Northern Ireland local elections, 1973

Northern Ireland local elections, 1973

30 May 1973
All council seats
First party Second party Third party   Leader James Glencairn Cunningham Gerry Fitt Oliver Napier Party UUP SDLP Alliance Seats won 194 82 63   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader N/A N/A Ian Paisley Party Independent Independent Unionist DUP Seats won 52 26 21
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.

Results

Overall

Party		Councillors		Votes
		Total	+/-	% share	Total
	UUP	194	N/A	17.0	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
	Independent 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
	Independent Republican	3	N/A	0.2	1,911
	Liberal	0	N/A	0.1	704
	Independent Ratepayer	1	N/A	0.1	841
	Independent Radical	1	N/A	0.1	533
	Communist Party	0	N/A	0.1	363
	Irish Labour	0	N/A	0.0	290
	Independent Nationalist	0	N/A	0.0	147
	Independent Labour	0	N/A	0.0	91

By council

Belfast

Belfast A
Party		Candidate	1st Pref
	UUP	Grace Bannister	6,328
	UUP	Ben Horan	2,768
	UUP	Thomas Gildea	1,598
	UUP	William Blair	1,498
	NI Labour	Erskine Holmes	1,337
	Vanguard	W. H. Elliot	1,322
	Alliance	Patricia Carson	1,315
	SDLP	Ben Caraher	1,302
	United Loyalist	W. Dougherty	1,198
	DUP	Thomas Wright	1,158
	UUP	John McKeown	1,021
	DUP	Greene	874
	Alliance	Sam Edgerton	702
	UUP	Emma Dunbar	546
	Independent Unionist	J. Keenan	432
	Alliance	Bernadette Hopkirk	430
	NI Labour	J. Murray	421
	Loyalist Coalition	Lindsay Mason	271
	Alliance	Jacqueline Maguire	192
	Communist Party	H. Moore	101
Turnout			25,174

Belfast B
Party		Candidate	1st Pref
	UUP	Joshua Cardwell	6,708
	UUP	John Allen	3,910
	United Loyalist	H. K. Dickey	3,371
	Alliance	Michael Brown	2,549
	UUP	Thomas Patton	1,833
	UUP	William Corry	1,488
	UUP	Dorothy Dunlop	1,428
	Alliance	D. Wonnacott	1,205
	UUP	H. Cranston	1,085
	Alliance	Coulson	878
	NI Labour	W. J. Gunning	631
	Alliance	Miller	534
	NI Labour	Conway	507
	NI Labour	Kirkpatrick	332
Turnout			26,788

Belfast C
Party		Candidate	1st Pref
	UUP	J. Webster	2,770
	UUP	John William Kennedy	2,611
	UUP	W. D. Gilmore	2,522
	UUP	F. J. McGibben	2,247
	Alliance	David Cook	2,241
	United Loyalist	McNarry	1,693
	UUP	Preston	1,404
	Alliance	Muriel Pritchard	1,172
	SDLP	M. O. Scott	948
	NI Labour	Brian Garrett	817
	Alliance	W. H. Jeffrey	731
	Alliance	McDonough	681
	Independent RTPY	Donaghy	610
	Republican Clubs	Callaghan	503
	NI Labour	Copley	186
Turnout			21,346

Belfast D
Party		Candidate	1st Pref
	SDLP	J. Gillespie	2,306
	SDLP	Desmond O'Donnell	1,332
	Alliance	P. D. Corrie	1,159
	Alliance	Wilson	1,080
	UUP	Shaw	1,045
	SDLP	J. P. McCarron	871
	Alliance	Reginald Donnelly	822
	Republican Clubs	John Brady	758
	Republican Clubs	McAllister	684
	Republican Clubs	Raymond O'Hagan	649
	Alliance	McGrogan	569
	SDLP	McKenna	530
	SDLP	O'Connor	524
	Republican Labour	Barnes	360
	Republican Clubs	Bernard McDonagh	340
	Alliance	Slavin	332
	NI Labour	Hannon	326
	Republican Clubs	McElroy	276
	Republican Labour	McNamee	256
	Republican Labour	Flanigan	241
	NI Labour	Watson	169
	NI Labour	Moyna	109
	Republican Labour	Lavelle	90
	Republican Labour	McDermott	86
Turnout			15,915

Belfast E
Party		Candidate	1st Pref
	UUP	William Christie	7,875
	DUP	Fred Proctor	2,156
	Independent Unionist	Hugh Smyth	2,145
	NI Labour	Billy Boyd	1,758
	Alliance	James Robinson	1,452
	United Loyalist	D. Smylie	1,210
	SDLP	Goan	1,012
	Republican Labour	Fleming	842
	DUP	Hoy	514
	SDLP	Tanney	432
	NI Labour	G. Chambers	264
	Independent	Moore	88
Turnout			20,015

Belfast F
Party		Candidate	1st Pref
	UUP	H. Fletcher	3,441
	UUP	James Stewart	3,320
	SDLP	Paddy Devlin	2,242
	DUP	William Spence	1,190
	UUP	T. G. Murphy	1,000
	Republican Clubs	John Sullivan	735
	Republican Clubs	S. O'Hare	700
	Republican Clubs	Dornan	560
	Republican Clubs	Sean Flynn	538
	SDLP	Owen Allen	475
	Alliance	Maureen Smyth	370
	NI Labour	Magee	232
	SDLP	Desmond Gillespie	230
	Alliance	Woods	230
	NI Labour	W. Ritchie	165
	Republican Labour	Clarke	129
	Communist Party	Betty Sinclair	110
	Republican Labour	McKenna	72
	Republican Labour	Marron	29
Turnout			16,390

Belfast G
Party		Candidate	1st Pref
	UUP	M. Laird	3,632
	UUP	Herbert Ditty	3,556
	SDLP	Gerry Fitt	2,876
	UUP	H. H. Kidd	2,651
	Independent Unionist	Sammy Millar	2,291
	Alliance	M. J. V. McKeown	572
	Republican Clubs	John McAlea	376
	NI Labour	Boyle	368
	Republican Clubs	McGlade	291
	Republican Labour	Jim O'Kane	193
	NI Labour	Pakenham	182
	Republican Labour	S. O'Hare	174
	NI Labour	Jack Sharkey	132
	Independent	Moya Saunders	52
	Republican Labour	Scullion	19
	Independent	Rigby	13
Turnout			17,895

Belfast H
Party		Candidate	1st Pref
	UUP	John Carson	5,518
	UUP	Frank Millar	3,993
	SDLP	Thomas Donnelly	2,667
	Alliance	John Ferguson	2,271
	UUP	Myles Humphreys	1,935
	UUP	Shannon	1,263
	UUP	H. E. Smith	1,245
	Alliance	McManus	974
	Independent United Loyalist	David M. Riddelsdell	967
	UUP	Mary Creighton	730
	Alliance	Lantin	700
	UUP	Lavery	689
	NI Labour	Barbour	432
	NI Labour	Simpson	407
	NI Labour	Boyd	327
	Republican Labour	Loughran	277
	Liberal	R. A. Smith	172
	Independent Unionist	McAuley	129
	Independent	Daly	115
Turnout			25,144