1977 Ards Borough Council election

Main article: Northern Ireland local elections, 1977

1977 Ards Borough Council election

18 May 1977 (1977-05-18)
All 17 seats to Ards Borough Council 9 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Party Ulster Unionist Alliance DUP Seats won 6 5 3 Seat change 5 3 3   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Party NI Labour SDLP Ind. Unionist Seats won 1 1 1 Seat change 0 0 0   Seventh party   Party Loyalist Coalition Seats won 0 Seat change 1

Elections to Ards Borough Council were held on 18 May 1977 on the same day as the other Northern Irish local government elections. The election used three district electoral areas to elect a total of 17 councillors.

Election results

Ards Borough Council Election Result 1977

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Ulster Unionist	6	0	5	5	35.3	31.8	5,368	22.7
	Alliance	5	3	0	3	29.4	20.8	3,507	6.0
	DUP	3	3	0	3	17.6	13.8	2,322	New
	NI Labour	1	0	0	0	5.9	8.0	1,349	2.7
	Ind. Unionist	1	1	1	0	0.0	6.2	1,042	2.0
	SDLP	1	0	0	0	5.9	5.7	964	0.1
	Independent	0	0	0	0	0.0	5.8	971	5.8
	Unionist Party NI	0	0	0	0	0.0	5.3	886	New
	Vanguard	0	0	0	0	0.0	1.6	277	5.6
	UUUP	0	0	0	0	0.0	1.0	170	New

Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes.

Districts summary

Results of the Ards Borough Council election, 1977
by district

Ward	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	Total Cllrs
	UUP		Alliance		DUP		NILP		SDLP		Others
Area A	32.1	3	23.3	2	12.5	1	0.0	0	14.7	1	17.4	0	7
Area B	30.1	2	21.2	2	13.0	1	22.5	1	0.0	0	13.2	0	6
Area C	33.8	1	16.5	1	13.1	1	0.0	0	0.0	0	36.6	1	4
Total	31.8	6	20.8	5	13.8	3	8.0	1	5.7	1	19.9	1	17

Districts results

Area A

1973: 6 x UUP, 1 x SDLP
1977: 3 x UUP, 2 x Alliance, 1 x DUP, 1 x SDLP
1973-1977 Change: Alliance (two seats) and DUP gain from UUP (three seats)

Ards Area A - 7 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
	Alliance	Charles Dunleath	20.39%	1,339
	DUP	Joseph Thompson*	14.94%	981
	SDLP	Patrick Doherty*	14.68%	964
	Alliance	William Sheldon	2.89%	190	568.8	571.86	600.93	601.93	607.61	612.61	629.49	636.46	796.17	896.17
	Ulster Unionist	John Scott*	6.79%	446	453.6	467.71	468.22	471.41	480.36	491.1	500.27	672.78	674.29	823.29
	Ulster Unionist	William Caughey	6.87%	451	471.8	487.61	487.95	489.66	507.16	561.82	567.52	630.82	632.62	692.58	706.58
	Ulster Unionist	Robert Ambrose	4.37%	287	294.6	320.1	320.61	335.46	373.95	437.32	535.52	565.02	575.44	626.94	647.94
	Ulster Unionist	Oliver Johnston*	7.01%	460	466.4	475.41	475.92	477.09	480.28	493.12	497.8	529.42	531.42	566.01	578.01
	Unionist Party NI	Michael Long	5.65%	371	401.4	406.67	407.69	408.09	411.77	421.11	451.85	477.96	499.54
	Independent	James McMullan	4.77%	313	343.8	343.97	446.14	446.14	447.71	449.91	453.1	454.27
	Ulster Unionist	Henry Cosbey*	4.69%	308	316	325.69	326.03	327.2	333.61	343.69	346.77
	Independent	Francis McMaster	1.95%	128	133.2	142.72	144.76	175.45	207.96	218.98
	Ulster Unionist	William Keag	2.41%	158	166	172.97	173.99	179.84	193.41
	Ind. Unionist	Robert Mason	1.55%	102	108.4	150.56	150.73	169.78
	Ind. Unionist	Vera Shaw	1.04%	68	71.2	83.1	83.1
Electorate: 13,817   Valid: 6,566 (47.52%)   Spoilt: 227   Quota: 821   Turnout: 6,793 (49.16%)

Area B

1973: 3 x UUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x NILP, 1 x Loyalist
1977: 2 x UUP, 2 x Alliance, 1 x NILP, 1 x DUP
1973-1977 Change: Alliance and DUP gain from UUP and Loyalist

Ards Area B - 6 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	NI Labour	Robert Gaw*	14.06%	843	874
	DUP	Hugh Boyd	13.01%	780	868
	Ulster Unionist	John Algie*	13.71%	822	861
	Ulster Unionist	William Boal	6.36%	381	415	418.5	512.5	774.5	852.2
	Alliance	Herbert Gallagher	10.94%	656	667	669.8	685.8	720.8	813.5
	Alliance	Owen Dorrian*	10.23%	613	621	621	626	638.7	802.4
	Unionist Party NI	Cecilia Cooke*	8.59%	515	536	537.4	562.4	649.1	733.5
	NI Labour	William Allen	8.44%	506	515	520.6	541.3	567.3
	Ulster Unionist	Hugh Yeaman	5.24%	314	323	325.1	457.8
	Ulster Unionist	William Spratt	4.80%	288	302	303.4
	Vanguard	Robert Brown*	4.62%	277
Electorate: 15,342   Valid: 5,995 (39.08%)   Spoilt: 232   Quota: 857   Turnout: 6,227 (40.59%)

Area C

1973: 2 x UUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Independent Unionist
1977: 1 x UUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x DUP, 1 x Independent Unionist
1973-1977 Change: DUP gain from UUP

Ards Area C - 4 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
	Ulster Unionist	Hamilton McKeag*	19.16%	823	842	869
	Ind. Unionist	John Shields	12.11%	520	542	552	558	585	639	1,049
	Alliance	Jim McBriar*	10.43%	448	451	452	687	706	779	824	917.84
	DUP	Thomas Gourley	13.06%	561	578	701	701	716	747	768	796.56	804.96
	Ulster Unionist	Harold Porter	8.10%	348	350	352	356	540	611	681	744.92	793.92
	Independent	James Middleton	9.73%	418	434	442	452	482	584
	Ind. Unionist	James Caughey*	8.20%	352	359	363	365	379
	Ulster Unionist	Adela Hamilton	6.57%	282	284	291	292
	Alliance	Alice Rudnitzky	6.08%	261	264	265
	UUUP	William Dempster	3.77%	170	187
	Independent	Arthur Spence	2.61%	112
Electorate: 9,514   Valid: 4,295 (45.14%)   Spoilt: 120   Quota: 860   Turnout: 4,415 (46.41%)