1981 Belfast City Council election explained

See main article: Northern Ireland local elections, 1981.

Election Name:	1981 Belfast City Council election
Country:	Northern Ireland
Flag Image:	Flag of Belfast.svg
Type:	parliamentary
Ongoing:	no
Previous Election:	1977 Belfast City Council election
Previous Year:	1977
Election Date:	20 May 1981
Next Election:	1985 Belfast City Council election
Next Year:	1985
Seats For Election:	All 51 seats to Belfast City Council
Majority Seats:	26
Party1:	Democratic Unionist Party
Seats1:	15
Seat Change1:	8
Party2:	Ulster Unionist Party
Seats2:	13
Seat Change2:	2
Party3:	Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
Seats3:	7
Seat Change3:	6
Party4:	Social Democratic and Labour Party
Seats4:	6
Seat Change4:	2
Party5:	People's Democracy (Ireland)
Seats5:	2
Seat Change5:	2
Party6:	Irish Republican Socialist Party
Seats6:	2
Seat Change6:	2
Party7:	Progressive Unionist Party
Seats7:	1
Seat Change7:	1
Party8:	Ulster Democratic Party
Seats8:	1
Seat Change8:	1
Party9:	Unionist Party of Northern Ireland
Seats9:	1
Seat Change9:	1
Lord Mayor
Before Election:	John Carson
Before Party:	Ulster Unionist Party
Posttitle:	Lord Mayor
After Election:	Grace Bannister
After Party:	Ulster Unionist Party

Elections to Belfast City Council were held on 20 May 1981 on the same day as the other Northern Irish local government elections. The election used nine district electoral areas to elect a total of 51 councillors, most representing the more heavily populated north and west.

The DUP became the largest party, overtaking the UUP, while Grace Bannister from the UUP became the first female Lord Mayor.

Election results

Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes.

Districts summary

|- class="unsortable" align="centre"!rowspan=2 align="left"|Ward! %
!Cllrs
! %
!Cllrs
! %
!Cllrs
! %
!Cllrs
! %
!Cllrs
! %
!Cllrs
! %
!Cllrs
! %
!Cllrs
! %
!Cllrs
! %
!Cllrs
!rowspan=2|Total
Cllrs
|- class="unsortable" align="center"!colspan=2 bgcolor="" | DUP!colspan=2 bgcolor="" | UUP!colspan=2 bgcolor="" | Alliance!colspan=2 bgcolor=""| SDLP!colspan=2 bgcolor="" | PD!colspan=2 bgcolor="" | IRSP!colspan=2 bgcolor="" | UDP!colspan=2 bgcolor="" | UPNI!colspan=2 bgcolor="" | PUP!colspan=2 bgcolor="white"|

Others|-|align="left"|Area A|bgcolor="#D46A4C"|39.3|bgcolor="#D46A4C"|3|33.5|3|12.1|1|9.2|0|0.0|0|0.0|0|0.0|0|0.0|0|0.0|0|5.9|0|7|-|align="left"|Area B|bgcolor="#D46A4C"|33.5|bgcolor="#D46A4C"|2|26.8|2|23.0|2|1.1|0|0.0|0|0.0|0|2.0|0|11.0|1|0.0|0|2.6|0|7|-|align="left"|Area C|21.6|2|bgcolor="40BFF5"|33.6|bgcolor="40BFF5"|2|28.6|2|9.4|0|0.0|0|0.0|0|0.0|0|3.3|0|0.0|0|3.3|0|6|-|align="left"|Area D|0.0|0|3.3|0|5.3|0|bgcolor="#99FF66"|44.8|bgcolor="#99FF66"|3|17.0|1|10.9|1|0.0|0|0.0|0|0.0|0|18.7|1|6|-|align="left"|Area E|bgcolor="#D46A4C"|35.1|bgcolor="#D46A4C"|2|22.1|2|5.8|0|3.5|0|0.0|0|0.0|0|6.5|0|0.0|0|11.1|0|15.9|1|6|-|align="left"|Area F|bgcolor="#D46A4C"|26.4|bgcolor="#D46A4C"|2|18.4|1|10.0|1|20.8|1|0.0|0|15.2|1|0.0|0|0.0|0|0.0|0|9.3|0|6|-|align="left"|Area G|bgcolor="#D46A4C"|24.8|bgcolor="#D46A4C"|2|17.7|1|3.1|0|7.5|0|19.6|1|0.0|0|14.3|1|0.0|0|0.0|0|13.0|0|6|-|align="left"|Area H|21.7|2|bgcolor="40BFF5"|27.4|bgcolor="40BFF5"|2|11.5|1|19.6|1|0.0|0|0.0|0|0.0|0|0.0|0|2.5|0|17.3|1|7|-|- class="unsortable" class="sortbottom" style="background:#C9C9C9"|align="left"| Total|25.8|15|23.7|13|13.2|7|14.1|6|3.7|2|2.6|2|2.3|1|2.2|1|1.9|1|10.5|3|51|-|}

District results

Area A

1977: 2 x UUP, 2 x DUP, 2 x Alliance, 1 x SDLP
1981: 3 x DUP, 3 x UUP, 1 x Alliance
1977-1981 Change: DUP and UUP gain from Alliance and SDLP

Area B

1977: 3 x UUP, 2 x Alliance, 1 x DUP, 1 x UPNI
1981: 2 x DUP, 2 x UUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x UPNI
1977-1981 Change: DUP gain from UUP

Area C

1977: 3 x Alliance, 2 x UUP, 1 x UPNI
1981: 2 x UUP, 2 x Alliance, 2 x DUP
1977-1981 Change: DUP (two seats) gain from Alliance and UPNI

Area D

1977: 4 x SDLP, 1 x Republican Clubs, 1 x Alliance
1981: 3 x SDLP, 1 x People's Democracy, 1 x IRSP, 1 x Independent Socialist
1977-1981 Change: People's Democracy and IRSP gain from Republican Clubs and Alliance, Independent Socialist leaves SDLP

Area E

1977: 2 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Independent, 1 x Independent Unionist
1981: 2 x DUP, 2 x UUP, 1 x PUP, 1 x Anti H-Block
1977-1981 Change: DUP and Anti H-Block gain from Alliance and Independent, Independent Unionist joins PUP

Area F

1977: 2 x UUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Republican Clubs, 1 x Alliance
1981: 2 x DUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x DUP, 1 x IRSP, 1 x Alliance
1977-1981 Change: DUP and IRSP gain from UUP and Republican Clubs

Area G

1977: 2 x UUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Republican Clubs, 1 x Alliance
1981: 2 x DUP, 1 x UUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x IRSP, 1 x UDP
1977-1981 Change: DUP, PD and UDP gain from UUP, Republican Clubs and Alliance

Area H

1977: 2 x UUP, 2 x Alliance, 1 x SDLP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Independent Unionist
1981: 2 x UUP, 2 x DUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Independent Unionist
1977-1981 Change: DUP gain from Alliance