Ballymena Area B

Ballymena Area B was one of the four district electoral areas in Ballymena, Northern Ireland which existed from 1973 to 1985. The district elected six members to Ballymena Borough Council, and formed part of the North Antrim constituencies for the Northern Ireland Assembly and UK Parliament.

It was created for the 1973 local elections, and contained the wards of Ahoghill, Cullybackey, Dunminning, Galgorm, Grange and Portglenone. It was abolished for the 1985 local elections and replaced by The Main DEA.

Councillors

Election	Councillor (Party)		Councillor (Party)		Councillor (Party)		Councillor (Party)		Councillor (Party)		Councillor (Party)
1981		Roy Gillespie (DUP)		Sandy Spence (DUP)		John Greer (DUP)		Tommy Nicholl (DUP)		William Wright (UUP)		Hugh Simpson (UUP)/ (Independent Unionist)
1977								Hubert Nicholl (DUP)		Thomas Smyth (UUP)/ (Independent Unionist)
1973						A. Simpson (Independent)		W. Dickey (UUP)

1981 Election

1977: 4 x DUP, 2 x UUP

1981: 4 x DUP, 2 x UUP

1977-1981 Change: No change

Ballymena Area B - 7 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				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
	Ulster Unionist	Hugh Simpson*	8.22%	537	538.56	539.52	590.52	593.12	793.19	1,109.19
	Ulster Unionist	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
	Ulster Unionist	Robert Nelson	6.33%	413	431.2	438.88	473.88	474.73	561.18
	Ulster Unionist	Thomas Smyth*	6.16%	402	409.8	410.28	435.28	436.93
	Ulster Unionist	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%)

1977 Election

1973: 2 x DUP, 2 x Independent Unionist, 1 x UUP, 1 x Independent

1977: 4 x DUP, 2 x UUP

1973-1977 Change: DUP (two seats) gain from UUP and Independent, Independent Unionists (two seats) join UUP

Ballymena Area B - 6 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1
	DUP	Roy Gillespie*	N/A	N/A
	DUP	John Greer	N/A	N/A
	DUP	Hubert Nicholl	N/A	N/A
	Ulster Unionist	Hugh Simpson*	N/A	N/A
	Ulster Unionist	Thomas Smyth*	N/A	N/A
	DUP	Sandy Spence*	N/A	N/A
Electorate: N/A   Valid: N/A   Spoilt: N/A   Quota: N/A   Turnout: N/A

• As only six candidates had been nominated for six seats, there was no vote in Area B and all six candidates were deemed elected.

1973 Election

1973: 2 x UUP, 2 x Independent Unionist, 1 x DUP, 1 x Independent

Ballymena Area B - 4 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	Independent	A. Simpson	22.30%	1,390
	DUP	Sandy Spence	20.07%	1,251
	DUP	Roy Gillespie	19.06%	1,188
	Ulster Unionist	W. Dickey	11.78%	734	930.8
	Ind. Unionist	Hugh Simpson	7.49%	467	541	648.3	728.34	814.64	894.12
	Ind. Unionist	Thomas Smyth	6.03%	376	431.6	504.1	607.6	693.1	786.54
	Ulster Unionist	W. O. Given	4.19%	261	305.8	433.98	481.36	569.28	685.18
	Alliance	Maeve Kyle	5.30%	330	398.4	413.48	420.38	435.78
	Independent	W. R. McNeilly	3.77%	235	291	324.64	378
Electorate: 9,474   Valid: 6,232 (65.78%)   Spoilt: 61   Quota: 891   Turnout: 6,293 (66.42%)