# 1981 Ballymena Borough Council election

Elections to Ballymena Borough Council were held on 20 May 1981 on the same day as the other Northern Irish local government elections. The election used four district electoral areas to elect a total of 21 councillors.

## Election results

Ballymena Borough Council Election Result 1981 :
| Party | Seats | Gains | Losses | Net gain/loss | Seats % | Votes % | Votes | +/− |
| DUP | 13 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 61.9 | 55.5 | 12,739 | 15.4 |
| UUP | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 28.6 | 30.0 | 6,886 | 10.5 |
| Independent | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9.5 | 10.6 | 2,438 | 3.1 |
| Ind. Unionist | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4.8 | 3.4 | 790 | 18.0 |
| UUUP | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 108 | New |
Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes.

## Districts summary

Results of the Ballymena Borough Council election, 1981 by district :
| Ward | % | Cllrs | % | Cllrs | % | Cllrs | Total Cllrs |
| Ward | DUP | DUP | UUP | UUP | Others | Others | | Total Cllrs |
| Area A | 42.8 | 2 | 37.8 | 1 | 19.4 | 1 | 4 |
| Area B | 68.0 | 4 | 32.0 | 2 | 0.0 | 0 | 6 |
| Area C | 66.6 | 4 | 31.5 | 1 | 1.9 | 0 | 5 |
| Area D | 41.9 | 3 | 21.7 | 1 | 36.4 | 2 | 6 |
| Total | 55.5 | 13 | 30.0 | 5 | 14.5 | 3 | 21 |

## Districts results
### Area A

1977: 2 x DUP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Independent 1981: 2 x DUP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Independent 1977-1981 Change: No change
Ballymena Area A - 4 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| | UUP | Desmond Armstrong | 22.71% | 964 | | | |
| | DUP | John Armstrong | 19.39% | 823 | 945 | | |
| | DUP | Samuel Hanna | 13.74% | 583 | 842 | 852.32 | |
| | Independent | James Woulahan* | 19.42% | 824 | 826 | 826.48 | 827.48 |
| | UUP | James McKay | 15.08% | 640 | 656 | 754.52 | 798.52 |
| | DUP | James Millar* | 9.66% | 410 | | | |
| Electorate: 5,861 Valid: 4,244 (72.41%) Spoilt: 121 Quota: 549 Turnout: 4,365 (74.48%) ||||||||

### Area B

1977: 4 x DUP, 2 x UUP 1981: 4 x DUP, 2 x UUP 1977-1981 Change: No change
Ballymena Area B - 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 |
| | DUP | Roy Gillespie* | 19.20% | 1,254 | | | | | | | | |
| | DUP | Sandy Spence* | 15.02% | 981 | | | | | | | | |
| | DUP | John Greer* | 13.06% | 853 | 1,075.3 | | | | | | | |
| | UUP | Hugh Simpson* | 8.22% | 537 | 538.56 | 539.52 | 590.52 | 593.12 | 793.19 | 1,109.19 | | |
| | UUP | William Wright* | 7.10% | 464 | 474.14 | 474.78 | 605.56 | 608.91 | 661.68 | 807.62 | 972.07 | |
| | DUP | Tommy Nicholl | 11.33% | 740 | 763.66 | 771.34 | 793.34 | 824.04 | 831.75 | 844.29 | 848.19 | 860.54 |
| | DUP | Hubert Nicholl* | 9.43% | 616 | 649.02 | 765.82 | 765.82 | 773.67 | 794.06 | 830.53 | 835.08 | 853.93 |
| | UUP | Robert Nelson | 6.33% | 413 | 431.2 | 438.88 | 473.88 | 474.73 | 561.18 | | | |
| | UUP | Thomas Smyth | 6.16% | 402 | 409.8 | 410.28 | 435.28 | 436.93 | | | | |
| | UUP | John Sutter | 4.15% | 271 | 272.04 | 272.04 | | | | | | |
| Electorate: 9,994 Valid: 6,531 (65.35%) Spoilt: 240 Quota: 934 Turnout: 6,771 (67.75%) |||||||||||||

### Area C

1977: 3 x DUP, 2 x Independent Unionist 1981: 4 x DUP, 1 x UUP 1977-1981 Change: DUP and UUP gain from Independent Unionist (two seats)
Ballymena Area C - 5 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| | DUP | Roy West | 19.43% | 1,082 | | | |
| | DUP | Martin Clarke | 17.56% | 978 | | | |
| | UUP | William Brownlees | 14.63% | 815 | 953 | | |
| | DUP | Edwin Maternaghan | 14.81% | 825 | 839 | 953.8 | |
| | DUP | John McAuley* | 14.81% | 825 | 846 | 870.22 | 915.62 |
| | UUP | William Simpson | 12.46% | 694 | 844 | 851.14 | 852.94 |
| | UUP | William McConnell | 4.36% | 243 | | | |
| | UUUP | Ernest Johnston | 1.94% | 108 | | | |
| Electorate: 9,902 Valid: 5,570 (56.25%) Spoilt: 143 Quota: 929 Turnout: 5,713 (57.70%) ||||||||

### Area D

1977: 2 x DUP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Independent, 1 x Independent Unionist 1981: 3 x DUP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Independent, 1 x Independent Unionist 1977-1981 Change: DUP gain from Alliance
Ballymena Area D - 6 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| | Independent | Patrick Burke* | 20.12% | 1,331 | | | | | | |
| | DUP | Maurice Mills* | 16.82% | 1,113 | | | | | | |
| | Ind. Unionist | Samuel Henry* | 11.94% | 790 | 972.35 | | | | | |
| | DUP | James Alexander* | 13.57% | 898 | 900.1 | 983.2 | | | | |
| | UUP | Gordon Wilson | 8.27% | 547 | 553.65 | 558.45 | 558.87 | 560.91 | 803.69 | 917.34 |
| | DUP | Robert Maternaghan | 11.46% | 758 | 758.7 | 824.55 | 860.25 | 860.31 | 868.8 | 893.26 |
| | UUP | Kenneth Wood | 7.57% | 501 | 524.1 | 527.25 | 527.6 | 530.96 | 662.67 | 802.89 |
| | Independent | Samuel Barr | 4.28% | 283 | 434.2 | 436.9 | 437.18 | 455.9 | 472.22 | |
| | UUP | James Rainey | 5.97% | 395 | 408.65 | 413.75 | 414.1 | 415.3 | | |
| Electorate: 11,475 Valid: 6,616 (57.66%) Spoilt: 139 Quota: 946 Turnout: 6,755 (58.87%) |||||||||||