2023 Ards and North Down Borough Council election explained

See main article: 2023 Northern Ireland local elections.

Election Name:	2023 Ards and North Down Borough Council election
Flag Image:	Flag placeholder.svg
Type:	parliamentary
Ongoing:	no
Previous Election:	2019 Ards and North Down Borough Council election
Previous Year:	2019
Next Year:	2027
Seats For Election:	All 40 council seats
Majority Seats:	21
Election Date:	18 May 2023
Leader1:	Jeffrey Donaldson
Party1:	Democratic Unionist Party
Seats Before1:	14
Seats1:	14
Seat Change1:	0
Popular Vote1:	16,522
Percentage1:	29.0%
Swing1:	4.4%
Leader2:	Naomi Long
Party2:	Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
Seats Before2:	10
Seats2:	12
Seat Change2:	2
Popular Vote2:	15,137
Percentage2:	26.6%
Swing2:	4.4%
Leader3:	Doug Beattie
Party3:	Ulster Unionist Party
Seats Before3:	8
Seats3:	8
Seat Change3:	0
Popular Vote3:	9,393
Percentage3:	16.5%
Swing3:	1.3%
Party4:	Independent (politician)
Seats Before4:	3
Seats4:	3
Seat Change4:	0
Popular Vote4:	6,351
Percentage4:	11.2%
Swing4:	2.6%
Image5:	GPNI
Leader5:	Mal O'Hara
Party5:	Green Party in Northern Ireland
Seats Before5:	3
Seats5:	2
Seat Change5:	1
Popular Vote5:	3,381
Percentage5:	5.9%
Swing5:	4.3%
Leader6:	Colum Eastwood
Party6:	Social Democratic and Labour Party
Seats Before6:	1
Seats6:	1
Seat Change6:	0
Popular Vote6:	2,115
Percentage6:	3.7%
Swing6:	0.5%
Council control
Posttitle:	Council control after election
Before Election:	No overall control
After Election:	TBC

The 2023 election to Ards and North Down Borough Council was held on 18 May 2023, alongside other local elections in Northern Ireland, two weeks after local elections in England.^[1] The Northern Ireland elections were delayed by 2 weeks to avoid overlapping with the coronation of King Charles III.^[2]

They returned 40 members to the council via Single Transferable Vote.

Background

Ards and North Down is the only council in Northern Ireland on which Sinn Féin have never won a seat.^[3]

Election results

|-| colspan="2" style="background-color:#f2f2f2;text-align:center;margin-bottom:-1px;border:1px solid #aaa;padding:.2em .4em" | | style="text-align:right;" | 40|| |||| style="text-align:right;" | 56,929|

Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes.

District summary

Independents and others|-|align="left"|Ards Peninsula|bgcolor="#D46A4C"|44.71|bgcolor="#D46A4C"|3 |13.78|1 |8.05|1 |1.62|0 |13.93|1 |6.45|0 |10.29|0 |1.18|0 |6|-|align="left"|Bangor Central|16.73|1 1|bgcolor="#F6CB2F"|28.75|bgcolor="#F6CB2F"|2 1|14.55|1 |6.90|0 1|0.00|0 |5.37|0 |0.00|0 |27.69|2 1|6|-|align="left"|Bangor East and Donaghadee|23.39|2 |23.90|2 1|bgcolor="40BFF5"|34.18|bgcolor="40BFF5"|2 |4.18|0 |0.00|0 |0.00|0 |0.00|0 |14.35|0 1|6|-|align="left"|Bangor West|25.72|2 1|bgcolor="#F6CB2F"|30.09|bgcolor="#F6CB2F"|1 1|13.33|1 |11.33|1 |4.57|0 |5.09|0 |0.00|0 |9.87|0 |5|-|align="left"|Comber|bgcolor="#D46A4C"|38.48|bgcolor="#D46A4C"|2 |28.83|2 1|19.31|1 |2.72|0 |0.0|0 |5.61|0 1|0.00|0 |5.00|0 |5|-|align="left"|Holywood and Clandeboye|19.81|1 |bgcolor="#F6CB2F"|41.03|bgcolor="#F6CB2F"|2 |12.80|1 |14.67|1 |6.97|0 |4.71|0 |0.00|0 |0.00|0 |5|-|align="left"|Newtownards|bgcolor="#D46A4C"|32.38|bgcolor="#D46A4C"|3 |23.51|2 |13.54|1 |2.43|0 |0.00|0 |6.44|0 |0.00|0 |21.70|1 |7|- class="unsortable" class="sortbottom" style="background:#C9C9C9"|align="left"| Total|29.02|14 |26.59|12 2|16.50|8 |5.94|2 1|3.72|1 |4.83|0 1|1.66|0 |11.75|3 |40|-|}

District results

Ards Peninsula

2019: 3 x DUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Alliance

2023: 3 x DUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Alliance

2019–2023 Change: No change

Bangor Central

2019: 2 x DUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x UUP, 1 x Green, 1 x Independent

2023: 2 x Alliance, 2 x Independent, 1 x DUP, 1 x UUP

2019–2023 Change: Alliance and Independent gain from DUP and Green

Bangor East and Donaghadee

2019: 2 x DUP, 2 x UUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Independent

2023: 2 x DUP, 2 x UUP, 2 x Alliance

2019–2023 Change: Alliance gain from Independent

Bangor West

2019: 2 x Alliance, 1 x DUP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Green

2023: 2 x DUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x UUP, 1 x Green

2019–2023 Change: DUP gain from Alliance

Comber

2019: 2 x DUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x UUP, 1 x TUV

2023: 2 x DUP, 2 x Alliance, 1 x UUP

2019–2023 Change: Alliance gain from TUV

Holywood and Clandeboye

2019: 2 x Alliance, 1 x DUP, 1 x Green, 1 x UUP

2023: 2 x Alliance, 1 x DUP, 1 x Green, 1 x UUP

2019–2023 Change: No change

Newtownards

2019: 3 x DUP, 2 x Alliance, 1 x UUP, 1 x Independent

2023: 3 x DUP, 2 x Alliance, 1 x UUP, 1 x Independent

2019–2023 Change: No change

Changes during the term

† Co-options

Date co-opted	Electoral Area		Outgoing	Co-optee
25 September 2023	Bangor Central	Karen Douglas	Alex Harbinson	Douglas resigned.^[4]
30 October 2023	Holywood and Clandeboye	Rachel Woods	Lauren Kendall	Woods resigned.^[5]
24 April 2024	Bangor East and Donaghadee	Janice MacArthur	Eddie Thompson	MacArthur resigned.^[6]
31 July 2024	Bangor West	Peter Martin	Carl McClean	Martin was co-opted to the Northern Ireland Assembly.^[7]

Notes and References

Web site: Local government elections in Northern Ireland . 2022-05-19 . www.electoralcommission.org.uk . en.
News: 21 December 2022 . NI council election moved to avoid coronation clash . BBC News . 21 December 2022.
Web site: Ainsworth . Paul . 2023-05-04 . Independents aim to return in Ards and North Down, while Sinn Féin hopes to score first ever seat . 2023-05-10 . The Irish News . en.
Web site: New Councillor - Bangor Central DEA.
Web site: New Councillor - Holywood and Clandeboye District Electoral Area.
Web site: New Councillor - Bangor East and Donaghadee District Electoral Area.
Web site: New Councillor - Bangor West District Electoral Area.