# 1997 Magherafelt District Council election

Elections to Magherafelt District Council were held on 21 May 1997 on the same day as the other Northern Irish local government elections. The election used three district electoral areas to elect a total of 16 councillors.

## Election results

Magherafelt District Council Election Result 1997 :
| Party | Seats | Gains | Losses | Net gain/loss | Seats % | Votes % | Votes | +/− |
| Sinn Féin | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 31.3 | 36.5 | 7,309 | 13.0 |
| SDLP | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 31.3 | 22.6 | 4,528 | 10.3 |
| DUP | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 18.8 | 20.6 | 4,628 | 2.6 |
| UUP | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18.8 | 14.3 | 2,870 | 6.0 |
| Ind. Unionist | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1.2 | 250 | 1.2 |
| Workers' Party | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 193 | 0.9 |
| Independent Labour | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.4 | 73 | 0.4 |
| Green (NI) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 12 | 0.1 |
Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes.

## Districts summary

Results of the Magherafelt District Council election, 1997 by district :
| Ward | % | Cllrs | % | Cllrs | % | Cllrs | % | Cllrs | % | Cllrs | Total Cllrs |
| Ward | Sinn Féin | Sinn Féin | SDLP | SDLP | DUP | DUP | UUP | UUP | Others | Others | | Total Cllrs |
| Magherafelt Town | 24.9 | 1 | 23.2 | 2 | 39.0 | 2 | 11.4 | 1 | 1.5 | 0 | 6 |
| Moyola | 34.1 | 2 | 19.2 | 1 | 22.0 | 1 | 19.9 | 1 | 4.8 | 0 | 5 |
| Sperrin | 51.0 | 2 | 25.3 | 2 | 9.9 | 0 | 12.1 | 1 | 1.7 | 0 | 5 |
| Total | 36.5 | 5 | 22.6 | 5 | 20.6 | 3 | 14.3 | 3 | 6.0 | 0 | 16 |

## District results
### Magherafelt Town

1993: 2 x DUP, 2 x SDLP, 1 x Sinn Féin, 1 x UUP 1997: 2 x DUP, 2 x SDLP, 1 x Sinn Féin, 1 x UUP 1993-1997 Change: No change
Magherafelt Town - 6 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| | DUP | William McCrea* | 37.50% | 2,675 | | | |
| | Sinn Féin | Seamus O'Brien | 24.91% | 1,777 | | | |
| | SDLP | Patrick Kilpatrick* | 16.11% | 1,149 | | | |
| | DUP | Paul McLean* | 1.50% | 107 | 1,551.6 | | |
| | SDLP | Joseph McBride* | 7.00% | 499 | 499.62 | 1,184.76 | |
| | UUP | George Shiels | 11.44% | 816 | 1,007.58 | 1,008.15 | 1,514.25 |
| | Independent Labour | Harry Hutchinson | 1.02% | 73 | 78.58 | 101.95 | 114.25 |
| | Workers' Party | Marian Donnelly | 0.52% | 37 | 38.24 | 80.42 | 81.92 |
| Electorate: 10,104 Valid: 7,133 (70.60%) Spoilt: 89 Quota: 1,019 Turnout: 7,222 (71.48%) ||||||||

### Moyola

1993: 2 x DUP, 1 x Sinn Féin, 1 x UUP, 1 x SDLP 1997: 2 x Sinn Féin, 1 x DUP, 1 x UUP, 1 x SDLP 1993-1997 Change: Sinn Féin gain from DUP
Moyola - 5 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
| | Sinn Féin | Margaret McKenna* | 18.91% | 1,180 | | | | | | | |
| | Sinn Féin | Paul Henry | 15.21% | 949 | 1,067.25 | | | | | | |
| | UUP | John Junkin* | 14.13% | 882 | 882 | 922 | 922 | 1,231 | | | |
| | DUP | Thomas Catherwood* | 13.28% | 829 | 829.11 | 913.11 | 913.11 | 980.11 | 1,106.4 | | |
| | SDLP | Patrick McErlean* | 11.65% | 727 | 733.49 | 753.49 | 771.73 | 771.73 | 774.65 | 774.65 | 1,218.65 |
| | DUP | Thomas Wilson* | 8.67% | 541 | 541 | 592 | 592 | 641 | 699.4 | 762.88 | 763.88 |
| | SDLP | Francis Kearney | 7.50% | 468 | 470.2 | 477.42 | 485.28 | 485.28 | 487.47 | 488.39 | |
| | UUP | Norman Montgomery | 5.80% | 362 | 362 | 431 | 431 | | | | |
| | Ind. Unionist | James Mulholland | 4.01% | 250 | 250 | | | | | | |
| | Workers' Party | Patrick Scullion | 0.85% | 53 | 53.66 | | | | | | |
| Electorate: 8,175 Valid: 6,241 (76.34%) Spoilt: 135 Quota: 1,041 Turnout: 6,376 (77.99%) ||||||||||||

### Sperrin

1993: 2 x Sinn Féin, 2 x SDLP, 1 x UUP 1997: 2 x Sinn Féin, 2 x SDLP, 1 x UUP 1993-1997 Change: No change
Sperrin - 5 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| | Sinn Féin | Patrick Groogan* | 27.00% | 1,801 | | | | |
| | Sinn Féin | John Kelly | 24.01% | 1,602 | | | | |
| | SDLP | Kathleen Lagan* | 17.54% | 1,170 | | | | |
| | SDLP | Francis McKendry | 7.72% | 515 | 1,059.62 | 1,416.32 | | |
| | UUP | Robert Montgomery* | 12.14% | 810 | 810 | 810 | 810.87 | 851.45 |
| | DUP | Rodney Mitchell | 9.86% | 658 | 658 | 658 | 658.87 | 701.41 |
| | Workers' Party | Francis Donnelly | 1.54% | 103 | 218.71 | 328.33 | 444.04 | |
| | Green (NI) | Judith Stephens | 0.18% | 12 | 34.62 | 53.76 | 72.9 | |
| Electorate: 8,541 Valid: 6,671 (78.11%) Spoilt: 102 Quota: 1,112 Turnout: 6,773 (79.30%) |||||||||