# 1997 Down District Council election

Elections to Down District Council were held on 21 May 1997 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 1997 :
| Party | Seats | Gains | Losses | Net gain/loss | Seats % | Votes % | Votes | +/− |
| SDLP | 12 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 52.2 | 46.0 | 10,481 | 5.2 |
| UUP | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 26.1 | 24.1 | 5,507 | 4.4 |
| DUP | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 8.7 | 11.9 | 2,724 | 2.0 |
| Sinn Féin | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 8.7 | 7.6 | 1,724 | 4.4 |
| NI Women's Coalition | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4.3 | 1.9 | 430 | New |
| Alliance | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 3.7 | 850 | 0.1 |
| Ind. Unionist | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 2.3 | 521 | 2.3 |
| Labour Coalition | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1.4 | 327 | New |
| Workers' Party | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.6 | 132 | 0.0 |
| Green (NI) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 113 | 0.5 |
Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes.

## Districts summary

Results of the Down District Council election, 1997 by district :
| Ward | % | Cllrs | % | Cllrs | % | Cllrs | % | Cllrs | % | Cllrs | % | Cllrs | Total Cllrs |
| Ward | SDLP | SDLP | UUP | UUP | DUP | DUP | Sinn Féin | Sinn Féin | NIWC | NIWC | Others | Others | | Total Cllrs |
| Ballynahinch | 46.8 | 3 | 24.0 | 1 | 24.9 | 1 | 4.3 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 5 |
| Downpatrick | 61.0 | 5 | 13.2 | 1 | 0.0 | 0 | 10.8 | 1 | 0.0 | 0 | 15.0 | 0 | 7 |
| Newcastle | 47.2 | 3 | 17.6 | 1 | 9.4 | 0 | 14.2 | 1 | 7.4 | 1 | 4.2 | 0 | 6 |
| Rowallane | 26.6 | 1 | 43.9 | 3 | 15.1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 14.4 | 0 | 5 |
| Total | 46.0 | 12 | 24.1 | 6 | 11.9 | 2 | 7.6 | 2 | 1.9 | 1 | 8.5 | 0 | 23 |

## Districts results
### Ballynahinch

1993: 2 x SDLP, 2 x UUP, 1 x DUP 1997: 3 x SDLP, 1 x UUP, 1 x DUP 1993-1997 Change: SDLP gain from UUP
Ballynahinch - 5 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| | DUP | William Alexander* | 24.91% | 1,362 | | | | | |
| | SDLP | Patrick Toman* | 21.89% | 1,197 | | | | | |
| | UUP | Harvey Bicker | 18.11% | 990 | | | | | |
| | SDLP | Anne Marie McAleenan* | 17.39% | 951 | | | | | |
| | SDLP | Francis Casement | 7.48% | 409 | 413.2 | 672.64 | 821.91 | 823.11 | 856.51 |
| | UUP | John Reid | 5.94% | 325 | 769.5 | 772.62 | 776.86 | 851.5 | 852.06 |
| | Sinn Féin | John Smyth | 4.28% | 234 | 234.7 | 249.58 | | | |
| Electorate: 9,536 Valid: 5,468 (57.34%) Spoilt: 110 Quota: 912 Turnout: 5,578 (58.49%) ||||||||||

### Downpatrick

1993: 6 x SDLP, 1 x UUP 1997: 5 x SDLP, 1 x Sinn Féin, 1 x UUP 1993-1997 Change: Sinn Féin gain from SDLP
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 | John Doris* | 16.17% | 991 | | | | | | | | |
| | SDLP | Peter Craig | 14.98% | 918 | | | | | | | | |
| | UUP | Jack McIlheron* | 13.09% | 802 | | | | | | | | |
| | SDLP | Dermot Curran* | 12.20% | 748 | 841.15 | | | | | | | |
| | SDLP | Owen Adams* | 7.78% | 477 | 534.5 | 580.91 | 622.71 | 623.31 | 626.13 | 657.29 | 764.52 | 806.52 |
| | Sinn Féin | Patrick McGreevy | 10.75% | 659 | 664.29 | 668.88 | 670.4 | 670.4 | 674.1 | 700.09 | 712.23 | 757.15 |
| | SDLP | Gerard Mahon | 6.80% | 417 | 431.03 | 455.17 | 465.24 | 465.78 | 469.03 | 476.89 | 623.69 | 654.46 |
| | Alliance | Michael Healy | 7.03% | 431 | 437.44 | 444.41 | 448.02 | 472.62 | 476.25 | 536.88 | 542.1 | 594.88 |
| | Labour Coalition | Patrick O'Connor | 4.10% | 251 | 253.53 | 255.23 | 255.99 | 256.83 | 269.39 | 323.38 | 329.61 | |
| | SDLP | John Irvine | 3.08% | 189 | 225.34 | 277.87 | 291.36 | 291.66 | 293.29 | 307.26 | | |
| | Green (NI) | Keith Bradford | 1.84% | 113 | 116.45 | 118.49 | 119.82 | 122.76 | 123.22 | | | |
| | Workers' Party | Desmond O'Hagan | 0.93% | 57 | 57.92 | 59.28 | 59.47 | 59.65 | 59.88 | | | |
| | Labour Coalition | Edna Furey | 0.67% | 41 | 41.92 | 43.62 | 44.19 | 47.49 | 53.72 | | | |
| | Labour Coalition | Michael Kearney | 0.57% | 35 | 37.53 | 43.14 | 43.71 | 44.07 | | | | |
| Electorate: 12,631 Valid: 6,129 (48.52%) Spoilt: 80 Quota: 767 Turnout: 6,209 (49.16%) |||||||||||||

### Newcastle

1993: 4 x SDLP, 1 x UUP, 1 x DUP 1997: 3 x SDLP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Sinn Féin, 1 x Women's Coalition 1993-1997 Change: Sinn Féin and Women's Coalition gain from SDLP and DUP
Newcastle - 6 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 | Eamon O'Neill* | 15.63% | 913 | | | | | | | | |
| | Sinn Féin | Hugh McDowell | 14.22% | 831 | 837 | | | | | | | |
| | UUP | Gerald Douglas* | 13.23% | 773 | 775 | 792 | 1,009 | | | | | |
| | SDLP | Carmel O'Boyle | 12.24% | 715 | 733 | 755 | 758 | 758.99 | 1,006.99 | | | |
| | SDLP | Peter Fitzpatrick* | 12.08% | 706 | 711 | 723 | 723 | 724.98 | 870.98 | | | |
| | NI Women's Coalition | Anne Carr | 7.36% | 430 | 451 | 532 | 540 | 565.74 | 605.73 | 672.73 | 748.13 | 779.13 |
| | DUP | Stanley Priestley | 9.45% | 552 | 552 | 554 | 588 | 729.57 | 731.56 | 732.56 | 733.08 | 734.08 |
| | SDLP | Frances Flynn* | 7.22% | 422 | 431 | 456 | 459 | 461.97 | | | | |
| | UUP | Ronald Richey | 4.43% | 259 | 259 | 271 | | | | | | |
| | Alliance | Adrienne Healy | 2.86% | 167 | 175 | | | | | | | |
| | Workers' Party | Edward O'Hagan | 1.28% | 75 | | | | | | | | |
| Electorate: 10,884 Valid: 5,843 (53.68%) Spoilt: 115 Quota: 835 Turnout: 5,958 (54.74%) |||||||||||||

### Rowallane

1993: 3 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x SDLP 1997: 3 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x SDLP 1993-1997 Change: No change
Rowallane - 5 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| | SDLP | Margaret Ritchie* | 19.44% | 1,044 | | | | |
| | UUP | Samuel Osborne* | 15.76% | 846 | 847.96 | 888.24 | 1,105.24 | |
| | DUP | William Dick* | 15.09% | 810 | 810.56 | 819.56 | 963.56 | |
| | UUP | Albert Colmer* | 15.22% | 817 | 817.84 | 865.26 | 899.26 | |
| | UUP | William Biggerstaff* | 12.94% | 695 | 695.28 | 734.28 | 801.56 | 925.56 |
| | SDLP | John Moffat | 7.15% | 384 | 516.58 | 584.82 | 602.52 | 605.52 |
| | Ind. Unionist | William Walker | 9.70% | 521 | 522.82 | 543.96 | | |
| | Alliance | Barry Corscadden | 4.69% | 252 | 255.5 | | | |
| Electorate: 10,036 Valid: 5,369 (53.50%) Spoilt: 78 Quota: 895 Turnout: 5,447 (54.27%) |||||||||