1985 Belfast City Council election explained

See main article: Northern Ireland local elections, 1985.

Election Name:	1985 Belfast City Council election
Country:	Northern Ireland
Flag Image:	Flag of Belfast.svg
Type:	parliamentary
Ongoing:	no
Previous Election:	1981 Belfast City Council election
Previous Year:	1981
Election Date:	17 May 1985
Next Election:	1989 Belfast City Council election
Next Year:	1989
Seats For Election:	All 51 seats to Belfast City Council
Majority Seats:	26
Party1:	Ulster Unionist Party
Seats1:	14
Seat Change1:	1
Party2:	Democratic Unionist Party
Seats2:	11
Seat Change2:	4
Party3:	Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
Seats3:	8
Seat Change3:	1
Party4:	Sinn Féin
Seats4:	7
Seat Change4:	7
Party5:	Social Democratic and Labour Party
Seats5:	6
Seat Change5:	0
Party6:	Independent Unionist
Seats6:	2
Seat Change6:	1
Party7:	Workers' Party (Ireland)
Seats7:	1
Seat Change7:	1
Party8:	Progressive Unionist Party
Seats8:	1
Seat Change8:	0
Party9:	Protestant Unionist
Seats9:	1
Seat Change9:	1
Lord Mayor
Before Election:	Alfie Ferguson
Before Party:	Ulster Unionist Party
Posttitle:	Lord Mayor
After Election:	John Carson
After Party:	Ulster Unionist Party

Elections to Belfast City Council were held on 15 May 1985 on the same day as the other Northern Irish local government elections. The election used nine district electoral areas to elect a total of 51 councillors, most representing the more heavily populated north and west.

The UUP became the largest party, overtaking the DUP and John Carson became the Lord Mayor.

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
! %
!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="" | Sinn Féin!colspan=2 bgcolor=""| SDLP!colspan=2 bgcolor="" | Workers' Party!colspan=2 bgcolor="" | PUP!colspan=2 bgcolor="white"|

Others|-|align="left"|Balmoral|bgcolor="40BFF5"|41.7|bgcolor="40BFF5"|2|25.5|2|18.5|1|0.0|0|10.4|0|1.0|0|0.0|0|2.9|0|5|-|align="left"|Castle|bgcolor="40BFF5"|32.7|bgcolor="40BFF5"|2|17.1|1|9.6|1|0.0|0|19.6|1|3.4|0|0.0|0|17.6|1|6|-|align="left"|Court|21.6|2|17.9|1|5.1|0|3.5|0|0.0|0|1.3|0|24.2|1|bgcolor="#0077FF"|36.1|bgcolor="#0077FF"|2|6|-|align="left"|Laganbank|bgcolor="40BFF5"|30.0|bgcolor="40BFF5"|2|22.1|1|20.8|1|16.9|1|5.6|0|5.0|0|0.0|0|2.1|0|5|-|align="left"|Lower Falls|0.0|0|0.0|0|9.4|1|bgcolor="#008800"|57.2|bgcolor="#008800"|3|23.4|1|9.4|0|0.0|0|0.6|0|5|-|align="left"|Oldpark|17.5|1|11.4|1|3.7|0|bgcolor="#008800"|28.5|bgcolor="#008800"|2|16.1|1|9.4|1|3.0|0|10.4|0|6|-|align="left"|Pottinger|28.9|2|bgcolor="#D46A4C"|47.5|bgcolor="#D46A4C"|3|8.3|1|4.6|0|2.8|0|2.4|0|3.2|0|2.3|0|6|-|align="left"|Upper Falls|0.0|0|2.9|0|7.3|1|bgcolor="#008800"|44.1|bgcolor="#008800"|2|39.2|2|3.1|0|0.0|0|3.4|0|5|-|align="left"|Victoria|bgcolor="40BFF5"|42.5|bgcolor="40BFF5"|3|33.2|2|23.1|2|0.0|0|1.2|0|0.0|0|0.0|0|0.0|0|7|- class="unsortable" class="sortbottom" style="background:#C9C9C9"|align="left"| Total|24.4|14|19.9|11|11.5|8|15.6|7|14.2|6|3.8|1|2.2|1|8.4|3|51|-|}

District results

Balmoral

1985: 2 x UUP, 2 x DUP, 1 x Alliance

Castle

1985: 2 x UUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Independent Unionist

Court

1985: 2 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x PUP, 1 x Protestant Unionist, 1 x Independent Unionist

Laganbank

1985: 2 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x Alliance

Lower Falls

1985: 3 x Sinn Féin, 1 x SDLP, 1 x Alliance

Oldpark

1985: 2 x Sinn Féin, 1 x UUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Workers' Party

Pottinger

1985: 3 x DUP, 2 x UUP, 1 x Alliance

Upper Falls

1985: 2 x Sinn Féin, 2 x SDLP, 1 x Alliance

Victoria

1985: 3 x UUP, 2 x DUP, 2 x Alliance