1997 Derry City Council election

Main article: Northern Ireland local elections, 1997

1997 Derry City Council election

21 May 1997 (1997-05-21)
All 30 seats to Derry City Council 16 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Party SDLP Sinn Féin DUP Seats won 14 8 4 Seat change 3 3 1   Fourth party Fifth party   Party UUP Ind. Unionist Seats won 3 1 Seat change 1 0

Elections to Derry City Council were held on 21 May 1997 on the same day as the other Northern Irish local government elections. The election used five district electoral areas to elect a total of 30 councillors.

Election results

Derry City Council Election Result 1997^[1]

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	SDLP	14	0	3	3	46.7	43.7	18,012	3.2
	Sinn Féin	8	3	0	3	26.7	27.7	11,394	7.5
	DUP	4	0	1	1	13.3	12.6	5,186	0.7
	UUP	3	1	0	1	10.0	8.7	3,595	0.5
	Ind. Unionist	1	0	0	0	3.3	2.8	1,203	0.1
	NI Women's Coalition	0	0	0	0	0.0	2.5	1,036	New
	Labour Coalition	0	0	0	0	0.0	1.1	434	New
	Ulster Democratic	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.7	176	0.5
	Independent	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.1	48	1.9
	Ind. Nationalist	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.1	22	0.1

Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes.

Districts summary

Results of the Derry City Council election, 1997
by district^[1]

Ward	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	Total Cllrs
	SDLP		Sinn Féin		DUP		UUP		Others
Cityside	40.6	2	55.5	3	0.0	0	0.0	0	3.9	0	5
Northland	57.2	5	33.4	2	0.0	0	0.0	0	9.4	0	7
Rural	44.5	3	9.0	0	23.6	1	20.0	1	2.9	0	6
Shantallow	56.4	3	36.7	2	1.7	0	0.0	0	5.2	0	5
Waterside	19.8	1	9.9	1	35.0	3	22.2	1	13.1	1	7
Total	43.7	14	27.7	8	12.6	4	8.7	3	7.3	1	30

District results

Cityside

1993: 3 x SDLP, 2 x Sinn Féin
1997: 3 x Sinn Féin, 2 x SDLP
1993-1997 Change: Sinn Féin gain from SDLP

Cityside - 5 seats^[2]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	Sinn Féin	Cathal Crumley	20.61%	1,333
	Sinn Féin	Mitchel McLaughlin*	20.21%	1,307
	Sinn Féin	Peter Anderson	14.72%	952	979	1,213.27
	SDLP	Jim Clifford*	14.98%	969	1,042	1,047.7	1,115.64
	SDLP	Pat Ramsey*	12.71%	822	883	884.33	972.81	976.8	989.55
	SDLP	Patrick Devine*	12.82%	829	881	884.42	955.52	961.41	986.16
	NI Women's Coalition	Margaret Logue	3.94%	255
Electorate: 9,432   Valid: 6,467 (68.56%)   Spoilt: 194   Quota: 1,078   Turnout: 6,661 (70.62%)

Northland

1993: 5 x SDLP, 2 x Sinn Féin
1997: 5 x SDLP, 2 x Sinn Féin
1993-1997 Change: No change

Northland - 7 seats^[2]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	SDLP	Mark Durkan*	17.17%	1,679
	Sinn Féin	Mary Nelis*	16.00%	1,564
	SDLP	Martin Bradley*	11.41%	1,115	1,272.14
	Sinn Féin	Marion Hutcheon	11.54%	1,128	1,134.75	1,318.67
	SDLP	John Tierney*	11.21%	1,096	1,147.03	1,161.99	1,163.42	1,172.06	1,246.06
	SDLP	John Kerr*	8.69%	850	1,012	1,018.82	1,019.59	1,045.75	1,132.75	1,252.1
	SDLP	Kathleen McCloskey*	8.74%	854	896.39	901.67	902.44	910.04	968.04	1,040.04
	Sinn Féin	Pius McNaught	5.85%	572	577.94	691.24	779.35	780.23	822.23	827.23
	Ind. Unionist	Alexander Simpson	5.44%	532	533.89	533.89	533.89	533.89	567.89
	NI Women's Coalition	Patricia McAdams	2.97%	290	303.23	308.51	309.06	310.5
	Labour Coalition	Anthony Martin	0.51%	50	52.97	54.51	54.62	54.94
	Labour Coalition	Geraldine O'Neill	0.47%	46	48.7	50.24	50.46	50.7
Electorate: 16,075   Valid: 9,776 (60.81%)   Spoilt: 207   Quota: 1,223   Turnout: 9,983 (62.10%)

Rural

1993: 3 x SDLP, 2 x DUP, 1 x UUP
1997: 3 x SDLP, 2 x UUP, 1 x DUP
1993-1997 Change: UUP gain from DUP

Rural - 6 seats^[2]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	SDLP	Annie Courtney*	15.59%	1,220
	DUP	William Hay*	14.12%	1,105	1,121
	SDLP	John McNickle*	12.47%	976	991	1,421
	SDLP	George Peoples*	9.44%	739	760	871	1,168.84
	UUP	Andrew Davidson	10.64%	833	887	890	890	901.31	905.87	1,212.87
	UUP	Ernest Hamilton	9.33%	730	751	751	751	754.19	757.23	1,048.15
	Sinn Féin	Paul Fleming	9.03%	707	719	748	749.46	833.56	874.6	874.6
	DUP	Maurice Devenney	9.47%	741	749	749	749	750.74	751.5
	SDLP	Jim McKeever	7.01%	549	600
	NI Women's Coalition	Catherine Cooke	2.30%	180
	Independent	David Hawthorne	0.61%	48
Electorate: 13,468   Valid: 7,828 (58.12%)   Spoilt: 164   Quota: 1,119   Turnout: 7,992 (59.34%)

Shantallow

1993: 4 x SDLP, 1 x Sinn Féin
1997: 3 x SDLP, 2 x Sinn Féin
1993-1997 Change: Sinn Féin gain from SDLP

Shantallow - 5 seats^[2]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	SDLP	Mary Bradley*	22.87%	1,826
	Sinn Féin	Tony Hassan	16.16%	1,290	1,304.84	1,306.84	1,307.84	1,325.68	1,658.68
	Sinn Féin	Gearóid Ó hEára*	14.21%	1,134	1,154.44	1,157.44	1,157.44	1,199.66	1,333.56
	SDLP	Shaun Gallagher*	10.92%	872	1,190.92	1,202.2	1,221.88	1,298.64	1,311.2	1,325.2
	SDLP	William O'Connell*	12.86%	1,027	1,088.32	1,091.32	1,104.32	1,171.56	1,181.96	1,187.96
	SDLP	Margaret McCartney*	9.76%	779	833.6	841.88	869.16	989.96	1,000.8	1,011.8
	Sinn Féin	Bernadette McDaid	6.31%	504	508.2	509.32	509.32	522.88
	Labour Coalition	Charles McDaid	2.44%	195	197.8	222.8	232.8
	NI Women's Coalition	Diane Greer	2.07%	165	177.04	179.32	204.32
	DUP	William Dougherty	1.68%	134	136.24	137.24
	Labour Coalition	Robert Lindsay	0.51%	41	43.24
	Labour Coalition	Patrick Muldowney	0.20%	16	16.56
Electorate: 13,598   Valid: 7,983 (58.71%)   Spoilt: 188   Quota: 1,331   Turnout: 8,171 (60.09%)

Waterside

1993: 3 x DUP, 2 x SDLP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Independent Unionist
1997: 3 x DUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Sinn Féin, 1 x Independent Unionist
1993-1997 Change: Sinn Féin gain from SDLP

Waterside - 7 seats^[2]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	UUP	Richard Dallas*	16.77%	1,535
	DUP	Gregory Campbell*	16.36%	1,497
	SDLP	Philip Kelly	11.48%	1,051	1,051.25	1,051.73	1,124.73	1,127.73	1,128.21	1,815.21
	Sinn Féin	Lynn Fleming	9.87%	903	903.25	904.21	925.21	925.21	926.45	967.45	1,120.45
	DUP	Joe Miller*	8.18%	749	789.75	851.91	862.13	946.17	1,098.86	1,100.86	1,106.86
	Ind. Unionist	James Guy*	7.33%	671	717.25	762.37	815.35	850.26	877.66	905.66	1,082.66
	DUP	Mildred Garfield	5.65%	517	544.5	680.1	691.54	736.97	1,056.75	1,060.75	1,061.75
	UUP	Mary Hamilton	5.43%	497	722	757.04	770.03	821.72	850.56	850.56	850.56
	SDLP	Wilfred White*	8.29%	759	759	759	795	798	799
	DUP	Bill Irwin*	4.84%	443	464.5	517.06	519.06	560.99
	Ulster Democratic	David Nicholl	3.02%	276	290	304.88	318.87
	NI Women's Coalition	Helena Schlindwein	1.60%	146	146.5	147.22
	Labour Coalition	Kenneth Adams	0.94%	86	89.75	93.11
	Ind. Nationalist	Gerald Toland*	0.24%	22	22	22
Electorate: 15,408   Valid: 9,152 (59.40%)   Spoilt: 186   Quota: 1,145   Turnout: 9,338 (60.60%)

References

1. "Derry City Council, 1993-2011". www.ark.ac.uk.
2. "Local Government Results 1997". EONI. Retrieved 10 August 2021.