1981 Newtownabbey Borough Council election explained

See main article: Northern Ireland local elections, 1981.

Election Name:	1981 Newtownabbey Borough Council election
Type:	parliamentary
Ongoing:	no
Previous Election:	1977 Newtownabbey Borough Council election
Previous Year:	1977
Next Election:	1985 Newtownabbey Borough Council election
Next Year:	1985
Seats For Election:	All 21 seats to Newtownabbey Borough Council
Majority Seats:	11
Party1:	Ulster Unionist Party
Seats1:	9
Seat Change1:	1
Party2:	Democratic Unionist Party
Seats2:	5
Seat Change2:	1
Party3:	Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
Seats3:	3
Seat Change3:	3
Party4:	Independent Unionist
Seats4:	3
Seat Change4:	3
Party5:	Newtownabbey Labour
Seats5:	1
Seat Change5:	0
Party6:	Unionist Party of Northern Ireland
Seats6:	0
Seat Change6:	1
Party7:	Loyalist
Seats7:	0
Seat Change7:	1

Elections to Newtownabbey Borough 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 21 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
!rowspan=2|Total
Cllrs
|- class="unsortable" align="center"!colspan=2 bgcolor="" | UUP!colspan=2 bgcolor="" | DUP!colspan=2 bgcolor="" | Alliance!colspan=2 bgcolor="white"|

Others|-|align="left"|Area A|bgcolor="#40BFF5"|45.3|bgcolor="#40BFF5"|2|32.2|2|10.8|0|11.7|1|5|-|align="left"|Area B|bgcolor="#40BFF5"|37.0|bgcolor="#40BFF5"|2|34.8|1|11.6|1|16.6|1|6|-|align="left"|Area C|bgcolor="#40BFF5"|34.2|bgcolor="#40BFF5"|2|33.7|1|19.1|1|13.0|0|5|-|align="left"|Area D|25.2|2|bgcolor="#D46A4C"|37.3|bgcolor="#D46A4C"|1|17.5|1|20.0|1|5|-|- class="unsortable" class="sortbottom" style="background:#C9C9C9"|align="left"| Total|34.5|9|34.7|5|15.6|3|15.2|4|21|-|}

Districts results

Area A

1977: 3 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Alliance
1981: 2 x UUP, 2 x DUP, 1 x Independent Unionist
1977-1981 Change: DUP and Independent Unionist gain from UUP and Alliance

Area B

1977: 2 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Newtownabbey Labour, 1 x Loyalist
1981: 3 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Newtownabbey Labour
1977-1981 Change: Loyalist joins UUP

Area C

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

Area D

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