1977 Ards Borough Council election
18 May 1977 (1977-05-18)
All 17 seats to Ards Borough Council
9 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party Third party
 
Party Ulster Unionist Alliance DUP
Seats won 6 5 3
Seat change Decrease 5 Increase 3 Increase 3
  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
Party NI Labour SDLP Independent
Seats won 1 1 1
Seat change Steady 0 Steady 0 Steady 0
  Seventh party
 
Party Loyalist Coalition
Seats won 0
Seat change Decrease 1

Elections to Ards Borough Council were held on 18 May 1977 on the same day as the other Northern Irish local government elections. The election used three district electoral areas to elect a total of 17 councillors.

Election results

Ards Borough Council Election Result 1977[1]
Party Seats Gains Losses Net gain/loss Seats % Votes % Votes +/−
  Ulster Unionist 6 0 5 Decrease5 35.3 31.8 5,368 Decrease22.7
  Alliance 5 3 0 Increase3 29.4 20.8 3,507 Increase6.0
  DUP 3 3 0 Increase3 17.6 13.8 2,322 New
  NI Labour 1 0 0 Steady0 5.9 8.0 1,349 Increase2.7
  Ind. Unionist 1 1 1 Steady0 0.0 6.2 1,042 Increase2.0
  SDLP 1 0 0 Steady0 5.9 5.7 964 Increase0.1
  Independent 0 0 0 Steady0 0.0 5.8 971 Increase5.8
  Unionist Party NI 0 0 0 Steady0 0.0 5.3 886 New
  Vanguard 0 0 0 Steady0 0.0 1.6 277 Decrease5.6
  UUUP 0 0 0 Steady0 0.0 1.0 170 New

Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes.

Districts summary

[1]

Results of the Ards Borough Council election, 1977
by district
Ward  %
Cllrs
  %
Cllrs
  %
Cllrs
  %
Cllrs
  %
 Cllrs
  %
 Cllrs
 Total
Cllrs
UUP Alliance DUP NILP SDLP Others
Area A 32.1 3 23.3 2 12.5 1 0.0 0 14.7 1 17.4 0 7
Area B 30.1 2 21.2 2 13.0 1 22.5 1 0.0 0 13.2 0 6
Area C 33.8 1 16.5 1 13.1 1 0.0 0 0.0 0 36.6 1 4
Total 31.8 6 20.8 5 13.8 3 8.0 1 5.7 1 19.9 1 17

Districts results

Area A

1973: 6 x UUP, 1 x SDLP
1977: 3 x UUP, 2 x Alliance, 1 x DUP, 1 x SDLP
1973-1977 Change: Alliance (two seats) and DUP gain from UUP (three seats)

Ards Area A - 7 seats[2]
PartyCandidateFPv%Count
123456789101112
Alliance Charles Dunleath 20.39% 1,339                      
DUP Joseph Thompson* 14.94% 981                      
SDLP Patrick Doherty* 14.68% 964                      
Alliance William Sheldon 2.89% 190 568.8 571.86 600.93 601.93 607.61 612.61 629.49 636.46 796.17 896.17  
Ulster Unionist John Scott* 6.79% 446 453.6 467.71 468.22 471.41 480.36 491.1 500.27 672.78 674.29 823.29  
Ulster Unionist William Caughey 6.87% 451 471.8 487.61 487.95 489.66 507.16 561.82 567.52 630.82 632.62 692.58 706.58
Ulster Unionist Robert Ambrose 4.37% 287 294.6 320.1 320.61 335.46 373.95 437.32 535.52 565.02 575.44 626.94 647.94
Ulster Unionist Oliver Johnston* 7.01% 460 466.4 475.41 475.92 477.09 480.28 493.12 497.8 529.42 531.42 566.01 578.01
Unionist Party NI Michael Long 5.65% 371 401.4 406.67 407.69 408.09 411.77 421.11 451.85 477.96 499.54    
Independent James McMullan 4.77% 313 343.8 343.97 446.14 446.14 447.71 449.91 453.1 454.27      
Ulster Unionist Henry Cosbey* 4.69% 308 316 325.69 326.03 327.2 333.61 343.69 346.77        
Independent Francis McMaster 1.95% 128 133.2 142.72 144.76 175.45 207.96 218.98          
Ulster Unionist William Keag 2.41% 158 166 172.97 173.99 179.84 193.41            
Ind. Unionist Robert Mason 1.55% 102 108.4 150.56 150.73 169.78              
Ind. Unionist Vera Shaw 1.04% 68 71.2 83.1 83.1                
Electorate: 13,817   Valid: 6,566 (47.52%)   Spoilt: 227   Quota: 821   Turnout: 6,793 (49.16%)  

    Area B

    1973: 3 x UUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x NILP, 1 x Loyalist
    1977: 2 x UUP, 2 x Alliance, 1 x NILP, 1 x DUP
    1973-1977 Change: Alliance and DUP gain from UUP and Loyalist

    Ards Area B - 6 seats[2]
    PartyCandidateFPv%Count
    123456
    NI Labour Robert Gaw* 14.06% 843 874        
    DUP Hugh Boyd 13.01% 780 868        
    Ulster Unionist John Algie* 13.71% 822 861        
    Ulster Unionist William Boal 6.36% 381 415 418.5 512.5 774.5 852.2
    Alliance Herbert Gallagher 10.94% 656 667 669.8 685.8 720.8 813.5
    Alliance Owen Dorrian* 10.23% 613 621 621 626 638.7 802.4
    Unionist Party NI Cecilia Cooke* 8.59% 515 536 537.4 562.4 649.1 733.5
    NI Labour William Allen 8.44% 506 515 520.6 541.3 567.3  
    Ulster Unionist Hugh Yeaman 5.24% 314 323 325.1 457.8    
    Ulster Unionist William Spratt 4.80% 288 302 303.4      
    Vanguard Robert Brown* 4.62% 277          
    Electorate: 15,342   Valid: 5,995 (39.08%)   Spoilt: 232   Quota: 857   Turnout: 6,227 (40.59%)  

      Area C

      1973: 2 x UUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Independent Unionist
      1977: 1 x UUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x DUP, 1 x Independent Unionist
      1973-1977 Change: DUP gain from UUP

      Ards Area C - 4 seats[2]
      PartyCandidateFPv%Count
      123456789
      Ulster Unionist Hamilton McKeag* 19.16% 823 842 869            
      Ind. Unionist John Shields 12.11% 520 542 552 558 585 639 1,049    
      Alliance Jim McBriar* 10.43% 448 451 452 687 706 779 824 917.84  
      DUP Thomas Gourley 13.06% 561 578 701 701 716 747 768 796.56 804.96
      Ulster Unionist Harold Porter 8.10% 348 350 352 356 540 611 681 744.92 793.92
      Independent James Middleton 9.73% 418 434 442 452 482 584      
      Ind. Unionist James Caughey* 8.20% 352 359 363 365 379        
      Ulster Unionist Adela Hamilton 6.57% 282 284 291 292          
      Alliance Alice Rudnitzky 6.08% 261 264 265            
      UUUP William Dempster 3.77% 170 187              
      Independent Arthur Spence 2.61% 112                
      Electorate: 9,514   Valid: 4,295 (45.14%)   Spoilt: 120   Quota: 860   Turnout: 4,415 (46.41%)  

        References

        1. 1 2 "Local Government Elections 1973-1981: Ards". www.ark.ac.uk.
        2. 1 2 3 "Local Government Results 1977". EONI. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
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