1981 Newry and Mourne District Council election explained

See main article: Northern Ireland local elections, 1981.

Election Name:	1981 Newry and Mourne District Council election
Type:	parliamentary
Ongoing:	no
Previous Election:	1977 Newry and Mourne District Council election
Previous Year:	1977
Next Election:	1985 Newry and Mourne District Council election
Next Year:	1985
Seats For Election:	All 30 seats to Newry and Mourne District Council
Majority Seats:	16
Party1:	Social Democratic and Labour Party
Seats1:	16
Seat Change1:	1
Party2:	Ulster Unionist Party
Seats2:	6
Seat Change2:	1
Party3:	Irish Independence Party
Seats3:	4
Seat Change3:	4
Party4:	Democratic Unionist Party
Seats4:	2
Seat Change4:	1
Party5:	Anti H-Block
Seats5:	2
Seat Change5:	2
Party6:	Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
Seats6:	0
Seat Change6:	3
Party7:	Independent Nationalist
Seats7:	0
Seat Change7:	3
Party8:	Independent Republican (Ireland)
Seats8:	0
Seat Change8:	1

Elections to Newry and Mourne District Council were held on 20 May 1981 on the same day as the other Northern Irish local government elections. The election used six district electoral areas to elect a total of 30 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="" | UUP!colspan=2 bgcolor="" | IIP!colspan=2 bgcolor="" | DUP!colspan=2 bgcolor="" | Anti H-Block!colspan=2 bgcolor="white"|

Others|-|align="left"|Area A|31.9|2|bgcolor="40BFF5"|35.4|bgcolor="40BFF5"|2|0.0|0|23.1|1|0.0|0|9.6|0|5|-|align="left"|Area B|bgcolor="#99FF66"|64.0|bgcolor="#99FF66"|4|8.9|0|8.5|0|2.8|0|0.0|0|15.8|0|4|-|align="left"|Area C|bgcolor="#99FF66"|40.0|bgcolor="#99FF66"|2|26.0|1|0.0|0|22.2|1|0.0|0|11.8|0|4|-|align="left"|Area D|bgcolor="#99FF66"|37.1|bgcolor="#99FF66"|3|19.1|2|25.8|2|3.9|0|0.0|0|14.1|0|7|-|align="left"|Area E|bgcolor="#99FF66"|40.0|bgcolor="#99FF66"|3|7.6|0|7.6|1|3.7|0|30.1|2|11.0|0|6|-|align="left"|Area F|bgcolor="#99FF66"|43.4|bgcolor="#99FF66"|2|16.2|1|21.6|1|5.6|0|0.0|0|13.2|0|6|- class="unsortable" class="sortbottom" style="background:#C9C9C9"|align="left"| Total|41.7|16|18.7|6|11.4|4|9.5|2|6.1|2|12.6|0|30|-|}

Districts results

Area A

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

Area B

1977: 2 x SDLP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Independent Nationalist
1981: 4 x SDLP
1977-1981 Change: SDLP (two seats) gain from Alliance and Independent Nationalist

Area C

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

Area D

1977: 3 x SDLP, 2 x UUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Independent Nationalist
1981: 3 x SDLP, 2 x UUP, 2 x IIP
1977-1981 Change: IIP gain from Alliance, Independent Nationalist joins IIP

Area E

1977: 4 x SDLP, 1 x Independent Nationalist, 1 x Independent Republican
1981: 3 x SDLP, 2 x Anti H-Block, 1 x IIP
1977-1981 Change: Anti H-Block (two seats) gain from SDLP and Independent Republican, Independent Nationalist joins IIP

Area F

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