1981 Fermanagh District Council election

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20 May 1981 (1981-05-20)

1985 →

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

	First party	Second party	Third party

Party	UUP	Irish Independence	SDLP
Seats won	8	4	4
Seat change	2	4	3

	Fourth party	Fifth party	Sixth party

Party	DUP	Ind. Nationalist	Ind. Republican
Seats won	2	1	1
Seat change	2	0	1

	Seventh party	Eighth party	Ninth party

Party	UUUP	Unity	Independent
Seats won	0	0	0
Seat change	3	2	1

Elections to Fermanagh District Council, in Northern Ireland, were held on 20 May 1981, the same day as the other Northern Irish local government elections. The election used five district electoral areas to elect a total of 20 councillors.

Fermanagh District Council Election Result 1981^[1]
	Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
UUP	8	2	0	2	40.0	34.0	10,395	4.0
Irish Independence	4	4	0	4	20.0	22.3	6,867	New
SDLP	4	0	3	3	20.0	17.8	5,436	7.3
DUP	2	2	0	2	10.0	12.3	3,750	12.3
Alliance	0	0	0	0	0.0	1.6	477	0.3
Ind. Nationalist	1	0	0	0	5.0	5.5	1,697	2.9
Ind. Republican	1	1	0	1	5.0	3.5	1,069	3.5
Independent Labour	0	0	0	0	0.0	1.2	362	1.2
Independent	0	0	1	1	0.0	1.7	528	4.5

Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes.

Districts summary

Results of the Fermanagh District Council election, 1981
by district
Ward	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	Total Cllrs
UUP	IIP	SDLP	DUP	Others
Area A	21.3	2	19.6	1	13.8	0	8.3	0	37.0	1	4
Area B	52.0	2	21.5	1	12.4	0	14.1	1	0.0	0	4
Area C	27.6	1	33.7	1	16.5	1	7.9	0	14.3	1	4
Area D	36.8	2	15.8	0	25.9	1	18.6	1	2.9	0	4
Area E	34.3	2	22.5	1	19.9	1	12.6	0	10.7	0	5
Total	34.0	8	22.3	4	17.8	4	12.3	2	13.6	2	20

Districts results

Area A

1977: 1 x UUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x Unity, 1 x Independent
1981: 1 x UUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x IIP, 1 x Independent Republican
1977-1981 Change: IIP gain from Independent, Independent Republican leaves Unity

Fermanagh Area A - 4 seats^[2]
Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
Party		Candidate	FPv%	1	2	3	4	5	6
	UUP	Jack Leahy*	16.29%	1,075	1,076	1,363
	Irish Independence	John McMahon	19.58%	1,292	1,309	1,312	1,312	1,455
	Ind. Republican	John McCusker*	16.20%	1,069	1,085	1,086	1,086.36	1,239.44	1,243.44
	SDLP	Fergus McQuillan	9.52%	628	834	838	838.72	1,005.08	1,025.42
	Ind. Nationalist	Thomas Murray*	12.87%	849	859	860	860	887	889
	DUP	Caroline Madill	8.31%	548	549	576	612.9	616.8
	Independent	Michael McBarron	8.00%	528	544	546	550.32
	UUP	Thomas Johnston	4.99%	329	331
Electorate: 7,737 Valid: 6,598 (85.28%) Spoilt: 136 Quota: 1,320 Turnout: 6,734 (87.04%)

Area B

1977: 2 x UUP, 1 x UUUP, 1 x SDLP
1981: 2 x UUP, 1 x IIP, 1 x DUP
1977-1981 Change: IIP and DUP gain from UUUP and SDLP

Fermanagh Area B - 4 seats^[2]
Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
Party		Candidate	FPv%	1	2	3	4	5	6
	UUP	Cecil Noble*	29.30%	1,660
	Irish Independence	Anthony Cox	21.47%	1,216
	UUP	Norman Brown*	15.75%	892	1,181.85
	DUP	Roy Coulter	9.44%	535	583.05	583.14	826.68	828.3	1,136.3
	SDLP	Thomas Doherty	6.97%	395	395.93	437.06	437.06	746.36	749.36
	UUP	Cyril Crozier	6.99%	396	551	551.99	575.71	580.8
	SDLP	Seamus Carson	5.47%	310	310.93	348.01	350.01
	DUP	Margaret Veitch	4.61%	261	276.5	276.5
Electorate: 6,582 Valid: 5,665 (86.07%) Spoilt: 109 Quota: 1,134 Turnout: 5,774 (87.72%)

Area C

1977: 1 x UUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x Unity, 1 x Independent Nationalist
1981: 1 x UUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x IIP, 1 x Independent Nationalist
1977-1981 Change: Unity joins IIP

Fermanagh Area C - 4 seats^[2]
Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
Party		Candidate	FPv%	1	2	3
	Irish Independence	Patrick McCaffrey*	19.90%	1,178	1,196
	UUP	Wilson Elliott*	15.90%	941	1,215
	Ind. Nationalist	Patrick Flanagan*	14.32%	848	901	1,252
	SDLP	Gerry Gallagher*	13.11%	776	907	1,150
	UUP	Herbert Corrigan	11.71%	693	861	890
	Irish Independence	Annie Cavanagh	13.78%	816	818
	DUP	George Gott	7.91%	468
	SDLP	Patrick McGovern	3.38%	200
Electorate: 6,653 Valid: 5,920 (88.98%) Spoilt: 174 Quota: 1,185 Turnout: 6,094 (91.60%)

Area D

1977: 2 x SDLP, 1 x UUP, 1 x UUUP
1981: 2 x UUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x DUP
1977-1981 Change: UUP gain from SDLP, UUUP joins DUP

Fermanagh Area D - 5 seats^[2]
Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
Party		Candidate	FPv%	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	UUP	Herbert Kerr	19.31%	1,214	1,290
	SDLP	John O'Kane	13.41%	843	868	868	869.98	990.98	1,003.98	1,505.98
	DUP	Bert Johnston*	14.39%	905	921	1,180	1,181.98	1,183.98	1,187.98	1,194.98	1,197.98
	UUP	Caldwell McClaughry	17.08%	1,074	1,117	1,124	1,149.74	1,153.74	1,156.74	1,167.4	1,191.4
	Irish Independence	Gerry O'Donnell	8.65%	544	547	548	548	576	876	992	1,170
	SDLP	John Cunningham	6.30%	396	414	415	416.98	647.98	752.98
	Irish Independence	Patrick Keown	7.13%	448	450	451	451	460
	SDLP	Patrick McGrath	6.22%	391	403	403	403
	DUP	Mariam Cuthbertson	4.23%	266	270
	Alliance	John Haslett	2.85%	179
Electorate: 7,320 Valid: 6,287 (85.89%) Spoilt: 84 Quota: 1,258 Turnout: 6,371 (87.04%)

Area E

1977: 2 x SDLP, 1 x UUP, 1 x UUUP
1981: 2 x UUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x IIP
1977-1981 Change: UUP and IIP gain from SDLP and UUUP

Fermanagh Area E - 4 seats^[2]
Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
Party		Candidate	FPv%	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	UUP	Raymond Ferguson*	18.26%	1,116	1,124	1,225
	SDLP	James Lunny*	8.49%	519	629	694	790	795	1,294
	Irish Independence	Patrick O'Reilly	13.50%	825	836	844	931	931	984	1,558
	UUP	Samuel Foster	9.21%	563	570	596	603	996	1,001	1,006	1,041
	DUP	Nigel Dodds	12.55%	767	768	772	781	813	815	823	837
	Irish Independence	Edward Bermingham	8.97%	548	552	553	623	624	639
	SDLP	James Donnelly*	7.46%	456	512	532	608	609
	UUP	Alwin Loane	6.79%	415	421	436	440
	Independent Labour	Thomas Campbell	5.92%	362	384	425
	Alliance	Marjorie Moore	4.88%	298	313
	SDLP	Roy Tarbotton	3.96%	242
Electorate: 7,934 Valid: 6,111 (77.02%) Spoilt: 142 Quota: 1,223 Turnout: 6,253 (78.81%)

v t e Council elections in County Fermanagh
Fermanagh and Omagh District Council	2014 2019 2023
Fermanagh District Council	1973 1977 1981 1985 1989 1993 1997 2001 2005 2011 Abolished
Fermanagh County Council	1899 1901 1905 1908 1911 1914 1920 1924 1936 1946 1949 1952 1955 1958 1961 1964 1967 Abolished

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