1981 Magherafelt District Council election explained

See main article: Northern Ireland local elections, 1981.

Election Name:	1981 Magherafelt District Council election
Type:	parliamentary
Ongoing:	no
Previous Election:	1977 Magherafelt District Council election
Previous Year:	1977
Next Election:	1985 Magherafelt District Council election
Next Year:	1985
Seats For Election:	All 15 seats to Magherafelt District Council
Majority Seats:	8
Party1:	Social Democratic and Labour Party
Seats1:	5
Seat Change1:	0
Party2:	Democratic Unionist Party
Seats2:	4
Seat Change2:	1
Party3:	Ulster Unionist Party
Seats3:	2
Seat Change3:	2
Party4:	Independent Republican (Ireland)
Seats4:	2
Seat Change4:	2
Party5:	Irish Independence Party
Seats5:	1
Seat Change5:	1
Party6:	United Ulster Unionist Party
Seats6:	1
Seat Change6:	0
Party7:	Republican Clubs
Seats7:	0
Seat Change7:	1
Party8:	Independent Nationalist
Seats8:	0
Seat Change8:	1

Elections to Magherafelt District Council were held on 20 May 1981 on the same day as the other Northern Irish local government elections. The election used three district electoral areas to elect a total of 15 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="" | SDLP!colspan=2 bgcolor="" | DUP!colspan=2 bgcolor="" | UUP!colspan=2 bgcolor="" | IIP!colspan=2 bgcolor="" | UUUP!colspan=2 bgcolor="white"|

Others|-|align="left"|Area A|bgcolor="#99FF66"|39.1|bgcolor="#99FF66"|3|13.0|1|9.0|0|0.0|0|0.0|0|38.9|1|5|-|align="left"|Area B|10.4|1|20.3|1|11.9|1|bgcolor=#32CD32|33.8|bgcolor=#32CD32|1|18.4|1|5.2|0|5|-|align="left"|Area C|25.8|1|bgcolor="#D46A4C"|37.7|bgcolor="#D46A4C"|2|9.0|1|0.0|0|4.6|0|22.9|1|5|-|- class="unsortable" class="sortbottom" style="background:#C9C9C9"|align="left"| Total|25.6|5|24.0|4|9.9|2|10.4|1|7.3|1|22.8|2|15|-|}

Districts results

Area A

1977: 2 x SDLP, 2 x UUP, 1 x Republican Clubs
1981: 3 x SDLP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Independent Republican
1977-1981 Change: SDLP, DUP and Independent Republican gain from UUP (two seats) and Republican Clubs

Area B

1977: 1 x SDLP, 1 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x UUUP, 1 x Independent Nationalist
1981: 1 x SDLP, 1 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x UUUP, 1 x IIP
1977-1981 Change: IIP gain from Independent Nationalist

Area C

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