# 1981 Newtownabbey Borough Council election

Elections to Newtownabbey Borough 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 21 councillors.

## Election results

Newtownabbey Borough Council Election Result 1981 :
| Party | Seats | Gains | Losses | Net gain/loss | Seats % | Votes % | Votes | +/− |
| UUP | 9 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 42.9 | 34.5 | 9,210 | 3.6 |
| DUP | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 23.8 | 34.7 | 9,275 | 15.8 |
| Alliance | 3 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 14.3 | 15.6 | 4,174 | 5.3 |
| Ind. Unionist | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 9.5 | 8.8 | 2,356 | 8.8 |
| Newtownabbey Labour Party | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.8 | 3.8 | 1,028 | 1.3 |
| Republican Clubs | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1.4 | 375 | 0.5 |
| Independent | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1.2 | 323 | 1.2 |
| Communist | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 32 | 0.1 |
Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes.

## Districts summary

Results of the Newtownabbey Borough Council election, 1981 by district :
| Ward | % | Cllrs | % | Cllrs | % | Cllrs | % | Cllrs | Total Cllrs |
| Ward | UUP | UUP | DUP | DUP | Alliance | Alliance | Others | Others | | Total Cllrs |
| Area A | 45.3 | 2 | 32.2 | 2 | 10.8 | 0 | 11.7 | 1 | 5 |
| Area B | 37.0 | 2 | 34.8 | 1 | 11.6 | 1 | 16.6 | 1 | 6 |
| Area C | 34.2 | 2 | 33.7 | 1 | 19.1 | 1 | 13.0 | 0 | 5 |
| Area D | 25.2 | 2 | 37.3 | 1 | 17.5 | 1 | 20.0 | 1 | 5 |
| Total | 34.5 | 9 | 34.7 | 5 | 15.6 | 3 | 15.2 | 4 | 21 |

## Districts results
### Area A

1977: 3 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Alliance 1981: 2 x UUP, 2 x DUP, 1 x Independent Unionist 1977-1981 Change: DUP and Independent Unionist gain from UUP and Alliance
Newtownabbey Area A - 5 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| | UUP | Jim Wilson* | 16.62% | 850 | 951 | | |
| | UUP | Arthur Templeton* | 14.82% | 758 | 832 | 872 | |
| | DUP | Trevor Kirkland | 16.23% | 830 | 852 | 853 | |
| | DUP | Mary Harkness* | 16.00% | 818 | 833 | 836 | 836.73 |
| | Ind. Unionist | Sidney Cameron* | 11.69% | 598 | 760 | 789 | 799.22 |
| | UUP | John Anderson | 13.88% | 710 | 762 | 786 | 794.03 |
| | Alliance | Pat McCudden* | 10.75% | 550 | | | |
| Electorate: 8,958 Valid: 5,114 (57.09%) Spoilt: 129 Quota: 853 Turnout: 5,243 (58.53%) ||||||||

### Area B

1977: 2 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Newtownabbey Labour, 1 x Loyalist 1981: 3 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Newtownabbey Labour 1977-1981 Change: Loyalist joins UUP
Newtownabbey Area B - 6 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| | DUP | David Hanna | 34.78% | 1,964 | | | | | |
| | UUP | Fraser Agnew | 19.30% | 1,090 | | | | | |
| | UUP | Letitia McCartney | 9.69% | 547 | 1,176.37 | | | | |
| | UUP | Cecil Stringer* | 7.97% | 450 | 809.1 | | | | |
| | Newtownabbey Labour | Robert Kidd* | 7.67% | 433 | 510.49 | 590.5 | 660.04 | 801.23 | 983.23 |
| | Alliance | John Elliott* | 6.42% | 363 | 392.61 | 453.09 | 583.62 | 595.42 | 653.68 |
| | Alliance | Hugh Montgomery | 5.15% | 291 | 307.38 | 351.48 | 409.62 | 417.08 | 445.11 |
| | Republican Clubs | Austin Kelly | 6.64% | 375 | 378.78 | 381.93 | 384.78 | 396.78 | |
| | Newtownabbey Labour | Alistair Keery | 1.81% | 102 | 123.42 | 151.14 | 169.38 | | |
| | Communist | William Stewart | 0.57% | 32 | 33.89 | 40.19 | 41.33 | | |
| Electorate: 12,043 Valid: 5,647 (46.89%) Spoilt: 273 Quota: 807 Turnout: 5,920 (49.16%) ||||||||||

### Area C

1977: 2 x Alliance, 1 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x UPNI 1981: 2 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Independent Unionist 1977-1981 Change: UUP and Independent Unionist gain from Alliance and UPNI
Newtownabbey Area C - 5 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| | DUP | Samuel Neill* | 33.68% | 2,737 | | | | | |
| | UUP | Clifford Forsythe | 18.45% | 1,499 | | | | | |
| | UUP | Robert Caul* | 15.71% | 1,277 | 2,242.25 | | | | |
| | Ind. Unionist | Desmond Dowds | 9.93% | 807 | 1,107.85 | 1,401 | | | |
| | Alliance | Claire Martin* | 6.89% | 560 | 608.4 | 665.6 | 744.85 | 786.07 | 1,103.26 |
| | Alliance | George Jones* | 6.57% | 534 | 548.3 | 634.1 | 752.8 | 816.34 | 1,044.29 |
| | Alliance | Gordon Mawhinney | 5.66% | 460 | 488.05 | 523.8 | 555.65 | 593.99 | |
| | Newtownabbey Labour | Brian Caul | 3.10% | 252 | 275.65 | 328.45 | | | |
| Electorate: 15,006 Valid: 8,126 (54.15%) Spoilt: 206 Quota: 1,355 Turnout: 8,332 (55.52%) ||||||||||

### Area D

1977: 2 x Alliance, 2 x UUP, 1 x DUP 1981: 2 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Independent Unionist 1977-1981 Change: Independent Unionist gain from Alliance
Newtownabbey Area D - 5 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| | DUP | James Smith* | 37.29% | 2,926 | | | | | | |
| | Ind. Unionist | George Herron* | 12.12% | 951 | 1,557.1 | | | | | |
| | UUP | Ivan Hunter | 12.10% | 949 | 1,282.5 | 1,406.26 | | | | |
| | Alliance | James Rooney* | 13.61% | 1,068 | 1,091.2 | 1,096.14 | 1,096.62 | 1,193.2 | 1,793.2 | |
| | UUP | Arthur Kell* | 7.14% | 560 | 781.56 | 833.04 | 914.4 | 926.24 | 993.24 | 1,169.24 |
| | UUP | William McKee* | 6.63% | 520 | 889.46 | 942.5 | 955.94 | 962.68 | 991.52 | 1,065.52 |
| | Independent | John Drysdale* | 4.12% | 323 | 330.54 | 333.66 | 333.9 | 396.48 | | |
| | Alliance | John Smith | 3.93% | 308 | 337.58 | 341.22 | 341.94 | 376.68 | | |
| | Newtownabbey Labour | Thomas Davidson | 1.87% | 147 | 159.76 | 161.84 | 161.84 | | | |
| | Newtownabbey Labour | Lindsay Prior | 1.20% | 94 | 96.5 | 97.16 | 97.4 | | | |
| Electorate: 14,796 Valid: 7,846 (53.03%) Spoilt: 263 Quota: 1,308 Turnout: 8,109 (54.81%) |||||||||||