1981 Dungannon District Council election

← 1977

20 May 1981 (1981-05-20)

1985 →

All 20 seats to Dungannon District Council
11 seats needed for a majority

	First party	Second party	Third party

Party	UUP	SDLP	DUP
Seats won	8	3	3
Seat change	0	3	1

	Fourth party	Fifth party	Sixth party

Party	Ind. Nationalist	Ind. Republican	Irish Independence
Seats won	3	2	1
Seat change	2	1	1

	Seventh party

Party	Independent
Seats won	0
Seat change	2

Elections to Dungannon District Council were held on 20 May 1981 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.

Dungannon District Council Election Result 1981^[1]
	Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
UUP	8	1	1	0	40.0	31.0	7,227	7.1
SDLP	3	0	3	3	15.0	20.5	4,786	4.0
DUP	3	1	0	1	15.0	17.7	4,135	0.5
Ind. Nationalist	3	2	0	2	15.0	15.6	3,635	8.9
Ind. Republican	2	1	0	1	10.0	6.8	1,596	4.3
Irish Independence	1	1	0	1	5.0	4.6	1,062	New
Ind. Unionist	0	0	0	0	0.0	2.4	558	2.4
UUUP	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.9	205	0.9
Independent	0	0	2	2	0.0	0.4	104	15.4

Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes.

Districts summary

Results of the Dungannon District Council election, 1981
by district
Ward	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	Total Cllrs
UUP	SDLP	DUP	IIP	Others
Area A	33.3	2	29.4	1	19.4	0	0.0	0	17.9	1	5
Area B	15.4	1	19.0	1	8.3	0	0.0	0	57.3	3	5
Area C	38.2	3	23.0	1	23.7	1	0.0	0	15.1	0	5
Area D	37.7	2	10.3	0	19.9	1	18.8	1	13.3	1	5
Total	31.0	8	20.5	3	17.7	3	4.6	1	26.2	5	20

Districts results

Area A

1977: 2 x UUP, 2 x SDLP, 1 x DUP
1981: 2 x UUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Independent Republican
1977-1981 Change: Independent Republican gain from SDLP

Dungannon Area A - 5 seats^[2]
Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
Party		Candidate	FPv%	1	2	3	4	5	6
	Ind. Republican	Seamus Cassidy*	17.81%	1,057
	UUP	Noel Mulligan	13.43%	797	797.1	1,146.1
	DUP	William McIlwrath*	9.82%	583	583.1	620.1	630.45	1,092.45
	UUP	Samuel Brush	10.67%	633	633.5	784.5	927.15	1,033.05
	SDLP	Anthony McGonnell	14.98%	889	923.1	925.1	925.1	927.1	948.1
	SDLP	John Monaghan	14.43%	856	885	886	886.45	886.45	891.45
	DUP	Frederick Burrows	9.61%	570	570	579	580.35
	UUP	Winston Mulligan*	9.25%	549	549
Electorate: 6,624 Valid: 5,934 (89.58%) Spoilt: 92 Quota: 990 Turnout: 6,026 (90.97%)

Area B

1977: 2 x SDLP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Independent Nationalist, 1 x Independent Republican
1981: 2 x Independent Nationalist, 1 x SDLP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Independent Republican
1977-1981 Change: Independent Nationalist leaves SDLP

Dungannon Area B - 5 seats^[2]
Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
Party		Candidate	FPv%	1	2
	Ind. Nationalist	Jim Canning*	29.18%	1,744
	Ind. Nationalist	Owen Nugent*	19.08%	1,140
	SDLP	Patrick McGlinchey*	19.04%	1,138
	Ind. Republican	John Corr*	9.02%	539	1,275.47
	UUP	Thomas Kempton*	15.36%	918	921.43
	DUP	Abraham White	8.32%	497	498.96
Electorate: 7,753 Valid: 5,976 (77.08%) Spoilt: 210 Quota: 997 Turnout: 6,186 (79.79%)

Area C

1977: 3 x UUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x DUP
1981: 4 x UUP, 1 x SDLP
1977-1981 Change: DUP gain from UUP

Dungannon Area C - 5 seats^[2]
Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
Party		Candidate	FPv%	1	2	3	4	5	6
	SDLP	Patrick Daly*	23.02%	1,324
	UUP	Derek Irwin*	17.06%	981
	DUP	James Ewing	13.53%	778	788.8	848.8	867.2	868.6	1,054.28
	UUP	John Taggart	11.25%	647	669.2	712.4	728.8	730.18	906.1
	UUP	Jim Brady*	9.93%	571	599.8	631	653.8	669.14	848.06
	DUP	Norman Lockhart	10.14%	583	585.4	620.4	638.2	638.82	664.5
	Ind. Unionist	Wilfred Dilworth*	9.70%	558	570.6	602.8	623	623.64
	Independent	William Lucas	1.81%	104	383	386
	UUUP	James McNeill	3.56%	205	212.8
Electorate: 7,091 Valid: 5,751 (81.10%) Spoilt: 125 Quota: 959 Turnout: 5,876 (82.87%)

Area D

1977: 2 x Independent, 1 x UUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x DUP
1981: 2 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x IIP, 1 x Independent Nationalist
1977-1981 Change: UUP and IIP gain from Independent (two seats), Independent Nationalist leaves SDLP

Dungannon Area D - 5 seats^[2]
Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
Party		Candidate	FPv%	1	2	3	4
	DUP	Maurice Morrow*	19.90%	1,124
	UUP	Ken Maginnis	19.21%	1,085
	Irish Independence	Plunkett O'Donnell	18.81%	1,062
	UUP	William Brown*	18.52%	1,046
	Ind. Nationalist	Michael McLoughlin*	13.30%	751	799	835	939.26
	SDLP	Peggy Devlin	10.25%	579	615	700	712.87
Electorate: 7,669 Valid: 5,647 (73.63%) Spoilt: 115 Quota: 942 Turnout: 5,762 (75.13%)

v t e Council elections in County Tyrone
Derry City and Strabane District Council	2014 2019 2023
Fermanagh and Omagh District Council	2014 2019 2023
Mid Ulster District Council	2014 2019 2023
Cookstown District Council	1973 1977 1981 1985 1989 1993 1997 2001 2005 2011 Abolished
Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough Council	1973 1977 1981 1985 1989 1993 1997 2001 2005 2011 Abolished
Omagh District Council	1973 1977 1981 1985 1989 1993 1997 2001 2005 2011 Abolished
Strabane District Council	1973 1977 1981 1985 1989 1993 1997 2001 2005 2011 Abolished

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