# 1997 Omagh District Council election

Elections to Omagh 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 21 councillors.

## Election results

Omagh District Council Election Result 1997 :
| Party | Seats | Gains | Losses | Net gain/loss | Seats % | Votes % | Votes | +/− |
| Sinn Féin | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 28.6 | 31.4 | 7,024 | 7.1 |
| SDLP | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 28.6 | 23.2 | 5,183 | 1.3 |
| UUP | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19.0 | 18.9 | 4,223 | 1.1 |
| DUP | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14.3 | 14.6 | 3,259 | 0.8 |
| Alliance | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.8 | 3.3 | 744 | 1.7 |
| Labour Coalition | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4.8 | 3.2 | 711 | New |
| Ind. Nationalist | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 2.5 | 554 | 0.7 |
| Workers' Party | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 457 | 0.1 |
| Democratic Left | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.7 | 148 | 0.8 |
| Ulster Independence | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 42 | New |
Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes.

## Districts summary

Results of the Omagh District Council election, 1997 by district :
| Ward | % | Cllrs | % | Cllrs | % | Cllrs | % | Cllrs | % | Cllrs | % | Cllrs | % | Cllrs | Total Cllrs |
| Ward | Sinn Féin | Sinn Féin | SDLP | SDLP | UUP | UUP | DUP | DUP | Alliance | Alliance | Labour | Labour | Others | Others | | Total Cllrs |
| Mid Tyrone | 47.1 | 3 | 18.9 | 2 | 14.6 | 1 | 10.1 | 1 | 0.7 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 8.6 | 0 | 7 |
| Omagh Town | 20.0 | 1 | 26.9 | 2 | 16.2 | 1 | 20.3 | 1 | 7.2 | 1 | 8.8 | 1 | 0.6 | 0 | 7 |
| West Tyrone | 24.3 | 2 | 24.7 | 2 | 25.8 | 2 | 14.6 | 1 | 2.8 | 0 | 1.8 | 0 | 6.0 | 0 | 7 |
| Total | 31.4 | 6 | 23.2 | 6 | 18.9 | 4 | 14.6 | 3 | 3.3 | 1 | 3.2 | 1 | 5.4 | 0 | 21 |

## District results
### Mid Tyrone

1993: 3 x Sinn Féin, 1 x SDLP, 1 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Independent Nationalist 1997: 3 x Sinn Féin, 2 x SDLP, 1 x UUP, 1 x DUP 1993-1997 Change: SDLP gain from Independent Nationalist
Mid Tyrone - 7 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 | Patrick McMahon* | 16.77% | 1,375 | | | | | | | |
| | Sinn Féin | Sean Clarke* | 13.77% | 1,129 | | | | | | | |
| | UUP | Desmond Anderson* | 12.51% | 1,026 | | | | | | | |
| | Sinn Féin | Michael McAnespie | 11.95% | 980 | 1,148.48 | | | | | | |
| | SDLP | Joe Byrne* | 9.84% | 807 | 811.68 | 813.77 | 817.01 | 835.01 | 857.46 | 868.46 | 1,092.46 |
| | SDLP | Seamus Shields* | 9.04% | 741 | 761.02 | 764.63 | 765.89 | 772.89 | 838.67 | 843.67 | 994.57 |
| | DUP | Drew Baxter* | 6.62% | 543 | 543 | 543 | 543 | 545 | 548 | 960 | 962.09 |
| | Sinn Féin | Barney McAleer* | 4.66% | 382 | 525.52 | 629.07 | 713.76 | 714.03 | 724.53 | 726.05 | 874.16 |
| | Ind. Nationalist | Brian McGrath* | 6.76% | 554 | 561.54 | 568.19 | 575.21 | 578.3 | 599.82 | 605.82 | |
| | DUP | Jim Patterson | 3.46% | 284 | 284.26 | 284.26 | 284.26 | 284.26 | 285.26 | | |
| | UUP | John Anderson | 2.12% | 174 | 174.52 | 174.52 | 174.52 | 191.52 | 197.52 | | |
| | Democratic Left | Patrick McClean | 1.80% | 148 | 150.86 | 151.81 | 152.08 | 158.08 | | | |
| | Alliance | Paul Gallagher | 0.70% | 57 | 57.26 | 57.26 | 57.62 | | | | |
| Electorate: 10,661 Valid: 8,200 (76.92%) Spoilt: 187 Quota: 1,026 Turnout: 8,387 (78.67%) ||||||||||||

### Omagh Town

1993: 2 x SDLP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Sinn Féin, 1 x UUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Labour Coalition 1997: 2 x SDLP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Sinn Féin, 1 x UUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Independent Labour 1993-1997 Change: Independent Labour joins Labour Coalition
Omagh Town - 7 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| | Sinn Féin | Francis Mackey* | 16.85% | 1,096 | | | | | | | | | |
| | SDLP | Patrick McGowan* | 16.60% | 1,080 | | | | | | | | | |
| | DUP | Oliver Gibson* | 11.48% | 747 | 747 | 747 | 889 | | | | | | |
| | SDLP | Vincent Campbell | 5.56% | 362 | 365.64 | 450.64 | 450.64 | 450.64 | 729.92 | 846.38 | | | |
| | Labour Coalition | Johnny McLaughlin* | 8.76% | 570 | 583 | 606 | 611.25 | 611.25 | 676.3 | 805.92 | 825.6 | | |
| | UUP | Reuben McKelvey | 8.72% | 567 | 567 | 567.75 | 577.75 | 584.35 | 584.35 | 585.87 | 585.87 | 806.22 | 806.46 |
| | Alliance | Ann Gormley* | 7.24% | 471 | 474.64 | 498.14 | 499.14 | 500.24 | 545.24 | 584.11 | 595.87 | 606.12 | 616.44 |
| | UUP | William Oldcroft | 7.47% | 486 | 486 | 486 | 498 | 506.25 | 507.25 | 508.25 | 508.97 | 609.82 | 610.3 |
| | DUP | Harry Cairns | 5.76% | 375 | 375 | 375.25 | 434.25 | 492.55 | 492.8 | 493.8 | 493.8 | | |
| | Sinn Féin | Patrick O'Hagan | 3.14% | 204 | 456.46 | 464.71 | 464.96 | 464.96 | 492.06 | | | | |
| | SDLP | Stephen McKenna | 4.75% | 309 | 315.24 | 436.74 | 437.74 | 437.74 | | | | | |
| | DUP | Keith Mosgrove | 3.01% | 196 | 196 | 196 | | | | | | | |
| | Ulster Independence | Sandra Jones | 0.65% | 42 | 42 | 42.5 | | | | | | | |
| Electorate: 11,051 Valid: 6,505 (58.86%) Spoilt: 180 Quota: 814 Turnout: 6,685 (60.49%) ||||||||||||||

### West Tyrone

1993: 2 x UUP, 2 x SDLP, 2 x Sinn Féin, 1 x DUP 1997: 2 x UUP, 2 x SDLP, 2 x Sinn Féin, 1 x DUP 1993-1997 Change: No change
West Tyrone - 7 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
| | UUP | Arthur McFarland* | 16.27% | 1,243 | | | | | | | | |
| | Sinn Féin | Kevin McGrade | 14.46% | 1,105 | | | | | | | | |
| | UUP | Allan Rainey* | 9.52% | 727 | 963.67 | | | | | | | |
| | DUP | Thomas Buchanan* | 10.73% | 820 | 843 | 843 | 843 | 849 | 891.84 | 1,144.84 | | |
| | SDLP | Liam McQuaid* | 10.51% | 803 | 804.15 | 811.56 | 825.56 | 849.47 | 888.7 | 892.62 | 904.62 | 989.62 |
| | Sinn Féin | Cathal Quinn | 9.86% | 753 | 753.46 | 875.27 | 883.27 | 899.66 | 913.66 | 913.66 | 914.66 | 978.66 |
| | SDLP | Patrick McDonnell | 8.57% | 655 | 656.15 | 660.31 | 671.44 | 684.7 | 701.16 | 702.85 | 703.85 | 828.11 |
| | SDLP | James Connolly | 5.58% | 426 | 426 | 428.08 | 429.08 | 460.08 | 510.83 | 513.42 | 519.42 | 555.01 |
| | Workers' Party | Tommy Owens | 5.07% | 387 | 387.23 | 389.18 | 417.18 | 433.31 | 448.54 | 452 | 459 | |
| | DUP | Walter McFarland | 3.85% | 294 | 309.87 | 310 | 310 | 314.23 | 324.46 | | | |
| | Alliance | George Kerr | 2.83% | 216 | 219.68 | 220.07 | 221.2 | 231.43 | | | | |
| | Labour Coalition | Amanda McLaughlin | 1.85% | 141 | 141.46 | 143.41 | 148.41 | | | | | |
| | Workers' Party | Tony Winters | 0.92% | 70 | 70 | 70.26 | | | | | | |
| Electorate: 10,521 Valid: 7,640 (72.62%) Spoilt: 208 Quota: 956 Turnout: 7,848 (74.59%) |||||||||||||