# 1985 Ballymena Borough Council election

Elections to Ballymena Borough 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

Ballymena Borough Council Election Result 1985 :
| Party | Seats | Gains | Losses | Net gain/loss | Seats % | Votes % | Votes | +/− |
| DUP | 15 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 65.2 | 55.6 | 12,014 | 0.1 |
| UUP | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 26.1 | 28.6 | 6,190 | 1.4 |
| SDLP | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4.3 | 6.3 | 1,367 | New |
| Ind. Unionist | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.3 | 5.6 | 1,204 | 2.1 |
| Independent | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0.0 | 4.0 | 856 | 6.6 |
Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes.

## Districts summary

Results of the Ballymena Borough Council election, 1985 by district :
| Ward | % | Cllrs | % | Cllrs | % | Cllrs | % | Cllrs | Total Cllrs |
| Ward | DUP | DUP | UUP | UUP | SDLP | SDLP | Others | Others | | Total Cllrs |
| Ballymena Town | 37.7 | 3 | 22.8 | 2 | 21.0 | 1 | 18.5 | 1 | 7 |
| Braid Valley | 48.5 | 3 | 35.3 | 2 | 0.0 | 0 | 16.2 | 0 | 5 |
| Kells Water | 73.6 | 5 | 26.4 | 1 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 6 |
| The Main | 68.8 | 4 | 31.2 | 1 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 5 |
| Total | 55.6 | 15 | 28.6 | 6 | 6.3 | 1 | 9.5 | 2 | 23 |

## District results
### Ballymena Town

1985: 3 x DUP, 2 x UUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x Independent Unionist
Ballymena Town - 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 | Patrick McAvoy | 17.33% | 1,126 | | | | | | |
| | Ind. Unionist | Samuel Henry* | 13.48% | 876 | | | | | | |
| | UUP | Robert Coulter | 12.22% | 794 | 794.28 | 807.58 | 886.58 | | | |
| | UUP | Gordon Wilson* | 6.20% | 403 | 403.56 | 419.17 | 581.16 | 711.3 | 775.3 | 841.22 |
| | DUP | Maurice Mills* | 10.89% | 708 | 708.28 | 711.71 | 722.99 | 753.18 | 756.18 | 764 |
| | DUP | Richard McKeown | 9.85% | 640 | 640.84 | 642.94 | 644.08 | 677.99 | 679.99 | 691.12 |
| | DUP | Robert Maternaghan* | 8.66% | 563 | 563.28 | 566.22 | 571.36 | 635.41 | 637.41 | 639.32 |
| | DUP | John Wilson | 8.28% | 538 | 538 | 539.33 | 550.89 | 589.45 | 591.45 | 600.37 |
| | SDLP | Malachy Reynolds | 3.71% | 241 | 550.12 | 552.29 | 555.43 | 565.99 | 565.99 | |
| | Ind. Unionist | James Alexander* | 5.05% | 328 | 329.4 | 340.67 | 352.72 | | | |
| | UUP | Warren Wray | 4.34% | 282 | 282 | 288.72 | | | | |
| Electorate: 12,497 Valid: 6,499 (52.00%) Spoilt: 105 Quota: 813 Turnout: 6,604 (52.84%) |||||||||||

### Braid Valley

1985: 3 x DUP, 2 x UUP
Braid Valley - 5 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| | DUP | John Armstrong* | 11.85% | 628 | 981 | | | | | |
| | UUP | Margaret Alexander | 11.81% | 626 | 635 | 925 | | | | |
| | UUP | Desmond Armstrong* | 14.28% | 757 | 794 | 921 | | | | |
| | DUP | Samuel Hanna* | 14.07% | 746 | 787 | 829 | 850.33 | 869.58 | 892.2 | |
| | DUP | John Porter | 13.66% | 724 | 753 | 778 | 850.63 | 865.88 | 875.16 | 882.36 |
| | Independent | James Woulahan* | 16.15% | 856 | 857 | 860 | 860 | 865.25 | 869.89 | 870.79 |
| | UUP | Harbinson McCullough | 9.24% | 490 | 493 | | | | | |
| | DUP | Samuel Martin | 8.94% | 474 | | | | | | |
| Electorate: 7,829 Valid: 5,301 (67.71%) Spoilt: 110 Quota: 884 Turnout: 5,411 (69.11%) |||||||||||

### Kells Water

1985: 5 x DUP, 1 x UUP
Kells Water - 6 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| | UUP | William Brownlees* | 17.86% | 856 | | | |
| | DUP | John McAuley* | 17.63% | 845 | | | |
| | DUP | Roy West* | 16.60% | 796 | | | |
| | DUP | Martin Clarke* | 14.50% | 695 | | | |
| | DUP | Edwin Maternaghan* | 12.04% | 577 | 586.4 | 693.37 | |
| | DUP | David McClintock | 12.83% | 615 | 623.4 | 657.41 | 753.17 |
| | UUP | Victoria Brownlees | 8.55% | 410 | 558.8 | 570.96 | 579.92 |
| Electorate: 9,621 Valid: 4,794 (49.83%) Spoilt: 133 Quota: 685 Turnout: 4,927 (51.21%) ||||||||

### The Main

1985: 4 x DUP, 1 x UUP
The Main - 5 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| | DUP | Roy Gillespie* | 21.36% | 1,076 | | | |
| | DUP | Tommy Nicholl* | 19.06% | 960 | | | |
| | DUP | Sandy Spence* | 15.80% | 796 | 831.64 | 925.48 | |
| | DUP | Hubert Nicholl | 12.57% | 633 | 792.94 | 804.7 | 876.75 |
| | UUP | Ian Johnston* | 16.12% | 812 | 834.88 | 838.24 | 841.76 |
| | UUP | William Wright* | 15.09% | 760 | 774.08 | 777.92 | 782.43 |
| Electorate: 8,309 Valid: 5,037 (60.62%) Spoilt: 213 Quota: 840 Turnout: 5,250 (63.18%) ||||||||