1981 Dungannon District Council election explained

See main article: Northern Ireland local elections, 1981.

Election Name:	1981 Dungannon District Council election
Type:	parliamentary
Ongoing:	no
Previous Election:	1977 Dungannon District Council election
Previous Year:	1977
Next Election:	1985 Dungannon District Council election
Next Year:	1985
Seats For Election:	All 20 seats to Dungannon District Council
Majority Seats:	11
Party1:	Ulster Unionist Party
Seats1:	8
Seat Change1:	0
Party2:	Social Democratic and Labour Party
Seats2:	3
Seat Change2:	3
Party3:	Democratic Unionist Party
Seats3:	3
Seat Change3:	1
Party4:	Independent Nationalist
Seats4:	3
Seat Change4:	2
Party5:	Independent Republican (Ireland)
Seats5:	2
Seat Change5:	1
Party6:	Irish Independence Party
Seats6:	1
Seat Change6:	1
Party7:	Independent (politician)
Seats7:	0
Seat Change7:	2

Elections to Dungannon District 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 20 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
!rowspan=2|Total
Cllrs
|- class="unsortable" align="center"!colspan=2 bgcolor="" | UUP!colspan=2 bgcolor="" | SDLP!colspan=2 bgcolor="" | DUP!colspan=2 bgcolor="" | IIP!colspan=2 bgcolor="white"|

Others|-|align="left"|Area A|bgcolor="40BFF5"|33.3|bgcolor="40BFF5"|2|29.4|1|19.4|0|0.0|0|17.9|1|5|-|align="left"|Area B|15.4|1|19.0|1|8.3|0|0.0|0|bgcolor="#CDFFAB"|57.3|bgcolor="#CDFFAB"|3|5|-|align="left"|Area C|bgcolor="40BFF5"|38.2|bgcolor="40BFF5"|3|23.0|1|23.7|1|0.0|0|15.1|0|5|-|align="left"|Area D|bgcolor="40BFF5"|37.7|bgcolor="40BFF5"|2|10.3|0|19.9|1|18.8|1|13.3|1|5|-|- class="unsortable" class="sortbottom" style="background:#C9C9C9"|align="left"| Total|31.0|8|20.5|3|17.7|3|4.6|1|26.2|5|20|-|}

Districts results

Area A

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

Area B

1977: 2 x SDLP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Independent Nationalist, 1 x Independent Republican
1981: 2 x Independent Nationalist, 1 x SDLP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Independent Republican
1977-1981 Change: Independent Nationalist leaves SDLP

Area C

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

Area D

1977: 2 x Independent, 1 x UUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x DUP
1981: 2 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x IIP, 1 x Independent Nationalist
1977-1981 Change: UUP and IIP gain from Independent (two seats), Independent Nationalist leaves SDLP