1981 Lisburn Borough Council election explained

See main article: Northern Ireland local elections, 1981.

Election Name:	1981 Lisburn Borough Council election
Type:	parliamentary
Ongoing:	no
Previous Election:	1977 Lisburn Borough Council election
Previous Year:	1977
Next Election:	1985 Lisburn Borough Council election
Next Year:	1985
Seats For Election:	All 23 seats to Lisburn Borough Council
Majority Seats:	12
Party1:	Democratic Unionist Party
Seats1:	10
Seat Change1:	4
Party2:	Ulster Unionist Party
Seats2:	8
Seat Change2:	2
Party3:	Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
Seats3:	2
Seat Change3:	1
Party4:	Social Democratic and Labour Party
Seats4:	2
Seat Change4:	0
Party5:	United Ulster Unionist Party
Seats5:	1
Seat Change5:	0
Party6:	Unionist Party of Northern Ireland
Seats6:	0
Seat Change6:	1

Elections to Lisburn Borough Council were held on 20 May 1981 on the same day as the other Northern Irish local government elections. The election used five district electoral areas to elect a total of 23 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
!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="" | UUUP!colspan=2 bgcolor="white"|

Others|-|align="left"|Area A|30.2|1|bgcolor="40BFF5"|51.8|bgcolor="40BFF5"|2|0.0|0|18.0|1|0.0|0|0.0|0|4|-|align="left"|Area B|bgcolor="#D46A4C"|43.7|bgcolor="#D46A4C"|3|39.7|2|10.6|0|0.0|0|0.0|0|6.0|0|5|-|align="left"|Area C|bgcolor="#D46A4C"|54.3|bgcolor="#D46A4C"|3|20.6|1|11.9|1|0.0|0|5.9|0|7.3|0|5|-|align="left"|Area D|bgcolor="#D46A4C"|49.6|bgcolor="#D46A4C"|2|27.3|2|18.5|1|0.0|0|1.8|0|2.8|0|5|-|align="left"|Area E|bgcolor="#D46A4C"|30.0|bgcolor="#D46A4C"|1|28.7|1|15.3|0|15.9|1|1.6|1|8.5|0|4|-|- class="unsortable" class="sortbottom" style="background:#C9C9C9"|align="left"| Total|42.7|10|32.2|8|12.2|2|5.9|2|2.0|1|5.0|0|23|-|}

Districts results

Area A

1977: 2 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x SDLP
1981: 2 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x SDLP
1977-1981 Change: No change

Area B

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

Area C

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

Area D

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

Area E

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