1985 Down District Council election

Elections to Down District Council were held on 15 May 1985 on the same day as the other Northern Irish local government elections. The election used four district electoral areas to elect a total of 23 councillors.

	Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
SDLP	10	1	0	1	43.5	41.6	9,851	0.5
UUP	7	2	0	2	30.4	30.3	7,167	3.0
DUP	3	0	0	0	13.0	12.2	2,886	0.8
Sinn Féin	2	2	0	2	0.0	6.5	1,549	New
Workers' Party	1	0	0	0	4.3	4.2	993	2.3
Alliance	0	0	1	1	0.0	5.2	1,237	3.2

Ward	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	Total Cllrs
Ward	SDLP		UUP		DUP		Sinn Féin		Workers Party		Others		Total Cllrs
Ballynahinch	40.5	2	33.3	2	18.9	1	0.0	0	0.0	0	7.3	0	5
Downpatrick	57.4	4	16.3	1	0.0	0	9.9	1	9.1	1	7.3	0	7
Newcastle	40.8	3	22.1	1	12.0	1	14.0	1	5.8	0	5.3	0	6
Rowallane	22.4	1	55.7	3	21.9	1	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	5
Total	41.6	10	30.3	7	12.2	3	6.5	1	4.2	1	5.2	0	23

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
Party		Candidate	FPv%	1	2	3	4	5
	SDLP	James Magee*	19.00%	1,020
	UUP	William Brown*	18.70%	1,004
	DUP	Thomas Poole*	13.82%	742	742.24	971.24
	UUP	James Cochrane	14.57%	782	782	822	928
	SDLP	Francis Laverty*	10.36%	556	630.52	630.64	788.12	879.32
	SDLP	Patrick Savage	11.10%	596	635	635	711.48	728.76
	Alliance	Patrick Forde*	7.38%	396	403.44	405.44
	DUP	Stanley Priestley	5.08%	273	273.12
Electorate: 7,947 Valid: 5,369 (67.56%) Spoilt: 111 Quota: 895 Turnout: 5,480 (68.96%)

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
Party		Candidate	FPv%	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
	SDLP	Eddie McGrady*	26.92%	1,886
	UUP	Samuel McCartney	16.28%	1,141
	SDLP	Dermot Curran*	11.50%	806	963.68
	SDLP	Sean Quinn	8.26%	579	976.44
	SDLP	John Ritchie*	6.62%	464	686.48	692.72	696.34	755.7	797.94	803.1	1,008.1
	Sinn Féin	Geraldine Ritchie	9.90%	694	740.44	740.83	750.22	757.22	761.84	762.84	805.15	820.15
	Workers' Party	Raymond Blaney*	7.91%	554	616.1	625.85	685.18	693.86	700.46	710.85	763.26	797.26
	Alliance	Michael Healy	4.40%	308	324.74	406.64	410.89	412.71	414.69	702.8	748.39	782.39
	SDLP	Madge McAvoy	4.08%	286	375.1	377.83	382.91	403.77	434.13	443.45
	Alliance	Margaret Donnelly	2.95%	207	212.94	373.23	375.31	376.43	377.09
	Workers' Party	Alan McCullough	2.95%	82	89.56	93.07
Electorate: 10,997 Valid: 7,007 (63.72%) Spoilt: 159 Quota: 876 Turnout: 7,166 (65.16%)

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
Party		Candidate	FPv%	1	2	3	4	5	6
	UUP	Gerald Douglas*	22.06%	1,350
	Sinn Féin	Hugh McDowell	13.97%	855
	DUP	Ethel Smyth*	11.99%	734	1,117.75
	SDLP	Eamon O'Neill*	13.51%	827	829.52	832.08	924.08
	SDLP	Michael Boyd	13.43%	822	825.24	827.16	890.16
	SDLP	James Curry*	7.25%	444	446.16	448.4	487.4	516.51	843.1
	Alliance	Anthony Dickinson	5.33%	326	396.92	625.36	672.04	677.01	690.15
	SDLP	Peter Fitzpatrick	6.62%	405	405.72	406.36	426.72	441.53
	Workers' Party	Edward O'Hagan	4.17%	255	257.52	259.76
	Workers' Party	Sean Magee	1.67%	102	103.44	103.76
Electorate: 8,978 Valid: 6,120 (68.17%) Spoilt: 135 Quota: 875 Turnout: 6,255 (69.67%)

Districts summary

v t e Council elections in County Down
Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council	2014 2019 2023
Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council	2014 2019 2023
Newry, Mourne and Down District Council	2014 2019 2023
Ards and North Down Borough Council	2014 2019 2023
Ards Borough Council	1973 1977 1981 1985 1989 1993 1997 2001 2005 2011 Abolished
Banbridge District Council	1973 1977 1981 1985 1989 1993 1997 2001 2005 2011 Abolished
Castlereagh Borough Council	1973 1977 1981 1985 1989 1993 1997 2001 2005 2011 Abolished
Craigavon Borough Council	1973 1977 1981 1985 1989 1993 1997 2001 2005 2011 Abolished
Down District Council	1973 1977 1981 1985 1989 1993 1997 2001 2005 2011 Abolished
Lisburn City Council	1973 1977 1981 1985 1989 1993 1997 2001 2005 2011 Abolished
Newry and Mourne District Council	1973 1977 1981 1985 1989 1993 1997 2001 2005 2011 Abolished
North Down Borough Council	1973 1977 1981 1985 1989 1993 1997 2001 2005 2011 Abolished

v t e (1984 ←) 1985 United Kingdom local elections (→ 1986)
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District councils (Northern Ireland	Antrim Ards Armagh Ballymena Ballymoney Banbridge Belfast Carrickfergus Castlereagh Coleraine Cookstown Craigavon Derry Down Dungannon Fermanagh Larne Limavady Lisburn Magherafelt Moyle Newry and Mourne Newtownabbey North Down Omagh Strabane
Sui generis	Isles of Scilly

Rowallane - 5 seats^[2]
Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
Party		Candidate	FPv%	1	2	3	4	5
	UUP	Dermot Nesbitt*	22.75%	1,180
	UUP	Samuel Osborne*	20.59%	1,068
	UUP	William Biggerstaff	12.38%	642	877.44
	DUP	William Dick	14.42%	748	789.58	857.98	866.82
	SDLP	Margaret Ritchie	12.13%	629	636.29	639.41	639.67	1,146.67
	DUP	Trevor Lennon	7.50%	389	413.03	539.75	542.83	547.83
	SDLP	Oliver Flanagan	10.24%	531	532.62	535.98	536.14
Electorate: 7,860 Valid: 5,187 (65.99%) Spoilt: 87 Quota: 865 Turnout: 5,274 (67.10%)