# 1985 Down District Council election

Elections to Down District Council were held on 15 May 1985 on the same day as the other Northern Irish local government elections. The election used four district electoral areas to elect a total of 23 councillors.

## Election results

Down District Council Election Result 1985 :
| Party | Seats | Gains | Losses | Net gain/loss | Seats % | Votes % | Votes | +/− |
| SDLP | 10 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 43.5 | 41.6 | 9,851 | 0.5 |
| UUP | 7 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 30.4 | 30.3 | 7,167 | 3.0 |
| DUP | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13.0 | 12.2 | 2,886 | 0.8 |
| Sinn Féin | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0.0 | 6.5 | 1,549 | New |
| Workers' Party | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.3 | 4.2 | 993 | 2.3 |
| Alliance | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 5.2 | 1,237 | 3.2 |
Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes.

## Districts summary

Results of the Down District Council election, 1985 by district :
| Ward | % | Cllrs | % | Cllrs | % | Cllrs | % | Cllrs | % | Cllrs | % | Cllrs | Total Cllrs |
| Ward | SDLP | SDLP | UUP | UUP | DUP | DUP | Sinn Féin | Sinn Féin | Workers Party | Workers Party | Others | Others | | Total Cllrs |
| Ballynahinch | 40.5 | 2 | 33.3 | 2 | 18.9 | 1 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 7.3 | 0 | 5 |
| Downpatrick | 57.4 | 4 | 16.3 | 1 | 0.0 | 0 | 9.9 | 1 | 9.1 | 1 | 7.3 | 0 | 7 |
| Newcastle | 40.8 | 3 | 22.1 | 1 | 12.0 | 1 | 14.0 | 1 | 5.8 | 0 | 5.3 | 0 | 6 |
| Rowallane | 22.4 | 1 | 55.7 | 3 | 21.9 | 1 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 5 |
| Total | 41.6 | 10 | 30.3 | 7 | 12.2 | 3 | 6.5 | 1 | 4.2 | 1 | 5.2 | 0 | 23 |

## District results
### Ballynahinch

1985: 2 x SDLP, 2 x UUP, 1 x DUP
Ballynahinch - 5 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| | SDLP | James Magee* | 19.00% | 1,020 | | | | |
| | UUP | William Brown* | 18.70% | 1,004 | | | | |
| | DUP | Thomas Poole* | 13.82% | 742 | 742.24 | 971.24 | | |
| | UUP | James Cochrane | 14.57% | 782 | 782 | 822 | 928 | |
| | SDLP | Francis Laverty* | 10.36% | 556 | 630.52 | 630.64 | 788.12 | 879.32 |
| | SDLP | Patrick Savage | 11.10% | 596 | 635 | 635 | 711.48 | 728.76 |
| | Alliance | Patrick Forde* | 7.38% | 396 | 403.44 | 405.44 | | |
| | DUP | Stanley Priestley | 5.08% | 273 | 273.12 | | | |
| Electorate: 7,947 Valid: 5,369 (67.56%) Spoilt: 111 Quota: 895 Turnout: 5,480 (68.96%) |||||||||

### Downpatrick

1985: 4 x SDLP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Sinn Féin, 1 x Workers' Party
Downpatrick - 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 |
| | SDLP | Eddie McGrady* | 26.92% | 1,886 | | | | | | | | |
| | UUP | Samuel McCartney | 16.28% | 1,141 | | | | | | | | |
| | SDLP | Dermot Curran* | 11.50% | 806 | 963.68 | | | | | | | |
| | SDLP | Sean Quinn | 8.26% | 579 | 976.44 | | | | | | | |
| | SDLP | John Ritchie* | 6.62% | 464 | 686.48 | 692.72 | 696.34 | 755.7 | 797.94 | 803.1 | 1,008.1 | |
| | Sinn Féin | Geraldine Ritchie | 9.90% | 694 | 740.44 | 740.83 | 750.22 | 757.22 | 761.84 | 762.84 | 805.15 | 820.15 |
| | Workers' Party | Raymond Blaney* | 7.91% | 554 | 616.1 | 625.85 | 685.18 | 693.86 | 700.46 | 710.85 | 763.26 | 797.26 |
| | Alliance | Michael Healy | 4.40% | 308 | 324.74 | 406.64 | 410.89 | 412.71 | 414.69 | 702.8 | 748.39 | 782.39 |
| | SDLP | Madge McAvoy | 4.08% | 286 | 375.1 | 377.83 | 382.91 | 403.77 | 434.13 | 443.45 | | |
| | Alliance | Margaret Donnelly | 2.95% | 207 | 212.94 | 373.23 | 375.31 | 376.43 | 377.09 | | | |
| | Workers' Party | Alan McCullough | 2.95% | 82 | 89.56 | 93.07 | | | | | | |
| Electorate: 10,997 Valid: 7,007 (63.72%) Spoilt: 159 Quota: 876 Turnout: 7,166 (65.16%) |||||||||||||

### Newcastle

1985: 3 x SDLP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Sinn Féin, 1 x DUP
Newcastle - 6 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| | UUP | Gerald Douglas* | 22.06% | 1,350 | | | | | |
| | Sinn Féin | Hugh McDowell | 13.97% | 855 | | | | | |
| | DUP | Ethel Smyth* | 11.99% | 734 | 1,117.75 | | | | |
| | SDLP | Eamon O'Neill* | 13.51% | 827 | 829.52 | 832.08 | 924.08 | | |
| | SDLP | Michael Boyd | 13.43% | 822 | 825.24 | 827.16 | 890.16 | | |
| | SDLP | James Curry* | 7.25% | 444 | 446.16 | 448.4 | 487.4 | 516.51 | 843.1 |
| | Alliance | Anthony Dickinson | 5.33% | 326 | 396.92 | 625.36 | 672.04 | 677.01 | 690.15 |
| | SDLP | Peter Fitzpatrick | 6.62% | 405 | 405.72 | 406.36 | 426.72 | 441.53 | |
| | Workers' Party | Edward O'Hagan | 4.17% | 255 | 257.52 | 259.76 | | | |
| | Workers' Party | Sean Magee | 1.67% | 102 | 103.44 | 103.76 | | | |
| Electorate: 8,978 Valid: 6,120 (68.17%) Spoilt: 135 Quota: 875 Turnout: 6,255 (69.67%) ||||||||||

### Rowallane

1985: 3 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x SDLP
Rowallane - 5 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| | UUP | Dermot Nesbitt* | 22.75% | 1,180 | | | | |
| | UUP | Samuel Osborne* | 20.59% | 1,068 | | | | |
| | UUP | William Biggerstaff | 12.38% | 642 | 877.44 | | | |
| | DUP | William Dick | 14.42% | 748 | 789.58 | 857.98 | 866.82 | |
| | SDLP | Margaret Ritchie | 12.13% | 629 | 636.29 | 639.41 | 639.67 | 1,146.67 |
| | DUP | Trevor Lennon | 7.50% | 389 | 413.03 | 539.75 | 542.83 | 547.83 |
| | SDLP | Oliver Flanagan | 10.24% | 531 | 532.62 | 535.98 | 536.14 | |
| Electorate: 7,860 Valid: 5,187 (65.99%) Spoilt: 87 Quota: 865 Turnout: 5,274 (67.10%) |||||||||