1973 Northern Ireland local elections
Appearance
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Interim bodies |
Elections |
Members |
See also |
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All council seats | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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![]() Colours denote the winning party with outright control | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
![]() Colours denote the party with the most seats |
Local government in Northern Ireland was reorganised in 1973 by the Local Government (Boundaries) Act (Northern Ireland) 1971 and the Local Government Act (Northern Ireland) 1972. The county councils, county borough and municipal borough corporations and urban and rural district councils were replaced by twenty-six local government districts.
Elections took place for all the seats on the district councils on 30 May 1973. Elections were by proportional representation, using the single transferable vote system. The district councils came into their powers on 1 October.[1][2][3][4]
Results
Overall
Party[5] | Councillors | Votes | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total | +/- | % share | Total | ||
UUP | 194 | N/A | 37.4 | 255,187 | |
Alliance | 63 | N/A | 13.7 | 94,474 | |
SDLP | 82 | N/A | 13.4 | 92,600 | |
Independent | 52 | N/A | 7.0 | 48,947 | |
Ind. Unionist | 26 | N/A | 4.4 | 31,866 | |
United Loyalist | 20 | N/A | 4.2 | 28,906 | |
DUP | 21 | N/A | 4.1 | 28,811 | |
Republican Clubs | 8 | N/A | 3.0 | 20,680 | |
NI Labour | 4 | N/A | 2.5 | 17,422 | |
Independent Loyalist | 16 | N/A | 1.4 | 17,360 | |
Vanguard | 10 | N/A | 1.6 | 13,305 | |
Unity | 6 | N/A | 1.5 | 10,281 | |
Loyalist Coalition | 3 | N/A | 1.0 | 7,495 | |
Nationalist | 4 | N/A | 0.5 | 3,784 | |
Independent Community | 3 | N/A | 0.4 | 3,036 | |
Republican Labour | 0 | N/A | 0.4 | 2,594 | |
Ind. Republican | 3 | N/A | 0.2 | 1,911 | |
Ulster Liberal | 0 | N/A | 0.1 | 704 | |
Independent Ratepayer | 1 | N/A | 0.1 | 841 | |
Independent Radical | 1 | N/A | 0.1 | 533 | |
Communist | 0 | N/A | 0.1 | 363 | |
Irish Labour | 0 | N/A | 0.0 | 290 | |
Ind. Nationalist | 0 | N/A | 0.0 | 147 | |
Independent Labour | 0 | N/A | 0.0 | 91 | |
Total | 462 | ![]() |
100.0% | 681,628 |
Results by council
Council | Control | 1st party 1973 | 2nd party 1973 | Councillors | |||
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Antrim | UUP | UUP (8) | Alliance (2) | 15 | |||
Belfast City | No overall control | UUP (25) | Alliance (8) | 51 | |||
Ards | UUP | UUP (11) | Alliance (2) | 17 | |||
Armagh | No overall control | UUP (10) | SDLP (4) | 20 | |||
Ballymena | No overall control | ||||||
Ballymoney | No overall control | ||||||
Banbridge | UUP | ||||||
Carrickfergus | No overall control | ||||||
Castlereagh | No overall control | ||||||
Coleraine | UUP | ||||||
Cookstown | No overall control | ||||||
Craigavon | No overall control | ||||||
Down | No overall control | ||||||
Dungannon | UUP | ||||||
Fermanagh | No overall control | ||||||
Larne | Loyalist | Loyalist (8) | Alliance (3) | 15 | |||
Limavady | United Unionist | United Unionist (8) | SDLP (4) | 15 | |||
Lisburn | UUP | UUP (14) | Alliance (3) | 23 | |||
Londonderry | No overall control | SDLP (10) | United Loyalist (9) | 27 | |||
Magherafelt | No overall control | ||||||
Moyle | No overall control | ||||||
Newry and Mourne | No overall control | ||||||
Newtownabbey | No overall control | ||||||
North Down | No overall control | ||||||
Omagh | No overall control | ||||||
Strabane | No overall control | ||||||
All councils | UUP (194) | SDLP (82) | 517 |
References
- ^ Local Government Elections 1973 (Ark Social & Political Archive)
- ^ Big Roman Catholic turnout in poll despite threats, The Times, 31 May 1973
- ^ Party accused over Ulster poll, The Times, 31 May 1973
- ^ Unionist supporters elect many hard-line men in Ulster local government poll, The Times, 2 June 1973
- ^ Local Government Elections 1973, Northern Ireland Elections