1989 Magherafelt District Council election

Main article: Northern Ireland local elections, 1989

1989 Magherafelt District Council election

May 17, 1989 (1989-05-17)
All 15 seats to Magherafelt District Council 8 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Party SDLP UUP DUP Seats won 4 4 3 Seat change 1 1   Fourth party Fifth party   Party Sinn Féin Ind. Nationalist Seats won 3 1 Seat change 1 1

Elections to Magherafelt District Council were held on 17 May 1989, on the same day as the other Northern Irish local government elections. The election used three district electoral areas to elect a total of 15 councillors.

Election results

Magherafelt District Council Election Result 1989

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	SDLP	4	0	0		26.7	26.7	4,790	1.5
	UUP	4	1	0	1	26.7	20.7	3,730	1.4
	DUP	3	0	1	1	20.0	23.4	4,197	0.6
	Sinn Féin	3	0	1	1	25.0	22.1	3,965	3.9
	Ind. Nationalist	1	1	0	1	0.0	3.8	691	3.8
	Workers' Party	0	0	0		0.0	3.3	587	2.0

Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes.

Districts summary

Results of the Magherafelt District Council election, 1989
by district

Ward	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	Total Cllrs
	SDLP		UUP		DUP		Sinn Féin		Others
Magherafelt Town	27.4	1	18.5	1	36.7	2	15.9	1	1.5	0	5
Moyola	21.3	1	29.5	2	21.5	1	24.2	1	3.5	0	5
Sperrin	31.2	2	14.4	1	10.8	0	26.6	1	17.0	1	5
Total	26.7	4	20.7	4	23.4	3	22.1	3	7.1	1	15

Districts results

Magherafelt Town

1985: 2 x DUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Sinn Féin
1989: 2 x DUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Sinn Féin
1985-1989 Change: No change

Magherafelt Town - 5 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4
	DUP	William McCrea*	34.33%	2,162
	SDLP	Patrick Kilpatrick*	20.17%	1,270
	UUP	Ernest Caldwell*	18.55%	1,168
	DUP	Paul McLean	2.38%	150	1,248.24
	Sinn Féin	John Hurl	15.93%	1,003	1,003	1,021	1,034.26
	SDLP	Margaret O'Hagan	7.27%	458	459.04	648.76	713.06
	Workers' Party	Marian Donnelly	1.38%	87	90.12	101.1
Electorate: 8,585   Valid: 6,298 (73.36%)   Spoilt: 123   Quota: 1,050   Turnout: 6,421 (74.79%)

Moyola

1985: 2 x DUP, 1 x Sinn Féin, 1 x UUP, 1 x SDLP
1989: 2 x UUP, 1 x Sinn Féin, 1 x DUP, 1 x SDLP
1985-1989 Change: UUP gain from DUP

Moyola - 5 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	UUP	John Junkin*	19.03%	1,109
	SDLP	Henry McErlean*	15.05%	877	940	940.48	1,290.48
	Sinn Féin	Pauline Davey-Kennedy	15.98%	931	950	950	976
	UUP	Norman Montgomery	10.49%	611	620	708.32	709.68	716.68	725.68
	DUP	Thomas Catherwood*	11.91%	694	696	714	715	718	724
	DUP	Thomas Milligan*	9.59%	559	562	586.24	587.24	588.24	588.24
	Sinn Féin	Margaret McKenna	8.22%	479	495	495	510	573
	SDLP	Francis Madden	6.30%	367	425	425.48
	Workers' Party	Hugh Scullion	3.43%	200
Electorate: 7,941   Valid: 5,827 (73.38%)   Spoilt: 182   Quota: 972   Turnout: 6,009 (75.67%)

Sperrin

1985: 2 x SDLP, 2 x Sinn Féin, 1 x UUP
1989: 2 x SDLP, 1 x Sinn Féin, 1 x UUP, 1 x Independent Nationalist
1985-1989 Change: SDLP gain from Sinn Féin, Independent Nationalist leaves SDLP

Sperrin - 5 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	UUP	Robert Montgomery	14.43%	842	846	847	1,429
	Ind. Nationalist	Mary McSorley*	11.84%	691	753	796	821	997
	SDLP	Patrick Sweeney*	10.52%	614	680	952	957	986
	Sinn Féin	Bernard O'Hagan	13.73%	801	819	869	869	869
	SDLP	Ghislaine O'Keeney	11.55%	674	689	857	858	862
	Sinn Féin	Patrick Groogan	12.87%	751	794	803	804	805
	DUP	John Linton	10.83%	632	635	635
	SDLP	Francis McKendry	9.08%	530	575
	Workers' Party	Francis Donnelly	5.14%	300
Electorate: 7,827   Valid: 5,835 (74.55%)   Spoilt: 134   Quota: 973   Turnout: 5,969 (76.26%)