1981 Londonderry City Council election explained

See main article: Northern Ireland local elections, 1981.

Election Name:	1981 Londonderry City Council election
Type:	parliamentary
Ongoing:	no
Previous Election:	1977 Londonderry City Council election
Previous Year:	1977
Next Election:	1985 Derry City Council election
Next Year:	1985
Seats For Election:	All 27 seats to Londonderry City Council
Majority Seats:	14
Party1:	Social Democratic and Labour Party
Seats1:	14
Seat Change1:	1
Party2:	Democratic Unionist Party
Seats2:	5
Seat Change2:	3
Party3:	Ulster Unionist Party
Seats3:	4
Seat Change3:	2
Party4:	Irish Independence Party
Seats4:	4
Seat Change4:	4
Party5:	Nationalist Party (Northern Ireland)
Seats5:	0
Seat Change5:	4
Party6:	Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
Seats6:	0
Seat Change6:	2

Elections to Londonderry City 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 27 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="" | SDLP!colspan=2 bgcolor="" | DUP!colspan=2 bgcolor="" | UUP!colspan=2 bgcolor="" | IIP!colspan=2 bgcolor="white"|

Others|-|align="left"|Area A|bgcolor="#99FF66"|42.4|bgcolor="#99FF66"|3|27.2|2|24.2|1|0.0|0|6.2|0|6|-|align="left"|Area B|20.6|1|bgcolor="#D46A4C"|36.3|bgcolor="#D46A4C"|2|28.1|2|5.3|0|9.7|0|5|-|align="left"|Area C|bgcolor="#99FF66"|53.0|bgcolor="#99FF66"|3|0.0|0|0.0|0|26.8|2|20.2|0|5|-|align="left"|Area D|bgcolor="#99FF66"|48.2|bgcolor="#99FF66"|3|0.0|0|15.5|1|26.5|1|9.8|0|5|-|align="left"|Area E|bgcolor="#99FF66"|49.3|bgcolor="#99FF66"|4|10.5|1|6.2|0|22.3|1|11.7|0|5|- class="unsortable" class="sortbottom" style="background:#C9C9C9"|align="left"| Total|41.3|14|18.6|5|15.6|4|13.7|4|10.8|0|27|-|}

Districts results

Area A

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

Area B

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

Area C

1977: 3 x SDLP, 2 x Nationalist
1981: 3 x SDLP, 2 x IIP
1977-1981 Change: Nationalists (two seats) join IIP

Area D

1977: 3 x SDLP, 1 x Nationalist, 1 x UUP
1981: 3 x SDLP, 1 x IIP, 1 x DUP
1977-1981 Change: DUP gain from UUP, Nationalist joins IIP

Area E

1977: 3 x SDLP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Nationalist
1981: 4 x SDLP, 1 x UUP, 1 x IIP
1977-1981 Change: SDLP gain from Alliance, Nationalist joins IIP