1997 Castlereagh Borough Council election explained

See main article: Northern Ireland local elections, 1997.

Election Name:	1997 Castlereagh Borough Council election
Type:	parliamentary
Ongoing:	no
Previous Election:	1993 Castlereagh Borough Council election
Previous Year:	1993
Next Election:	2001 Castlereagh Borough Council election
Next Year:	2001
Seats For Election:	All 23 seats to Castlereagh Borough Council
Majority Seats:	12
Party1:	Democratic Unionist Party
Seats1:	10
Seat Change1:	1
Party2:	Ulster Unionist Party
Seats2:	5
Seat Change2:	1
Party3:	Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
Seats3:	4
Seat Change3:	1
Party4:	Social Democratic and Labour Party
Seats4:	2
Seat Change4:	2
Party5:	UK Unionist Party
Seats5:	1
Seat Change5:	1
Party6:	Independent Unionist
Seats6:	1
Seat Change6:	1
Party7:	Ulster Popular Unionist Party
Seats7:	0
Seat Change7:	1

Elections to Castlereagh Borough Council were held on 21 May 1997 on the same day as the other Northern Irish local government elections. The election used four district electoral areas to elect a total of 23 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="" | DUP!colspan=2 bgcolor="" | UUP!colspan=2 bgcolor="" | Alliance!colspan=2 bgcolor="" | SDLP!colspan=2 bgcolor="" | UKUP!colspan=2 bgcolor="white"|

Others|-|align="left"|Castlereagh Central|bgcolor="#D46A4C"|58.7|bgcolor="#D46A4C"|3|17.0|1|14.6|1|4.4|0|5.3|1|0.0|0|6|-|align="left"|Castlereagh East|bgcolor="#D46A4C"|53.0|bgcolor="#D46A4C"|4|11.1|1|18.9|1|0.0|0|0.0|0|17.0|1|7|-|align="left"|Castlereagh South|27.4|1|bgcolor="40BFF5"|31.2|bgcolor="40BFF5"|2|23.9|1|17.5|1|0.0|0|0.0|0|5|-|align="left"|Castlereagh West|bgcolor="#D46A4C"|35.4|bgcolor="#D46A4C"|2|21.2|1|17.4|1|12.9|1|0.0|0|13.1|0|5|- class="unsortable" class="sortbottom" style="background:#C9C9C9"|align="left"| Total|44.2|10|19.6|5|18.7|4|8.2|2|1.3|1|8.0|1|23|-|}

Districts results

Castlereagh Central

1993: 4 x DUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x UUP, 1 x Independent Unionist
1997: 4 x DUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x UUP, 1 x UKUP
1993-1997 Change: Independent Unionist joins UKUP

Castlereagh East

1993: 3 x DUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x UUP, 1 x UPUP, 1 x Independent Unionist
1997: 4 x DUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x UUP, 1 x Independent Unionist
1993-1997 Change: UPUP joins DUP

Castlereagh South

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

Castlereagh West

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