1989 Belfast City Council election explained

See main article: Northern Ireland local elections, 1989.

Election Name:	1989 Belfast City Council election
Country:	Northern Ireland
Flag Image:	Flag of Belfast.svg
Type:	parliamentary
Ongoing:	no
Previous Election:	1985 Belfast City Council election
Previous Year:	1985
Next Election:	1993 Belfast City Council election
Next Year:	1993
Seats For Election:	All 51 seats to Belfast City Council
Majority Seats:	26
Party1:	Ulster Unionist Party
Seats1:	14
Seat Change1:	0
Party2:	Sinn Féin
Seats2:	8
Seat Change2:	1
Party3:	Social Democratic and Labour Party
Seats3:	8
Seat Change3:	2
Party4:	Democratic Unionist Party
Seats4:	8
Seat Change4:	3
Party5:	Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
Seats5:	6
Seat Change5:	2
Party6:	Independent Unionist
Seats6:	4
Seat Change6:	2
Party7:	Workers' Party (Ireland)
Seats7:	1
Seat Change7:	0
Party8:	Progressive Unionist Party
Seats8:	1
Seat Change8:	0
Party9:	Protestant Unionist
Seats9:	1
Seat Change9:	0
Lord Mayor
Before Election:	Nigel Dodds
Before Party:	Democratic Unionist Party
Posttitle:	Lord Mayor
After Election:	Reg Empey
After Party:	Ulster Unionist Party

Elections to Belfast City Council were held on 17 May 1989 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 remained the largest party, and Reg Empey 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="" | Sinn Féin!colspan=2 bgcolor=""| SDLP!colspan=2 bgcolor="" | DUP!colspan=2 bgcolor="" | Alliance!colspan=2 bgcolor="" | Workers' Party!colspan=2 bgcolor="" | PUP!colspan=2 bgcolor="white"|

Others|-|align="left"|Balmoral|bgcolor="40BFF5"|34.9|bgcolor="40BFF5"|2|0.0|0|14.3|1|19.3|1|19.0|1|2.1|0|0.0|0|10.4|0|5|-|align="left"|Castle|bgcolor="40BFF5"|24.6|bgcolor="40BFF5"|1|3.8|0|19.2|1|16.6|1|8.8|1|4.1|0|0.0|0|22.9|2|6|-|align="left"|Court|19.8|1|2.3|0|0.0|0|15.8|1|0.0|0|3.5|0|24.2|1|bgcolor="#0077FF"|34.4|bgcolor="#0077FF"|2|6|-|align="left"|Laganbank|bgcolor="40BFF5"|31.6|bgcolor="40BFF5"|2|7.7|0|20.8|1|12.0|1|19.0|1|4.9|0|0.0|0|4.0|0|5|-|align="left"|Lower Falls|0.0|0|bgcolor="#008800"|61.0|bgcolor="#008800"|3|28.5|2|0.0|0|1.2|0|9.3|0|0.0|0|0.0|0|5|-|align="left"|Oldpark|22.8|2|bgcolor="#008800"|37.8|bgcolor="#008800"|3|8.9|0|15.8|1|3.3|0|11.4|1|0.0|0|0.0|0|6|-|align="left"|Pottinger|25.7|2|5.8|0|0.0|0|bgcolor="#D46A4C"|40.1|bgcolor="#D46A4C"|2|12.1|1|5.0|0|0.0|0|11.3|1|6|-|align="left"|Upper Falls|0.0|0|bgcolor="#008800"|49.5|bgcolor="#008800"|2|41.9|2|2.2|0|2.6|0|3.1|0|0.0|0|0.7|0|5|-|align="left"|Victoria|bgcolor="40BFF5"|39.5|bgcolor="40BFF5"|3|0.0|0|0.0|0|23.7|2|31.0|2|2.5|0|0.0|0|3.3|0|7|- class="unsortable" class="sortbottom" style="background:#C9C9C9"|align="left"| Total|21.7|14|18.7|8|16.1|8|14.8|8|10.9|6|5.3|1|2.5|1|10.0|5|51|-|}

District results

Balmoral

1985: 2 x UUP, 2 x DUP, 1 x Alliance
1989: 2 x UUP, 2 x DUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x SDLP
1985-1989 Change: SDLP gain from DUP

Castle

1985: 2 x UUP, 1 SDLP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Independent Unionist
1989: 2 x Independent Unionist, 1 x UUP, 1 SDLP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Alliance
1985-1989 Change: Independent Unionist gain from UUP

Court

1985: 2 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x PUP, 1 x Protestant Unionist, 1 x Independent Unionist
1989: 2 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x PUP, 1 x Protestant Unionist, 1 x Independent Unionist
1985-1989 Change: No change

Laganbank

1985: 2 x UUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x DUP
1989: 2 x UUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x DUP
1985-1989 Change: No change

Lower Falls

1985: 3 x Sinn Féin, 1 x SDLP, 1 x Alliance
1989: 3 x Sinn Féin, 2 x SDLP
1985-1989 Change: SDLP gain from Alliance

Oldpark

1985: 2 x Sinn Féin, 1 x UUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Workers' Party
1989: 2 x Sinn Féin, 2 x UUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x Workers' Party
1985-1989 Change: UUP gain from DUP

Pottinger

1985: 3 x DUP, 2 x UUP, 1 x Alliance
1989: 2 x DUP, 2 x UUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 Independent Unionist
1985-1989 Change: Independent Unionist gain from DUP

Upper Falls

1985: 2 x Sinn Féin, 2 x SDLP, 1 x Alliance
1989: 3 x Sinn Féin, 2 x SDLP
1985-1989 Change: Sinn Féin gain from Alliance

Victoria

1985: 3 x UUP, 2 x Alliance, 2 x DUP
1989: 3 x UUP, 2 x Alliance, 2 x DUP
1985-1989 Change: No change