1977 Ballymoney Borough Council election

Main article: Northern Ireland local elections, 1977

1977 Ballymoney Borough Council election

18 May 1977 (1977-05-18)
All 16 seats to Ballymoney Borough Council 9 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Party UUP DUP Independent Seats won 5 3 3 Seat change 1 2 0   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Party SDLP Alliance Ind. Unionist Seats won 3 1 1 Seat change 1 0 3   Seventh party   Party Ind. Nationalist Seats won 0 Seat change 1

Elections to Ballymoney Borough 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 16 councillors.

Election results

Ballymoney Borough Council Election Result 1977^[1]

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	UUP	5	1	0	1	31.3	29.4	2,479	3.9
	DUP	3	2	0	2	18.8	19.2	1,621	11.4
	Independent	3	1	1	0	18.8	24.8	2,087	3.5
	SDLP	3	1	0	1	18.8	15.1	1,274	5.8
	Alliance	1	0	0	0	6.3	8.3	698	0.6
	Ind. Unionist	0	0	1	1	0.0	3.2	270	18.3

Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes.

Districts summary

Results of the Ballymoney Borough Council election, 1977
by district^[1]

Ward	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	Total Cllrs
	UUP		DUP		SDLP		Alliance		Others
Area A	37.6	2	42.5	2	0.0	0	10.2	0	9.7	0	4
Area B	37.1	3	18.1	1	30.6	3	0.0	0	14.2	1	8
Area C	7.6	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	22.0	0	70.4	3	4
Total	29.4	5	19.2	3	15.1	3	8.3	1	28.0	4	16

Districts results

Area A

1973: 1 x DUP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Independent Unionist, 1 x Independent
1977: 2 x DUP, 2 x UUP
1973-1977 Change: DUP gain from Independent, Independent Unionist joins UUP

Ballymoney Area A - 4 seats^[2]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	DUP	Robert Halliday	21.05%	430
	UUP	Kenneth Bamford*	16.10%	329	372	372.36	395.36	411.36
	DUP	Ralph Stronge	10.96%	224	240	250.68	250.68	443.68
	UUP	Adam Taylor	13.71%	280	372	372.44	372.44	378.24
	Alliance	Hugh McFarland	10.18%	208	212	212.04	369.04	370.04
	DUP	David Hanna*	10.47%	214	216	221.6	223.6
	Independent	Henry McCloy	9.69%	198	198	198
	UUP	James Taylor	7.83%	160
Electorate: 4,037   Valid: 2,043 (50.61%)   Spoilt: 75   Quota: 409   Turnout: 2,118 (52.46%)

Area B

1973: 3 x UUP, 2 x SDLP, 2 x Independent Unionist, 1 x Independent Nationalist
1977: 3 x UUP, 3 x SDLP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Independent
1973-1977 Change: DUP, SDLP and Independent gain from UUP (two seats) and Independent Nationalist, Independent Unionists (two seats) join UUP

Ballymoney Area B - 8 seats^[2]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	DUP	Charles Steele	18.10%	753
	Independent	Hugh Boyle	14.23%	592
	SDLP	Daniel McAlonan	13.84%	576
	UUP	William Logan*	11.39%	474
	UUP	Joe Gaston*	8.96%	373	464.68
	SDLP	Harry Connolly*	8.82%	367	367	421.6	473.8
	SDLP	John Mulholland*	7.95%	331	331.96	384.74	444.34	445.26
	UUP	Patricia Ellis*	7.55%	314	350	355.72	355.72	491.18
	UUP	Robert Chestnutt*	5.65%	235	318.04	326.62	326.62	391.2
	UUP	Ronald McDowell	3.51%	146	224.24	227.1	227.9
Electorate: 6,951   Valid: 4,161 (59.86%)   Spoilt: 96   Quota: 463   Turnout: 4,257 (61.24%)

Area C

1973: 2 x Independent, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Independent Unionist
1977: 2 x Independent, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Independent Unionist
1973-1977 Change: No change

Ballymoney Area C - 5 seats^[2]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4
	Independent	Robert McComb*	39.33%	875
	Independent	Mary Holmes*	16.40%	365	526
	Alliance	Brendan Smyth*	18.20%	405	440.36	448.72
	Ind. Unionist	Frederick Holland*	12.13%	270	326.16	377.08	450.06
	UUP	Samuel Montgomery	7.55%	168	240.8	294.76	343.44
	Independent	Ernest Lee	2.56%	57	93.4	115.44
	Alliance	John Greer	3.82%	85	92.28	96.84
Electorate: 4,382   Valid: 2,225 (50.78%)   Spoilt: 73   Quota: 446   Turnout: 2,298 (52.44%)

References

1. "Local Government Elections 1973-1981: Ballymoney". www.ark.ac.uk.
2. "Local Government Results 1977". EONI. Retrieved 11 July 2021.