1981 Craigavon Borough Council election explained

See main article: Northern Ireland local elections, 1981.

Election Name:	1981 Craigavon Borough Council election
Type:	parliamentary
Ongoing:	no
Previous Election:	1977 Craigavon Borough Council election
Previous Year:	1977
Next Election:	1985 Craigavon Borough Council election
Next Year:	1985
Seats For Election:	All 25 seats to Craigavon Borough Council
Majority Seats:	13
Party1:	Ulster Unionist Party
Seats1:	9
Seat Change1:	1
Party2:	Democratic Unionist Party
Seats2:	7
Seat Change2:	3
Party3:	Social Democratic and Labour Party
Seats3:	5
Seat Change3:	1
Party4:	Republican Clubs
Seats4:	2
Seat Change4:	1
Party5:	Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
Seats5:	1
Seat Change5:	2
Party6:	United Ulster Unionist Party
Seats6:	1
Seat Change6:	0

Elections to Craigavon 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 25 councillors.

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
!rowspan=2|Total
Cllrs
|- class="unsortable" align="center"!colspan=2 bgcolor="" | UUP!colspan=2 bgcolor="" | DUP!colspan=2 bgcolor="" | SDLP!colspan=2 bgcolor="" | RC!colspan=2 bgcolor="" | Alliance!colspan=2 bgcolor="" | UUUP!colspan=2 bgcolor="white"|

Others|-|align="left"|Area A|14.8|1|12.4|0|bgcolor="#99FF66"|49.9|bgcolor="#99FF66"|3|19.8|1|0.0|0|0.0|0|3.1|0|5|-|align="left"|Area B|bgcolor="40BFF5"|36.5|bgcolor="40BFF5"|3|30.7|2|16.5|1|6.7|0|9.5|1|0.0|0|0.0|0|7|-|align="left"|Area C|bgcolor="40BFF5"|26.5|bgcolor="40BFF5"|2|22.0|2|19.0|1|14.2|1|6.3|0|0.0|0|12.0|0|6|-|align="left"|Area D|bgcolor="40BFF5"|40.6|bgcolor="40BFF5"|3|38.6|3|6.9|0|0.0|0|0.0|0|13.8|1|0.0|0|7|- class="unsortable" class="sortbottom" style="background:#C9C9C9"|align="left"| Total|30.8|9|27.1|7|20.8|5|9.4|2|4.1|1|3.9|1|3.9|0|25|-|}

Districts results

Area A

1977: 3 x SDLP, 1 x Republican Clubs, 1 x UUP
1981: 3 x SDLP, 1 x Republican Clubs, 1 x UUP
1977-1981 Change: No change

Area B

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

Area C

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

Area D

1977: 4 x UUP, 2 x DUP, 1 x UUUP
1981: 3 x UUP, 3 x DUP, 1 x UUUP
1977-1981 Change: DUP gain from UUP