1997 Belfast City Council election explained

See main article: Northern Ireland local elections, 1997.

Election Name:	1997 Belfast City Council election
Country:	Northern Ireland
Flag Image:	Flag of Belfast.svg
Type:	parliamentary
Ongoing:	no
Previous Election:	1993 Belfast City Council election
Previous Year:	1993
Next Election:	2001 Belfast City Council election
Next Year:	2001
Seats For Election:	All 51 seats to Belfast City Council
Majority Seats:	26
Party1:	Sinn Féin
Seats1:	13
Seat Change1:	3
Party2:	Ulster Unionist Party
Seats2:	13
Seat Change2:	2
Party3:	Social Democratic and Labour Party
Seats3:	7
Seat Change3:	2
Party4:	Democratic Unionist Party
Seats4:	7
Seat Change4:	2
Party5:	Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
Seats5:	6
Seat Change5:	1
Party6:	Progressive Unionist Party
Seats6:	3
Seat Change6:	2
Party7:	Ulster Democratic Party
Seats7:	1
Seat Change7:	1
Party8:	Independent Unionist
Seats8:	1
Seat Change8:	1
Lord Mayor
Before Election:	Ian Adamson
Before Party:	Ulster Unionist Party
Posttitle:	Lord Mayor
After Election:	Alban Maginness
After Party:	Social Democratic and Labour Party

Elections to Belfast City Council were held on 21 May 1997 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.

Unionists lost overall control of Belfast City Council for the first time in its history, with Alliance holding the balance of power between unionists and nationalists. Alban Maginness from the SDLP became the first nationalist 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="" | Sinn Féin!colspan=2 bgcolor="" | UUP!colspan=2 bgcolor=""| SDLP!colspan=2 bgcolor="" | DUP!colspan=2 bgcolor="" | Alliance!colspan=2 bgcolor="" | PUP!colspan=2 bgcolor="" | UDP!colspan=2 bgcolor="white"|

Others|-|align="left"|Balmoral|0.0|0|bgcolor="40BFF5"|31.5|bgcolor="40BFF5"|2|26.1|2|13.9|1|17.0|1|3.5|0|4.6|0|3.4|0|6|-|align="left"|Castle|11.4|1|bgcolor="40BFF5"|27.0|bgcolor="40BFF5"|2|20.9|1|24.6|1|11.9|1|0.0|0|1.8|0|2.4|0|6|-|align="left"|Court|0.0|0|27.8|2|0.0|0|19.0|1|1.5|0|bgcolor="#2B45A2"|32.8|bgcolor="#2B45A2"|1|12.9|1|6.0|0|5|-|align="left"|Laganbank|15.1|1|25.1|2|bgcolor="#99FF66"|27.4|bgcolor="#99FF66"|2|5.1|0|12.2|1|7.0|0|0.0|0|8.1|0|5|-|align="left"|Lower Falls|bgcolor="#008800"|79.7|bgcolor="#008800"|4|0.0|0|16.2|1|0.0|0|0.4|0|0.0|0|0.0|0|3.7|0|5|-|align="left"|Oldpark|bgcolor="#008800"|44.8|bgcolor="#008800"|3|16.3|1|16.3|1|4.7|0|1.2|0|11.2|1|3.0|0|2.5|0|6|-|align="left"|Pottinger|8.6|0|bgcolor="40BFF5"|29.3|bgcolor="40BFF5"|2|2.7|0|26.5|2|7.7|1|20.9|1|1.5|0|2.8|0|6|-|align="left"|Upper Falls|bgcolor="#008800"|68.1|bgcolor="#008800"|4|0.0|0|29.1|1|1.4|0|0.6|0|0.0|0|0.0|0|0.8|0|5|-|align="left"|Victoria|0.0|0|bgcolor="40BFF5"|31.7|bgcolor="40BFF5"|2|0.0|0|31.0|2|31.2|2|0.0|0|0.0|0|5.9|0|7|- class="unsortable" class="sortbottom" style="background:#C9C9C9"|align="left"| Total|27.6|13|20.1|13|15.6|7|12.1|7|9.2|6|9.2|3|2.4|1|3.8|0|51|-|}

District results

Balmoral

1993: 2 x UUP, 2 x DUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x Alliance
1997: 2 x UUP, 2 x SDLP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x DUP
1993-1997 Change: SDLP gain from DUP

Castle

1993: 2 x UUP, 2 SDLP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Independent Unionist
1997: 2 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Sinn Féin
1993-1997 Change: Alliance and Sinn Féin gain from UUP and SDLP, Independent Unionist joins UUP

Court

1993: 2 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x PUP, 1 x Independent Unionist
1997: 2 x UUP, 1 x PUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x UDP
1993-1997 Change: UDP gain from Independent Unionist

Laganbank

1993: 2 x UUP, 2 x SDLP, 1 x Alliance
1997: 2 x UUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x Sinn Féin, 1 x Alliance
1993-1997 Change: Sinn Féin gain from SDLP

Lower Falls

1993: 4 x Sinn Féin, 1 x SDLP
1997: 4 x Sinn Féin, 1 x SDLP
1993-1997 Change: No change

Oldpark

1993: 3 x Sinn Féin, 2 x UUP, 1 x SDLP
1997: 3 x Sinn Féin, 1 x SDLP, 1 x UUP, 1 x PUP
1993-1997 Change: PUP gain from UUP

Pottinger

1993: 3 x DUP, 2 x UUP, 1 x Alliance
1997: 2 x DUP, 2 x UUP, 1 x PUP, 1 x Alliance
1993-1997 Change: PUP gain from DUP

Upper Falls

1993: 3 x Sinn Féin, 2 x SDLP
1997: 4 x Sinn Féin, 1 x SDLP
1993-1997 Change: Sinn Féin gain from SDLP

Victoria

1993: 3 x UUP, 2 x Alliance, 2 x DUP
1997: 2 x UUP, 2 x Alliance, 2 x DUP, 1 x Independent Unionist
1993-1997 Change: Independent Unionist gain from UUP