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

2023: 2 x TUV, 2 x DUP, 1 x Sinn Féin, 1 x UUP

2019–2023 Change: No change

Bannside - 6 seats ^[5]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	TUV	Timothy Gaston* †	16.72%	1,468
	TUV	Stewart McDonald*	16.42%	1,442
	Sinn Féin	Ian Friary*	14.72%	1,292
	DUP	Thomas Gordon*	14.31%	1,256
	DUP	Tyler Hoey	9.54%	838	865.45	867.45	892.28	892.43	1,295.83
	UUP	Jackson Minford	10.74%	943	957.1	965.1	983.69	984.14	1,238.67
	Alliance	Jack Gibson	8.75%	768	773.25	961.25	965.02	994.63	1,015.02
	TUV	Anna Henry	6.40%	562	727.75	728.9	862.54	862.75
	SDLP	Morgan Murphy	2.40%	211	211.15
Electorate: 15,197  Valid: 8,780 (57.77%)  Spoilt: 82  Quota: 1,255  Turnout: 8,862 (58.31%)

Braid

2019: 3 x DUP, 2 x TUV, 1 x UUP, 1 x Alliance

2023: 2 x DUP, 2 x TUV, 1 x UUP, 1 x Sinn Féin, 1 x Alliance

2019–2023 Change: Sinn Féin gain from DUP

Braid - 7 seats ^[5]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	Sinn Féin	Archie Rae	13.76%	1,302
	DUP	Beth Adger* †	13.17%	1,246
	DUP	William McCaughey*	12.93%	1,224
	TUV	Christopher Jamieson*	12.63%	1,195
	UUP	Alan Barr	11.18%	1,058	1,059.4	1,612.4
	Alliance	Chelsea Harwood	10.74%	1,016	1,121.6	1,146.1	1,232.1
	TUV	Matthew Warwick	8.88%	840	840.5	940.5	1,128.5	1,134.95	1,146.95	1,152.17	1,162.63
	DUP	Julie Philpott	9.21%	872	872.2	893.2	1,045.2	1,098.6	1,120.6	1,150.87	1,152.04
	UUP	Keith Turner*	7.50%	710	710.9
Electorate: 17,809  Valid: 9,463 (53.14%)  Spoilt: 89  Quota: 1,183  Turnout: 9,552 (53.64%)

Carrick Castle

2019: 2 x DUP, 2 x UUP, 1 x Alliance

2023: 2 x DUP, 2 x UUP, 1 x Alliance

2019–2023 Change: No change

Carrick Castle - 5 seats ^[5]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	Alliance	Lauren Gray*	25.70%	1,607
	DUP	Cheryl Brownlee* †	18.45%	1,154
	DUP	Billy Ashe*	16.47%	1,030	1,047.48
	UUP	Robin Stewart*	12.01%	751	874.50	883.50	926.39	1,021.01	1,048.01
	UUP	Bethany Ferris	11.29%	706	813.92	823.91	849.54	936.77	973.77	1,070.67
	TUV	Frances Henderson	6.99%	437	446.1	455.57	501.56	611.29	617.29	629.07
	Green (NI)	Jenny Hutchinson	2.17%	136	420.62	421.88	425.87	426.97
	DUP	John McDermott*	4.30%	269	272.04	337.83	373.08
	PUP	Jim McCaw	2.62%	164	169.32	175.44
Electorate: 13,886  Valid: 6,254 (45.04%)  Spoilt: 71  Quota: 1,043  Turnout: 6,325 (45.54%)

Coast Road

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

2023: 2 x DUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Sinn Féin, 1 x UUP

2019–2023 Change: No change

Coast Road - 5 seats ^[5]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	Sinn Féin	James McKeown*	20.08%	1,180
	DUP	Andrew Clarke*	18.90%	1,111
	Alliance	Gerardine Mulvenna*	18.61%	1,094
	DUP	Angela Smyth*	13.75%	808	808.42	905.33	912.76	914.06	977.37	1,199.37
	UUP	Maureen Morrow*	7.78%	457	463.93	477.02	489.49	493.69	705.44	828.91	1,006.91
	Alliance	Niamh Spurle	7.62%	448	587.65	588.31	678	776.9	795.02	800.35	801.35
	TUV	Wesley Stevenson	5.79%	340	340.21	347.36	351.99	352.19	383.74
	UUP	Olivia Swan	5.55%	326	326.63	329.38	337.38	339.68
	Green (NI)	Eddie Alcorn	1.92%	113	159.83	160.49
Electorate: 12,799  Valid: 5,877 (45.92%)  Spoilt: 60  Quota: 980  Turnout: 5,937 (46.39%)

Knockagh

2019: 2 x DUP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Independent

2023: 2 x DUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x UUP, 1 x Independent

2019–2023 Change: No change

Knockagh - 5 seats ^[5]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	Independent	Bobby Hadden*	18.22%	1,182
	DUP	Peter Johnston*	17.64%	1,144
	DUP	Marc Collins*	14.35%	931	957.19	1,191.19
	UUP	Andrew Wilson*	12.21%	792	809.19	868.19	1,266.15
	Alliance	Aaron Skinner	13.92%	903	917.58	919.67	954.67	1,075.81
	Alliance	Noel Williams*	11.61%	753	763.53	770.89	788.67	856.48
	UUP	Gary McCabe	6.68%	433	446.23	478.23
	TUV	James Strange	5.37%	348	358.53
Electorate: 13,223  Valid: 6,486 (49.05%)  Spoilt: 59  Quota: 1,082  Turnout: 6,545 (49.50%)

Larne Lough

2019: 2 x DUP, 2 x Alliance, 1 x UUP

2023: 2 x Alliance, 2 x DUP, 1 x UUP

2019–2023 Change: No change

Larne Lough - 5 seats ^[5]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	Alliance	Maeve Donnelly*	21.69%	1,389
	DUP	Gregg McKeen*	18.69%	1,197
	UUP	Roy Beggs Jr	17.78%	1,139
	Alliance	Robert Logan*	10.87%	696	996.15	1,165.15
	DUP	Paul Reid*	13.46%	862	864.53	867.76	972.26	975.26	1,224.26
	UUP	James Carson	7.49%	480	485.06	500.90	506.70	563.70	692.70
	TUV	Ronnie Donnell	6.67%	427	427.23	433.69	441.69	444.69
	Green (NI)	Philip Randle	3.36%	215	223.51
Electorate: 13,744  Valid: 6,405 (46.60%)  Spoilt: 108  Quota: 1,068  Turnout: 6,513 (47.39%)

Changes during the term

† Co-options

Date co-opted	Electoral Area	Party		Outgoing	Co-optee	Reason
8 September 2023	Ballymena		Alliance	John Hyland	Jack Gibson	Hyland resigned. [6]
3 October 2023	Carrick Castle		DUP	Cheryl Brownlee	David Clarke	Brownlee was co-opted to the Northern Ireland Assembly. [7]
23 July 2024	Bannside		TUV	Timothy Gaston	Anna Henry	Gaston was co-opted to the Northern Ireland Assembly. [8]
13 August 2024	Ballymena		UUP	Colin Crawford	Brian Thompson	Crawford was co-opted to the Northern Ireland Assembly. [9]
17 April 2025	Braid		DUP	Beth Adger	Ruth Lawrence	Adger died. [10]

‡ Changes in affiliation

Date	Electoral Area	Name	Previous affiliation		New affiliation		Circumstance
19 January 2024	Carrick Castle	David Clarke		DUP		Independent	Left the DUP following claims of bullying. [11]
15 March 2024	Carrick Castle	David Clarke		Independent		TUV	Joined the TUV. [12]
18 August 2025	Ballymena	Lawrie Philpott		DUP		Independent	Left the DUP, wanting to focus more on local needs than party politics. [13]

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. Patricia Devlin [@trishdevlin] (March 18, 2023). "I wrote about DUP candidate Tyler Hoey almost three years ago. The only thing that is new is the fact he's been selected to run for the DUP in the council elections" (Tweet). Retrieved April 27, 2023– via Twitter.
4. "DUP candidate's social media posts 'indefensible but in the past' – Donaldson– BelfastTelegraph.co.uk". BelfastTelegraph . 20 March 2023. Archived from the original on 20 March 2023. Retrieved 27 April 2023.
5. "Northern Ireland council election: List of all the candidates in the May 2023 poll". Belfast Live. Retrieved 2023-05-06.
6. "New Councillor - Ballymena District Electoral Area".
7. "New Councillor - Carrick Castle DEA".
8. "New Councillor - Bannside District Electoral Area".
9. "New Councillor - Ballymena District Electoral Area".
10. "'Great sadness' over death of DUP mayor Beth Adger". BBC News . 19 March 2025.
11. Hughes, Brendan. "DUP councillor David Clarke quits party over bullying claims". BBC News. Retrieved 2024-01-24.
12. Breen, Suzanne (15 March 2024). "Ex-councillor who quit DUP over 'bullying' says he's proud to join the TUV claims". Belfast Telegraph . Retrieved 15 March 2024.
13. "DUP councillor quits party to 'put people first'". BBC News . 18 August 2025. Retrieved 18 September 2025.