The 2001 Local Government Elections in Northern Ireland

Map by Conal Kelly

The Elections

The elections for Northern Ireland's 26 local councils took place on 7 June, 2001, simultaneously with the Westminster election. This was the eighth set of elections since the local councils were reorganised in 1973. Councillors are elected for a four-year term by Single Transferable Vote from local electoral areas returning five, six or seven councillors. You can look at all the local election results since 1973 here, and compare specifically with the 1997 elections here and the 1993 elections here. You may also like to look at entries to the prediction contest. (See spreadsheet archive.)


This graph contrasts the 2001 first preference votes across the whole of Northern Ireland with those cast in the local government elections of 1997, 1993, 1989, 1985, 1981, 1977 and 1973.

The Results

I have taken my figures from the BBC, cross-checked with local knowledge where possible. First preferences for all electoral areas are now on the respective council pages.

These elections saw marked advances for Sinn Féin and the DUP at the expense of the other main parties and smaller groupings. For the first time, Sinn Féin beat the SDLP in votes (though not seats, due to the SDLP's lead in rural councils with smaller numbers of voters in each ward).

UUP 181336 23% 154 cllrs
DUP 169477 21% 131 cllrs
SF 163269 21% 108 cllrs
SDLP 153424 19% 117 cllrs
Alliance 40443 5% 28 cllrs
PUP 12261 2% 4 cllrs
UKUP 4763 1% 2 cllrs
Women's Coalition 3301 0.4% 1 cllr
UUAP 2648 0.3% 2 cllrs
Conservatives 1985 0.3%
NIUP 1818 0.2%
Workers Party 1421 0.2%
Community Candidates 1247 0.2%
Newtownabbey Ratepayers Association 1039 0.1% 1 cllr
Ulster Third Way 28 0.0%
Independents 51997 7% 34 cllrs

Total valid vote: 790457

Details of distribution of seats on the 26 District Councils

Council UUP DUP SDLP SF APNI PUP Others Total Seats
Antrim 7-- 5++ 5+ 2+ 0-- 0 0 19
Ards 8-- 9++++ 1 0 4- 0 1 Ind U* 23
Armagh 7--- 4++ 6- 5++ 0 0 0 22
Ballymena 7---- 11+++ 4+ 0 0- 0 2 Inds 24
Ballymoney 5+ 8++ 2- 1 0 0 0 16
Banbridge 7-- 5++ 3 0 1+ 0 1 Ind 17
Belfast 11-- 10+++ 9++ 14+ 3--- 3 1 UDP* 51
Carrickfergus 4 6+++ 0 0 5 0 1 Ind, 1 Unionist* 17
Castlereagh 5 10 2 0 4 1+ 1 Ind 23
Coleraine 10 7++ 4+ 0 0--- 0 1 Ind 22
Cookstown 3- 2 4 6+ 0 0 1 Ind U* 16
Craigavon 8--- 6+++ 7 4++ 0- 0 1 Ind 26
Derry 2- 4 14 10++ 0 0 0 30
Down 6 2 10-- 4++ 0 0 1 Ind 23
Dungannon 6-- 3 4 8+++ 0 0 1 Ind 22
Fermanagh 7-- 2 4 9++++ 0 0 1 Ind 23
Larne 4-- 5++ 2+ 0 2+ 0 2 Inds 15
Limavady 3--- 2+ 4--- 4+++ 0 0 1 UUAP, 1 Ind 15
Lisburn 13 5+++ 3+ 4 3 0 1 UDP, 1 Unionist* 30
Magherafelt 2- 3 3-- 7++ 0 0 1 Ind 16
Moyle 3 3 4+ 1 0 0 4 Inds 15
Newry and Mourne 4- 1 10-- 13+++++ 0 0 2 Inds 30
Newtownabbey 9- 8++++++ 2+ 1+ 1-- 0- 1 Ind U*, 1 Labour*, 1 UUAP, 1 NRA 25
North Down 8++ 5+++ 0 0 5- 0-- 2 Inds, 2 UKUP, 1 NIWC, 1 Ind U*, 1 Community* 25
Omagh 3- 2- 6 8++ 0- 0 2 Inds 21
Strabane 2- 3 4- 7+++ 0 0 0 16
Total 154 131 117 108 28 4 40 582
* These councillors were officially registered as "Independents" but are described otherwise on their council web-sites.

I ran a prediction contest for these elections, which attracted 115 entries. The median expectation was for the UUP to win 164 seats (real result 154), the SDLP to win 122 seats (rather than 117), the DUP to win 105 seats (they won 131), SF to win 92 (rather than 108) and Alliance 35 (real result 28). Conal Gillespie's prediction of 156 UUP, 131 DUP, 110 SDLP, 104 SF and 30 Alliance is the most accurate prediction I have received in any of the five prediction contests since I started this site.

Parliamentary constituencies


See also:

Other sites based at ARK: ORB (Online Research Bank) | CAIN (Conflict Archive on the INternet) | Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey

Your comments, please! Send an email to me at nicholas.whyte@gmail.com.

Nicholas Whyte, 1 July 2001; modified 17 February.



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