# 1997 Newry and Mourne District Council election

Elections to Newry and Mourne District Council were held on 21 May 1997 on the same day as the other Northern Irish local government elections. The election used five district electoral areas to elect a total of 30 councillors.

## Election results

Newry and Mourne District Council Election Result 1997 :
| Party | Seats | Gains | Losses | Net gain/loss | Seats % | Votes % | Votes | +/− |
| SDLP | 12 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 40.0 | 39.5 | 14,590 | 8.4 |
| Sinn Féin | 8 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 26.7 | 26.7 | 9,874 | 8.6 |
| UUP | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 16.7 | 19.2 | 7,080 | 1.7 |
| Ind. Nationalist | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 10.0 | 6.9 | 2,542 | 1.4 |
| Independent | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.3 | 3.1 | 1,132 | 0.5 |
| DUP | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.3 | 2.5 | 907 | 0.2 |
| Alliance | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 753 | 2.0 |
| Workers' Party | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 78 | 0.8 |
Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes.

## Districts summary

Results of the Newry and Mourne District Council election, 1997 by district :
| Ward | % | Cllrs | % | Cllrs | % | Cllrs | % | Cllrs | % | Cllrs | Total Cllrs |
| Ward | SDLP | SDLP | Sinn Féin | Sinn Féin | UUP | UUP | DUP | DUP | Others | Others | | Total Cllrs |
| Crotlieve | 51.0 | 4 | 16.8 | 1 | 10.6 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 21.6 | 2 | 7 |
| Newry Town | 32.1 | 2 | 32.4 | 2 | 9.1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0 | 26.4 | 2 | 7 |
| Slieve Gullion | 46.3 | 2 | 53.7 | 3 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 5 |
| The Fews | 37.1 | 2 | 27.5 | 2 | 35.4 | 2 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 6 |
| The Mournes | 30.4 | 2 | 6.8 | 0 | 42.0 | 2 | 13.1 | 1 | 7.7 | 0 | 5 |
| Total | 39.5 | 12 | 26.7 | 8 | 19.2 | 5 | 2.5 | 1 | 12.1 | 4 | 30 |

## District results
### Crotlieve

1993: 4 x SDLP, 2 x Independent Nationalist, 1 x UUP 1997: 4 x SDLP, 2 x Independent Nationalist, 1 x Sinn Féin 1993–1997 Change: Sinn Féin gain from UUP
Crotlieve - 7 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| | SDLP | P. J. Bradley* | 17.77% | 1,503 | | | | | | |
| | Sinn Féin | Mick Murphy | 16.82% | 1,423 | | | | | | |
| | SDLP | Hugh Carr* | 11.52% | 975 | 1,154.4 | | | | | |
| | Ind. Nationalist | Anthony Williamson* | 10.18% | 861 | 873.6 | 965.67 | 1,034.45 | 1,116.45 | | |
| | SDLP | Josephine O'Hare | 9.01% | 762 | 837.6 | 891.85 | 914.54 | 1,058.97 | | |
| | SDLP | Jim McCart* | 8.46% | 716 | 775.7 | 817.86 | 852.06 | 1,059.15 | | |
| | Ind. Nationalist | Ciaran Mussen* | 8.89% | 752 | 770.3 | 857.1 | 885.49 | 909.15 | 955.65 | 977.65 |
| | UUP | Gordon Heslip* | 10.56% | 893 | 894.2 | 895.13 | 920.75 | 925.35 | 930.75 | 932.75 |
| | SDLP | Marietta Farrell | 4.21% | 356 | 437.3 | 503.02 | 536.97 | | | |
| | Alliance | Lindsay Whitcroft | 2.59% | 219 | 226.2 | 239.22 | | | | |
| Electorate: 14,584 Valid: 8,460 (58.01%) Spoilt: 210 Quota: 1,058 Turnout: 8,670 (59.45%) |||||||||||

### Newry Town

1993: 3 x SDLP, 2 x Sinn Féin, 1 x UUP, 1 x Independent 1997: 2 x SDLP, 2 x Sinn Féin, 1 x UUP, 1 x Independent, 1 x Independent Nationalist 1993–1997 Change: Independent Nationalist gain from SDLP
Newry Town - 7 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| | Sinn Féin | Davy Hyland* | 13.53% | 1,095 | | | | |
| | Independent | Jack Patterson* | 12.73% | 1,030 | | | | |
| | Sinn Féin | Brendan Curran* | 12.36% | 1,000 | 1,004 | 1,024.93 | | |
| | SDLP | Frank Feely* | 9.57% | 774 | 795 | 796.05 | 1,034.05 | |
| | Ind. Nationalist | Eugene Markey | 11.48% | 929 | 948 | 951.5 | 976.78 | 1,061.78 |
| | SDLP | Patrick McElroy* | 9.97% | 807 | 830 | 833.15 | 979.22 | 1,012.22 |
| | UUP | William McCaigue* | 8.99% | 727 | 763 | 763.35 | 768.35 | 771.98 |
| | SDLP | Arthur Ruddy* | 6.53% | 528 | 555 | 556.05 | 633.26 | 654.13 |
| | Sinn Féin | Anne Marie Willis | 6.54% | 529 | 530 | 572.7 | 578.98 | |
| | SDLP | Mary McKeown | 6.07% | 491 | 521 | 522.33 | | |
| | Alliance | Pete Whitcroft | 2.24% | 181 | | | | |
| Electorate: 14,036 Valid: 8,091 (57.64%) Spoilt: 213 Quota: 1,012 Turnout: 8,304 (59.16%) |||||||||

### Slieve Gullion

1993: 3 x SDLP, 2 x Sinn Féin 1997: 3 x Sinn Féin, 2 x SDLP 1993–1997 Change: Sinn Féin gain from SDLP
Slieve Gullion - 5 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 |
| | SDLP | John Fee* | 22.51% | 1,412 | |
| | Sinn Féin | Patrick Brennan | 18.30% | 1,148 | |
| | Sinn Féin | Patrick McDonald* | 17.76% | 1,114 | |
| | Sinn Féin | Patrick McNamee | 17.66% | 1,108 | |
| | SDLP | Pat Toner* | 13.47% | 845 | 1,043.8 |
| | SDLP | Dessie McDonnell | 10.31% | 647 | 804.36 |
| Electorate: 9,847 Valid: 6,274 (63.71%) Spoilt: 174 Quota: 1,046 Turnout: 6,448 (65.48%) ||||||

### The Fews

1993: 3 x SDLP, 2 x UUP, 1 x Sinn Féin 1997: 2 x SDLP, 2 x UUP, 2 x Sinn Féin 1993–1997 Change: Sinn Féin gain from SDLP
The Fews - 6 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| | UUP | Danny Kennedy* | 22.27% | 1,610 | | |
| | Sinn Féin | Brendan Lewis | 15.25% | 1,103 | | |
| | UUP | Andy Moffett | 13.17% | 952 | 1,510.72 | |
| | SDLP | Stephen McGinn* | 14.08% | 1,018 | 1,022.68 | 1,055.8 |
| | SDLP | Charlie Smyth* | 13.48% | 975 | 976.44 | 1,035.84 |
| | Sinn Féin | Jimmy McCreesh | 12.21% | 883 | 884.08 | 885.52 |
| | SDLP | James Savage* | 6.69% | 690 | 691.44 | 746.88 |
| Electorate: 10,907 Valid: 7,231 (66.30%) Spoilt: 219 Quota: 1,034 Turnout: 7,450 (68.30%) |||||||

### The Mournes

1993: 2 x UUP, 2 x SDLP, 1 x DUP 1997: 2 x UUP, 2 x SDLP, 1 x DUP 1993–1997 Change: No change
The Mournes - 5 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| | UUP | Isaac Hanna* | 23.12% | 1,595 | | | | | | |
| | UUP | Henry Reilly* | 18.88% | 1,303 | | | | | | |
| | SDLP | Emmett Haughian* | 17.33% | 1,196 | | | | | | |
| | DUP | William Burns* | 13.14% | 907 | 1,266.89 | | | | | |
| | SDLP | Michael Cunningham | 12.97% | 895 | 898.48 | 901.47 | 903.99 | 931.28 | 939.18 | 1,193.18 |
| | Alliance | Anne Marie Cunningham | 5.12% | 353 | 390.7 | 423.82 | 449.65 | 470.61 | 569.66 | 657.95 |
| | Sinn Féin | Paul Lawless | 6.83% | 471 | 471.58 | 471.58 | 471.58 | 481.58 | 482.58 | |
| | Independent | Cecil Atkinson | 1.48% | 102 | 133.9 | 238.09 | 321.25 | 326.95 | | |
| | Workers' Party | Charles Cunningham | 1.13% | 78 | 81.77 | 89.59 | 93.37 | | | |
| Electorate: 10,084 Valid: 6,900 (68.43%) Spoilt: 127 Quota: 1,151 Turnout: 7,027 (69.68%) |||||||||||