1977 Down District Council election

Main article: Northern Ireland local elections, 1977

1977 Down District Council election

18 May 1977 (1977-05-18)
All 20 seats to Down District Council 11 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Party SDLP Ulster Unionist Alliance Seats won 10 7 3 Seat change 2 1 1   Fourth party Fifth party   Party Vanguard Independent Seats won 0 0 Seat change 1 1

Elections to Down District Council were held on 18 May 1977 on the same day as the other Northern Irish local government elections. The election used three district electoral areas to elect a total of 20 councillors.

Election results

Down District Council Election Result 1977

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	SDLP	10	2	0	2	50.0	44.6	9,251	9.6
	Ulster Unionist	7	0	1	1	35.0	31.4	6,520	7.2
	Alliance	3	1	0	1	15.0	11.8	2,446	0.5
	Independent	0	0	1	1	0.0	3.5	736	3.6
	Unionist Party NI	0	0	0		0.0	3.3	700	New
	UUUP	0	0	0		0.0	2.7	569	New
	Republican Clubs	0	0	0		0.0	2.6	536	0.2

Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes.

Districts summary

Results of the Down District Council election, 1977
by district

Ward	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	Total Cllrs
	SDLP		UUP		Alliance		Others
Area A	19.9	2	50.1	4	13.5	1	16.5	0	7
Area B	58.8	4	18.4	1	8.5	1	14.3	0	6
Area C	53.4	4	26.9	2	13.5	1	6.2	0	7
Total	44.6	10	31.4	7	11.8	3	12.2	0	20

Districts results

Area A

1973: 4 x UUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Vanguard
1977: 4 x UUP, 2 x SDLP, 1 x Alliance
1973-1977 Change: SDLP gain from Vanguard

Down Area A - 7 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
	SDLP	Patrick Smyth*	12.65%	837
	Ulster Unionist	Samuel Osborne*	9.54%	631	638	638	663	663	668	841
	Alliance	Denis Rowan-Hamilton*	7.98%	528	534	534.33	573.33	577.35	638.42	652.42	904.42
	Ulster Unionist	Edward McVeigh*	11.08%	733	736	736.03	770.03	773.03	773.04	803.04	813.09	823.82	963.82
	Ulster Unionist	William Finlay*	9.13%	604	605	605	622	622.01	622.01	646.01	648.01	650.6	849.6
	Ulster Unionist	William Brown	9.02%	597	601	601	621	621	621.01	634.01	635.01	640.19	801.56
	SDLP	Francis Laverty	3.89%	257	260	264.88	267.9	449.39	605.83	605.83	717.4	774.01	778.09
	UUUP	Andrew Gaskin	8.60%	569	570	570.01	572.01	572.01	573.01	580.01	582.01	582.01	603.01
	Ulster Unionist	William Cochrane*	7.07%	468	475	475.04	517.04	518.06	524.07	548.07	548.09	549.57
	Alliance	John Rodgers	5.47%	362	365	365.64	379.64	404.69	428.76	429.76
	Ulster Unionist	Hugh Martin	4.22%	279	280	280	288	288	290.01
	Independent	George Kerr	4.05%	268	268	268.58	269.58	273.69
	SDLP	Allen Gilgunn	3.33%	220	220	221.7	223.71
	Unionist Party NI	William Hutton	2.45%	162	221	221.03
	Unionist Party NI	John McKee	1.51%	100
Electorate: 11,641   Valid: 6,615 (56.83%)   Spoilt: 221   Quota: 827   Turnout: 6,836 (58.72%)

Area B

1973: 3 x SDLP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Independent
1977: 4 x SDLP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Alliance
1973-1977 Change: SDLP gain from Independent

Down Area B - 6 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
	SDLP	Eddie McGrady*	21.72%	1,524
	SDLP	Dermot Curran*	14.17%	994	1,069.48
	Ulster Unionist	Cecil Maxwell*	12.09%	848	853.44	854.34	862.68	873.68	903.36	1,325.36
	SDLP	John Ritchie*	8.48%	595	694.96	707.56	722.52	738.18	771.2	771.88	772.88	1,153.76
	SDLP	Sean Quinn	7.81%	548	755.06	780.86	806.16	823.2	921.78	924.76	925.76	1,153.76
	Alliance	George Flinn	5.20%	365	373.84	374.74	388.42	564.76	618.46	631.46	768.46	793.66	833.66
	Republican Clubs	Raymond Blaney	7.64%	536	551.64	554.04	586.72	593.72	661.34	662.34	680.34	735.08	782.08
	SDLP	Theresa McEvoy	6.66%	467	525.48	540.18	551.86	556.88	614.5	615.5	616.5
	Ulster Unionist	Robert Nicholson	6.30%	442	443.7	444	448	451	454
	Independent	John Bryce	4.12%	289	308.04	313.14	376.18	384.54
	Alliance	William McNamara	3.26%	229	242.94	244.74	250.08
	Independent	James McDowell	2.55%	179	187.16	188.66
Electorate: 10,436   Valid: 7,016 (67.23%)   Spoilt: 262   Quota: 1,003   Turnout: 7,278 (69.74%)

Area C

1973: 4 x SDLP, 3 x UUP
1977: 4 x SDLP, 2 x UUP, 1 x Alliance
1977-1981 Change: Alliance gain from UUP

Down Area C - 7 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	SDLP	Patrick O'Donoghue*	18.73%	1,335
	SDLP	Eamon O'Neill	9.13%	651	814.35	824.67	824.67	898.89
	Ulster Unionist	Ethel Smyth	11.04%	787	787	799	851	857.66	1,155.66
	Ulster Unionist	Norman Bicker	9.30%	663	663	671	829	837.66	1,042.66
	Alliance	Patrick Forde	5.92%	422	429.59	539.25	620.58	818.87	844.87	901.87
	SDLP	Jarlath Carey*	9.02%	643	772.36	789.02	794.02	845.23	847.56	849.56	860.56
	SDLP	James Magee	9.64%	687	713.4	728.73	729.73	744.03	746.03	747.03	753.03
	SDLP	James McClean	6.92%	493	556.69	561.35	561.35	578.99	579.99	581.99	583.99
	Ulster Unionist	William Keown	6.57%	468	468.66	477.66	544.66	555.32
	Alliance	Joseph Keenan	5.11%	364	402.94	421.27	442.27
	Unionist Party NI	John Beck	4.66%	332	332.33	409.33
	Alliance	Patrick Doherty	2.47%	176	180.29
	Unionist Party NI	Henry Cromie	1.49%	106	106.66
Electorate: 10,834   Valid: 7,127 (65.78%)   Spoilt: 398   Quota: 891   Turnout: 7,525 (69.46%)