1981 Omagh District Council election

← 1977

20 May 1981 (1981-05-20)

1985 →

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

	First party	Second party	Third party

Party	SDLP	Irish Independence	UUP
Seats won	5	5	4
Seat change	1	5	4

	Fourth party	Fifth party	Sixth party

Party	DUP	Alliance	Ind. Nationalist
Seats won	4	2	0
Seat change	4	1	2

	Seventh party

Party	Republican Clubs
Seats won	0
Seat change	1

Elections to Omagh 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.

Omagh District Council Election Result 1981^[1]
	Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
SDLP	5	0	1	1	25.0	25.0	5,413	4.6
Irish Independence	5	5	0	5	25.0	22.2	4,809	New
UUP	4	0	4	4	20.0	19.5	4,216	16.4
DUP	4	0	0	0	20.0	16.6	3,596	New
Alliance	2	0	1	1	10.0	9.0	1,951	7.0
Independent	0	0	0	0	0.0	2.8	604	2.8
Republican Clubs	0	0	1	1	0.0	1.9	407	2.3
Ind. Republican	0	0	0	0	0.0	1.7	375	1.7
Ind. Unionist	0	0	0	0	0.0	1.2	270	1.2

Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes.

Districts summary

Results of the Omagh District Council election, 1981
by district
Ward	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	Total Cllrs
SDLP	IIP	UUP	DUP	Alliance	Others
Area A	32.2	2	23.3	1	24.5	1	14.8	1	1.6	0	3.6	0	5
Area B	8.7	0	13.8	1	25.4	1	17.0	1	12.6	1	22.5	0	4
Area C	30.3	2	17.9	1	17.4	2	19.3	1	14.1	1	1.0	0	7
Area D	23.6	1	37.7	2	10.2	0	13.8	1	5.6	0	9.1	0	4
Total	25.0	5	22.2	5	19.5	4	16.6	4	9.0	2	7.7	0	20

Districts results

Area A

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

Omagh Area A - 5 seats^[2]
Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
Party		Candidate	FPv%	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	UUP	Arthur McFarland*	15.54%	846	935
	SDLP	Liam McQuaid*	15.43%	840	858	859	1,148
	Irish Independence	Charles McElholm	14.16%	771	778	780	788	799.05	1,151.05
	SDLP	John Skelton*	9.88%	538	550	550	625	841.75	943.75
	DUP	Ivan Foster	8.71%	474	518	800	800	800	807	810
	UUP	William Montgomery	9.00%	490	538	577	577	577	577	580
	Irish Independence	John Fahy	9.11%	496	510	512	520	530.2
	SDLP	Vincent O'Brien	6.91%	376	391	392
	DUP	George Thompson	6.06%	330	345
	Ind. Unionist	Cecil Anderson*	3.60%	196
	Alliance	Dermot McCormick	1.60%	87
Electorate: 6,459 Valid: 5,444 (84.29%) Spoilt: 166 Quota: 908 Turnout: 5,610 (86.86%)

Area B

1977: 2 x UUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Independent Nationalist
1981: 1 x UUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x DUP, 1 x IIP
1977-1981 Change: DUP gain from UUP, Independent Nationalist joins IIP

Omagh Area B - 4 seats^[2]
Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
Party		Candidate	FPv%	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	Irish Independence	Patrick Donnelly*	13.81%	623	623	715	1,014
	UUP	Robert Moses	13.23%	597	616	618	619	619	1,101
	DUP	James McConnell	11.35%	512	709	710	710	710	802.5	966.02
	Alliance	Patrick Bogan*	12.64%	570	570	674	768	825	833	866.6
	Independent	John Mullin	13.39%	604	605	643	742	793.75	794.75	794.75
	UUP	John Hutchinson	12.21%	551	586	587	587	588.5
	Republican Clubs	Tommy Owens	9.02%	407	407	539
	SDLP	Eugene Donnelly	8.71%	393	394
	DUP	William McFarland	5.63%	254
Electorate: 5,332 Valid: 4,511 (84.60%) Spoilt: 120 Quota: 903 Turnout: 4,631 (86.85%)

Area C

1977: 3 x SDLP, 3 x UUP, 1 x Alliance
1981: 2 x SDLP, 2 x UUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x DUP, 1 x IIP
1977-1981 Change: DUP and IIP gain from SDLP and UUP

Omagh Area C - 7 seats^[2]
Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
Party		Candidate	FPv%	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	Irish Independence	Patrick Fahy	15.77%	1,185
	DUP	Oliver Gibson	13.65%	1,026
	SDLP	Bernadette Grant*	10.88%	818	839.84	840.08	843.08	847.18	849.39	????
	Alliance	Aidan Lagan*	9.62%	723	744	744.8	753.8	766.53	769.53	????
	UUP	John Ashenhurst	8.70%	654	654	658.16	668.24	668.24	750.2	????
	UUP	William Thompson	6.08%	457	457	461.72	468.8	468.8	548.2	????
	SDLP	Stephen McKenna*	6.83%	513	526.23	526.39	526.39	536.75	536.75	????
	SDLP	Patrick McGowan	6.60%	496	503.98	503.98	504.98	512.87	512.87	????
	SDLP	Arthur Breen	6.03%	453	464.13	464.13	464.13	471.39	473.39	????
	Alliance	Richard Hinds	4.47%	336	336.42	336.74	337.74	337.74	339.74	????
	DUP	William Caldwell	4.45%	251	251.21	281.77	292.25	292.25	305.81	????
	Irish Independence	Michael Kelly	1.05%	79	179.38	179.38	181.38	273.99	273.99	????
	DUP	James Mitchell	2.30%	173	173	209.8	224.2	224.2	238.92	????
	UUP	Alfred Barnett*	2.58%	194	194.21	196.93	203.93	203.93
	Irish Independence	Francis Loughran	1.10%	83	146.21	146.21	147.21
	Ind. Unionist	Edward Sayers	0.98%	74	74	75.04
Electorate: 10,778 Valid: 7,515 (69.73%) Spoilt: 166 Quota: 940 Turnout: 7,681 (71.27%)

Data missing from stage 7 onwards

Area D

1977: 1 x SDLP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Republican Clubs
1981: 2 x IIP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x DUP
1977-1981 Change: IIP (two seats) and DUP gain from UUP, Alliance and Republican Clubs

Omagh Area D - 7 seats^[2]
Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
Party		Candidate	FPv%	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
	Irish Independence	Francis Conway	23.59%	984
	SDLP	Brendan Martin*	15.42%	643	654.1	691.3	760.4	906.4
	DUP	Willis Cooke	13.81%	576	576.9	576.9	582.9	584.9	584.9	983.9
	Irish Independence	Brian McGrath	7.26%	303	371.4	375.85	382.95	457.5	636.85	642	652	684
	Ind. Republican	Francis McElroy*	8.99%	375	386.1	395.55	448.05	489.85	575.95	583.1	594.1	626.1
	UUP	John Johnston*	10.24%	427	427.6	427.6	466.6	467.6	467.75
	Irish Independence	Patrick Walsh	6.83%	285	312.75	315.2	324.95	325.85
	SDLP	Patrick McCrory	5.39%	225	232.8	282.7	323.2
	Alliance	John Hadden*	5.63%	235	243.7	257.15
	SDLP	John McSherry	2.83%	118	122.05
Electorate: 5,408 Valid: 4,171 (77.13%) Spoilt: 160 Quota: 835 Turnout: 4,331 (80.09%)

v t e Council elections in County Tyrone
Derry City and Strabane District Council	2014 2019 2023
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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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