# 1981 Dungannon District Council election

Elections to Dungannon District 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 20 councillors.

## Election results

Dungannon District Council Election Result 1981 :
| Party | Seats | Gains | Losses | Net gain/loss | Seats % | Votes % | Votes | +/− |
| UUP | 8 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 40.0 | 31.0 | 7,227 | 7.1 |
| SDLP | 3 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 15.0 | 20.5 | 4,786 | 4.0 |
| DUP | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 15.0 | 17.7 | 4,135 | 0.5 |
| Ind. Nationalist | 3 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 15.0 | 15.6 | 3,635 | 8.9 |
| Ind. Republican | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 10.0 | 6.8 | 1,596 | 4.3 |
| Irish Independence | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5.0 | 4.6 | 1,062 | New |
| Ind. Unionist | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 2.4 | 558 | 2.4 |
| UUUP | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.9 | 205 | 0.9 |
| Independent | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.4 | 104 | 15.4 |
Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes.

## Districts summary

Results of the Dungannon District Council election, 1981 by district :
| Ward | % | Cllrs | % | Cllrs | % | Cllrs | % | Cllrs | % | Cllrs | Total Cllrs |
| Ward | UUP | UUP | SDLP | SDLP | DUP | DUP | IIP | IIP | Others | Others | | Total Cllrs |
| Area A | 33.3 | 2 | 29.4 | 1 | 19.4 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 17.9 | 1 | 5 |
| Area B | 15.4 | 1 | 19.0 | 1 | 8.3 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 57.3 | 3 | 5 |
| Area C | 38.2 | 3 | 23.0 | 1 | 23.7 | 1 | 0.0 | 0 | 15.1 | 0 | 5 |
| Area D | 37.7 | 2 | 10.3 | 0 | 19.9 | 1 | 18.8 | 1 | 13.3 | 1 | 5 |
| Total | 31.0 | 8 | 20.5 | 3 | 17.7 | 3 | 4.6 | 1 | 26.2 | 5 | 20 |

## Districts results
### Area A

1977: 2 x UUP, 2 x SDLP, 1 x DUP 1981: 2 x UUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Independent Republican 1977-1981 Change: Independent Republican gain from SDLP
Dungannon Area A - 5 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| | Ind. Republican | Seamus Cassidy* | 17.81% | 1,057 | | | | | |
| | UUP | Noel Mulligan | 13.43% | 797 | 797.1 | 1,146.1 | | | |
| | DUP | William McIlwrath* | 9.82% | 583 | 583.1 | 620.1 | 630.45 | 1,092.45 | |
| | UUP | Samuel Brush | 10.67% | 633 | 633.5 | 784.5 | 927.15 | 1,033.05 | |
| | SDLP | Anthony McGonnell | 14.98% | 889 | 923.1 | 925.1 | 925.1 | 927.1 | 948.1 |
| | SDLP | John Monaghan | 14.43% | 856 | 885 | 886 | 886.45 | 886.45 | 891.45 |
| | DUP | Frederick Burrows | 9.61% | 570 | 570 | 579 | 580.35 | | |
| | UUP | Winston Mulligan* | 9.25% | 549 | 549 | | | | |
| Electorate: 6,624 Valid: 5,934 (89.58%) Spoilt: 92 Quota: 990 Turnout: 6,026 (90.97%) ||||||||||

### Area B

1977: 2 x SDLP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Independent Nationalist, 1 x Independent Republican 1981: 2 x Independent Nationalist, 1 x SDLP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Independent Republican 1977-1981 Change: Independent Nationalist leaves SDLP
Dungannon Area B - 5 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 |
| | Ind. Nationalist | Jim Canning* | 29.18% | 1,744 | |
| | Ind. Nationalist | Owen Nugent* | 19.08% | 1,140 | |
| | SDLP | Patrick McGlinchey* | 19.04% | 1,138 | |
| | Ind. Republican | John Corr* | 9.02% | 539 | 1,275.47 |
| | UUP | Thomas Kempton* | 15.36% | 918 | 921.43 |
| | DUP | Abraham White | 8.32% | 497 | 498.96 |
| Electorate: 7,753 Valid: 5,976 (77.08%) Spoilt: 210 Quota: 997 Turnout: 6,186 (79.79%) ||||||

### Area C

1977: 3 x UUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x DUP 1981: 4 x UUP, 1 x SDLP 1977-1981 Change: DUP gain from UUP
Dungannon Area C - 5 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| | SDLP | Patrick Daly* | 23.02% | 1,324 | | | | | |
| | UUP | Derek Irwin* | 17.06% | 981 | | | | | |
| | DUP | James Ewing | 13.53% | 778 | 788.8 | 848.8 | 867.2 | 868.6 | 1,054.28 |
| | UUP | John Taggart | 11.25% | 647 | 669.2 | 712.4 | 728.8 | 730.18 | 906.1 |
| | UUP | Jim Brady* | 9.93% | 571 | 599.8 | 631 | 653.8 | 669.14 | 848.06 |
| | DUP | Norman Lockhart | 10.14% | 583 | 585.4 | 620.4 | 638.2 | 638.82 | 664.5 |
| | Ind. Unionist | Wilfred Dilworth* | 9.70% | 558 | 570.6 | 602.8 | 623 | 623.64 | |
| | Independent | William Lucas | 1.81% | 104 | 383 | 386 | | | |
| | UUUP | James McNeill | 3.56% | 205 | 212.8 | | | | |
| Electorate: 7,091 Valid: 5,751 (81.10%) Spoilt: 125 Quota: 959 Turnout: 5,876 (82.87%) ||||||||||

### Area D

1977: 2 x Independent, 1 x UUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x DUP 1981: 2 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x IIP, 1 x Independent Nationalist 1977-1981 Change: UUP and IIP gain from Independent (two seats), Independent Nationalist leaves SDLP
Dungannon Area D - 5 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| | DUP | Maurice Morrow* | 19.90% | 1,124 | | | |
| | UUP | Ken Maginnis | 19.21% | 1,085 | | | |
| | Irish Independence | Plunkett O'Donnell | 18.81% | 1,062 | | | |
| | UUP | William Brown* | 18.52% | 1,046 | | | |
| | Ind. Nationalist | Michael McLoughlin* | 13.30% | 751 | 799 | 835 | 939.26 |
| | SDLP | Peggy Devlin | 10.25% | 579 | 615 | 700 | 712.87 |
| Electorate: 7,669 Valid: 5,647 (73.63%) Spoilt: 115 Quota: 942 Turnout: 5,762 (75.13%) ||||||||