| Election Name: | 1973 Northern Ireland local elections |
| Flag Image: | Flag placeholder.svg |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Next Election: | 1977 Northern Ireland local elections |
| Next Year: | 1977 |
| Seats For Election: | All council seats |
| Election Date: | 30 May 1973 |
| Leader1: | Brian Faulkner |
| Party1: | Ulster Unionist Party |
| Seats1: | 194 |
| Popular Vote1: | 255,187 |
| Percentage1: | 37.4% |
| Leader2: | Gerry Fitt |
| Party2: | Social Democratic and Labour Party |
| Seats2: | 82 |
| Popular Vote2: | 92,600 |
| Percentage2: | 13.4% |
| Leader3: | Oliver Napier |
| Party3: | Alliance Party of Northern Ireland |
| Seats3: | 63 |
| Popular Vote3: | 94,474 |
| Percentage3: | 13.7% |
| Leader4: | N/A |
| Party4: | Independent (politician) |
| Seats4: | 52 |
| Popular Vote4: | 48,947 |
| Percentage4: | 7.0% |
| Leader5: | N/A |
| Party5: | Independent Unionist |
| Seats5: | 26 |
| Popular Vote5: | 31,866 |
| Percentage5: | 4.4% |
| Leader6: | Ian Paisley |
| Party6: | Democratic Unionist Party |
| Seats6: | 21 |
| Popular Vote6: | 28,811 |
| Percentage6: | 4.1% |
| Map2 Image: | Northern Ireland local elections, 1973 (Largest party).svg |
| Map2 Caption: | Colours denote the party with the most seats |
Local government in Northern Ireland was reorganised in 1973 by the Local Government (Boundaries) Act (Northern Ireland) 1971 and the Local Government Act (Northern Ireland) 1972. The county councils, county borough and municipal borough corporations and urban and rural district councils were replaced by twenty-six local government districts.
Elections took place for all the seats on the district councils on 30 May 1973. Elections were by proportional representation, using the single transferable vote system. The district councils came into their powers on 1 October.[1] [2] [3] [4]
| Party[5] | Councillors | Votes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | +/- | % share | Total | ||
| 194 | N/A | 37.4 | 255,187 | ||
| 63 | N/A | 13.7 | 94,474 | ||
| 82 | N/A | 13.4 | 92,600 | ||
| 52 | N/A | 7.0 | 48,947 | ||
| 26 | N/A | 4.4 | 31,866 | ||
| United Loyalist | 20 | N/A | 4.2 | 28,906 | |
| 21 | N/A | 4.1 | 28,811 | ||
| 8 | N/A | 3.0 | 20,680 | ||
| 4 | N/A | 2.5 | 17,422 | ||
| Loyalist | 16 | N/A | 1.4 | 17,360 | |
| 10 | N/A | 1.6 | 13,305 | ||
| 6 | N/A | 1.5 | 10,281 | ||
| Loyalist Coalition | 3 | N/A | 1.0 | 7,495 | |
| 4 | N/A | 0.5 | 3,784 | ||
| Community | 3 | N/A | 0.4 | 3,036 | |
| 0 | N/A | 0.4 | 2,594 | ||
| 3 | N/A | 0.2 | 1,911 | ||
| 0 | N/A | 0.1 | 704 | ||
| Ratepayer | 1 | N/A | 0.1 | 841 | |
| Radical | 1 | N/A | 0.1 | 533 | |
| 0 | N/A | 0.1 | 363 | ||
| 0 | N/A | 0.0 | 290 | ||
| 0 | N/A | 0.0 | 147 | ||
| 0 | N/A | 0.0 | 91 | ||
| Total | 462 | 100.0% | 681,628 | ||
| Council | Control | 1st party 1973 | 2nd party 1973 | Councillors | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Antrim | (8) | (2) | 15 | ||||
| Belfast City | (25) | (8) | 51 | ||||
| Ards | (11) | (2) | 17 | ||||
| Armagh | (10) | (4) | 20 | ||||
| Ballymena | |||||||
| Ballymoney | |||||||
| Banbridge | |||||||
| Carrickfergus | |||||||
| Castlereagh | |||||||
| Coleraine | |||||||
| Cookstown | |||||||
| Craigavon | |||||||
| Down | |||||||
| Dungannon | |||||||
| Fermanagh | |||||||
| Larne | Loyalist | Loyalist (8) | (3) | 15 | |||
| Limavady | United Unionist | United Unionist (8) | (4) | 15 | |||
| Lisburn | (14) | (3) | 23 | ||||
| Londonderry | (10) | United Loyalist (9) | 27 | ||||
| Magherafelt | |||||||
| Moyle | |||||||
| Newry and Mourne | |||||||
| Newtownabbey | |||||||
| North Down | |||||||
| Omagh | |||||||
| Strabane | |||||||
| All councils | (194) | (82) | 517 | ||||