# 1981 Cookstown District Council election

Elections to Cookstown District Council were held on 20 May 1981 on the same day as the other Northern Irish local government elections. The election used three district electoral areas to elect a total of 15 councillors.

## Election results

Cookstown District Council Election Result 1981 :
| Party | Seats | Gains | Losses | Net gain/loss | Seats % | Votes % | Votes | +/− |
| SDLP | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 33.3 | 31.4 | 5,098 | 1.2 |
| UUP | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 26.7 | 24.7 | 4,002 | 3.7 |
| DUP | 3 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 20.0 | 24.3 | 3,945 | 18.4 |
| UUUP | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 6.7 | 2.9 | 470 | 11.9 |
| Ind. Nationalist | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.7 | 6.6 | 1,073 | 0.8 |
| Ind. Republican | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.7 | 5.9 | 964 | 0.5 |
| Independent | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 4.2 | 679 | 4.2 |
Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes.

## Districts summary

Results of the Cookstown District Council election, 1981 by district :
| Ward | % | Cllrs | % | Cllrs | % | Cllrs | % | Cllrs | % | Cllrs | Total Cllrs |
| Ward | SDLP | SDLP | UUP | UUP | DUP | DUP | UUUP | UUUP | Others | Others | | Total Cllrs |
| Area A | 25.8 | 1 | 21.5 | 1 | 21.8 | 1 | 9.4 | 1 | 21.5 | 1 | 5 |
| Area B | 28.2 | 2 | 22.6 | 2 | 23.5 | 1 | 0.0 | 0 | 25.7 | 1 | 6 |
| Area C | 41.4 | 2 | 30.7 | 1 | 27.9 | 1 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 4 |
| Total | 31.4 | 5 | 24.7 | 4 | 24.3 | 3 | 2.9 | 3 | 16.7 | 2 | 15 |

## Districts results
### Area A

1977: 1 x SDLP, 1 x DUP, 1 x UUP, 1 x UUUP, 1 x Independent Nationalist 1981: 1 x SDLP, 1 x DUP, 1 x UUP, 1 x UUUP, 1 x Independent Nationalist 1977-1981 Change: No change
Cookstown Area A - 5 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| | DUP | Kenneth Loughrin | 21.81% | 1,087 | | | |
| | Ind. Nationalist | Laurence Loughran* | 21.52% | 1,073 | | | |
| | UUP | Samuel Glasgow* | 21.46% | 1,070 | | | |
| | UUUP | Samuel Parke* | 9.43% | 470 | 711.96 | 719.55 | 950.93 |
| | SDLP | Patrick Bradley | 14.48% | 722 | 723.38 | 822.05 | 822.74 |
| | SDLP | Peter Kelly* | 11.29% | 563 | 565.07 | 692.49 | 692.95 |
| Electorate: 5,876 Valid: 4,985 (84.84%) Spoilt: 164 Quota: 831 Turnout: 5,149 (87.63%) ||||||||

### Area B

1977: 2 x SDLP, 2 x UUUP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Independent Republican 1981: 2 x SDLP, 2 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Independent Republican 1977-1981 Change: UUP and DUP gain from UUUP (two seats)
Cookstown Area B - 6 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| | DUP | William McIntyre* | 23.51% | 1,502 | | | | |
| | SDLP | Paddy Duffy* | 18.74% | 1,197 | | | | |
| | Ind. Republican | Michael McIvor* | 15.09% | 964 | | | | |
| | UUP | Victor McGahie* | 11.29% | 721 | 1,142.98 | | | |
| | UUP | James Howard* | 11.27% | 720 | 881.07 | 882.03 | 1,109.29 | |
| | SDLP | Joseph Davidson* | 9.47% | 605 | 605.78 | 834.74 | 835.18 | 838.04 |
| | Independent | Edward Hagan | 10.63% | 679 | 679.39 | 731.71 | 731.71 | 734.35 |
| Electorate: 7,342 Valid: 6,388 (87.01%) Spoilt: 147 Quota: 913 Turnout: 6,535 (89.01%) |||||||||

### Area C

1977: 2 x SDLP, 2 x UUP 1981: 2 x SDLP, 1 x UUP, 1 x DUP 1977-1981 Change: DUP gain from UUP
Cookstown Area C - 4 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| | DUP | Alan Kane | 27.91% | 1,356 | | | | |
| | SDLP | Brigid Neeson* | 22.21% | 1,079 | | | | |
| | UUP | Espie Donaldson* | 19.14% | 930 | 1,175.63 | | | |
| | SDLP | Margaret Laverty* | 19.18% | 932 | 932.87 | 933.35 | 934.64 | 1,038.84 |
| | UUP | John Warwick* | 6.75% | 328 | 432.98 | 557.54 | 863.63 | 864.83 |
| | UUP | Alexander McConnell | 4.80% | 233 | 263.74 | 337.66 | | |
| Electorate: 5,782 Valid: 4,858 (84.02%) Spoilt: 88 Quota: 972 Turnout: 4,946 (85.54%) |||||||||