2001 Ards Borough Council election

← 1997

7 June 2001 (2001-06-07)

2005 →

All 23 seats to Ards Borough Council
12 seats needed for a majority

	First party	Second party	Third party

Leader	Ian Paisley	David Trimble	Seán Neeson
Party	DUP	UUP	Alliance
Seats won	9	8	4
Seat change	4	2	1
Percentage	37.0%	31.7%	16.7%
Swing	14.4%	7.9%	4.4%

	Fourth party	Fifth party	Sixth party

Leader	John Hume	N/A
Party	SDLP	Independent	Ind. Unionist
Seats won	1	1	0
Seat change	0	1	2
Percentage	3.9%	9.8%
Swing	0.7%	8.2%

2001 Ards Borough Council Election Results, shaded by plurality of First Preference Votes.

Elections to Ards Borough Council were held on 7 June 2001 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.

Ards Borough Council Election Result 2001^[1]
	Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
DUP	9	4	0	4	39.1	37.0	8,133	14.4
UUP	8	0	2	2	34.8	31.7	6,968	7.9
Alliance	4	0	1	1	17.4	16.7	3,668	4.4
Independent	1	1	0	1	4.3	9.8	2,135	8.2
SDLP	1	0	0	0	4.3	3.9	860	0.7
NI Conservatives	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.9	190	0.9

Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes.

Districts summary

Results of the Ards Borough Council election, 2001
by district
Ward	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	Total Cllrs
DUP	UUP	Alliance	SDLP	Others
Ards East	N/A	2	N/A	3	N/A	1	N/A	0	N/A	0	6
Ards West	36.9	3	42.2	2	18.5	1	0.0	0	2.4	0	6
Newtownards	37.5	2	33.3	2	12.2	1	0.0	0	17.0	0	6
Peninsula	36.8	2	17.9	1	19.2	1	12.5	1	13.6	0	5
Total	37.0	9	31.7	8	16.7	4	3.9	1	10.7	0	23

Districts results

Ards East

1997: 4 x UUP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Alliance
2001: 3 x DUP, 2 x DUP, 1 x Alliance
1997-2001 Change: DUP gain from UUP

Ards East - 6 seats^[2]
Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
Party		Candidate	FPv%	1
	Alliance	Linda Cleland*	N/A	N/A
	UUP	Ronald Ferguson*	N/A	N/A
	DUP	Hamilton Gregory*	N/A	N/A
	UUP	Jeffrey Magill*	N/A	N/A
	UUP	John Shields*	N/A	N/A
	DUP	Terence Williams	N/A	N/A
Electorate: N/A Valid: N/A Spoilt: N/A Quota: N/A Turnout: N/A

As only six candidates had been nominated for six seats, there was no vote in Ards East and all six candidates were deemed elected.

Ards West

1997: 3 x UUP, 2 x Alliance, 1 x DUP
2001: 3 x DUP, 2 x UUP, 1 x Alliance
1997-2001 Change: DUP (two seats) gain from UUP and Alliance

Ards West - 6 seats^[2]
Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
Party		Candidate	FPv%	1	2	3	4	5	6
	UUP	Robert Gibson*	30.56%	2,454
	DUP	Margaret Craig*	15.32%	1,230
	UUP	Philip Smith	7.78%	625	1,516.55
	DUP	William Montgomery	12.94%	1,039	1,098.95	1,100.56	1,117.89	1,124.49	1,175.49
	Alliance	Jim McBriar*	9.41%	756	835.75	840.35	866.23	867.07	1,023.47
	DUP	David Gilmore*	8.63%	693	789.25	794.08	810.63	873.15	1,001.09
	Alliance	Kathleen Coulter*	9.12%	732	791.4	795.08	842.96	843.92	965.11
	UUP	Arthur Spence	3.87%	311	412.75	762.35	829.73	830.93
	NI Conservatives	Christopher Connolly	2.37%	190	205.4	207.01
Electorate: 13,602 Valid: 8,030 (59.04%) Spoilt: 223 Quota: 1,148 Turnout: 8,253 (60.67%)

Newtownards

1997: 2 x UUP, 2 x Independent Unionist, 1 x DUP, 1 x Alliance
2001: 2 x DUP, 2 x UUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Independent Unionist
1997-2001 Change: DUP gain from Independent Unionist, Independent Unionist becomes Independent

Newtownards - 6 seats^[2]
Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
Party		Candidate	FPv%	1	2	3	4	5
	DUP	George Ennis*	22.81%	1,608
	UUP	Thomas Hamilton*	18.27%	1,288
	UUP	David Smyth*	15.04%	1,060
	Independent	Wilbert Magill*	12.61%	889	923.2	1,043.2
	Alliance	Alan McDowell*	12.18%	859	863.94	915.32	1,075.9
	DUP	Hamilton Lawther	5.15%	363	838	877.14	944.41	967.66
	DUP	Bobby McBride*	9.52%	671	734.46	779.5	830.96	852.04
	Independent	Nancy Orr	4.43%	312	322.66
Electorate: 12,965 Valid: 7,050 (54.38%) Spoilt: 218 Quota: 1,008 Turnout: 7,268 (56.06%)

Peninsula

1997: 2 x DUP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x SDLP
2001: 2 x DUP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x SDLP
1997-2001 Change: No change

Peninsula - 5 seats^[2]
Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
Party		Candidate	FPv%	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	DUP	Jim Shannon*	26.53%	1,824
	Alliance	Kieran McCarthy*	18.71%	1,286
	DUP	Robert Drysdale*	10.25%	705	1,222.92
	SDLP	Daniel McCarthy*	12.51%	860	865.85	899.51	918.84	1,025.08	1,025.88	1,430.88
	UUP	Angus Carson	10.33%	710	748.22	755.81	766.28	864.5	894.8	944.8	1,008.8
	UUP	Paul Carson*	7.56%	520	583.96	593.97	603.82	671.15	710.75	731.42	765.42
	Independent	Joe Boyle	7.65%	526	528.73	543.58	553.75	646.87	648.67
	Independent	Robert Ambrose	3.71%	255	289.32	298.01	307.13
	Independent	James McMullan	2.23%	153	155.73	162.99	166.58
	Alliance	Stephen McSherry	0.51%	35	38.12	85.2
Electorate: 11,849 Valid: 6,874 (58.01%) Spoilt: 211 Quota: 1,146 Turnout: 7,085 (59.79%)

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

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See also: UK General election