1981 Omagh District Council election

Main article: Northern Ireland local elections, 1981

Elections to Omagh District Council were held on 20 May 1981 on the same day as the other Northern Irish local government elections. The election used four district electoral areas to elect a total of 20 councillors.

1981 Omagh District Council election

20 May 1981 (1981-05-20)
All 20 seats to Omagh District Council 11 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Party SDLP Irish Independence Ulster Unionist Seats won 5 5 4 Seat change 1 5 4   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Party DUP Alliance Independent Nationalist Seats won 4 2 0 Seat change 4 1 2   Seventh party   Party Republican Clubs Seats won 0 Seat change 1

Election results

Omagh District Council Election Result 1981

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	SDLP	5	0	1	1	25.0	25.0	5,413	4.6
	Irish Independence	5	5	0	5	25.0	22.2	4,809	New
	Ulster Unionist	4	0	4	4	20.0	19.5	4,216	16.4
	DUP	4	0	0	0	20.0	16.6	3,596	New
	Alliance	2	0	1	1	10.0	9.0	1,951	7.0
	Independent	0	0	0	0	0.0	2.8	604	2.8
	Republican Clubs	0	0	1	1	0.0	1.9	407	2.3
	Independent Republican	0	0	0	0	0.0	1.7	375	1.7
	Ind. Unionist	0	0	0	0	0.0	1.2	270	1.2

Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes.

Districts summary

Results of the Omagh District Council election, 1981
by district

Ward	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	Total Cllrs
	SDLP		IIP		UUP		DUP		Alliance		Others
Area A	32.2	2	23.3	1	24.5	1	14.8	1	1.6	0	3.6	0	5
Area B	8.7	0	13.8	1	25.4	1	17.0	1	12.6	1	22.5	0	4
Area C	30.3	2	17.9	1	17.4	2	19.3	1	14.1	1	1.0	0	7
Area D	23.6	1	37.7	2	10.2	0	13.8	1	5.6	0	9.1	0	4
Total	25.0	5	22.2	5	19.5	4	16.6	4	9.0	2	7.7	0	20

Districts results

Area A

1977: 2 x SDLP, 2 x UUP, 1 x Independent Nationalist
1981: 2 x SDLP, 1 x UUP, 1 x IIP, 1 x DUP
1977-1981 Change: IIP and DUP gain from UUP and Independent Nationalist

Omagh Area A - 5 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	Ulster Unionist	Arthur McFarland*	15.54%	846	935
	SDLP	Liam McQuaid*	15.43%	840	858	859	1,148
	Irish Independence	Charles McElholm	14.16%	771	778	780	788	799.05	1,151.05
	SDLP	John Skelton*	9.88%	538	550	550	625	841.75	943.75
	DUP	Ivan Foster	8.71%	474	518	800	800	800	807	810
	Ulster Unionist	William Montgomery	9.00%	490	538	577	577	577	577	580
	Irish Independence	John Fahy	9.11%	496	510	512	520	530.2
	SDLP	Vincent O'Brien	6.91%	376	391	392
	DUP	George Thompson	6.06%	330	345
	Ind. Unionist	Cecil Anderson*	3.60%	196
	Alliance	Dermot McCormick	1.60%	87
Electorate: 6,459   Valid: 5,444 (84.29%)   Spoilt: 166   Quota: 908   Turnout: 5,610 (86.86%)

Area B

1977: 2 x UUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Independent Nationalist
1981: 1 x UUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x DUP, 1 x IIP
1977-1981 Change: DUP gain from UUP, Independent Nationalist joins IIP

Omagh Area B - 4 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	Irish Independence	Patrick Donnelly*	13.81%	623	623	715	1,014
	Ulster Unionist	Robert Moses	13.23%	597	616	618	619	619	1,101
	DUP	James McConnell	11.35%	512	709	710	710	710	802.5	966.02
	Alliance	Patrick Bogan*	12.64%	570	570	674	768	825	833	866.6
	Independent	John Mullin	13.39%	604	605	643	742	793.75	794.75	794.75
	Ulster Unionist	John Hutchinson	12.21%	551	586	587	587	588.5
	Republican Clubs	Tommy Owens	9.02%	407	407	539
	SDLP	Eugene Donnelly	8.71%	393	394
	DUP	William McFarland	5.63%	254
Electorate: 5,332   Valid: 4,511 (84.60%)   Spoilt: 120   Quota: 903   Turnout: 4,631 (86.85%)

Area C

1977: 3 x SDLP, 3 x UUP, 1 x Alliance
1981: 2 x SDLP, 2 x UUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x DUP, 1 x IIP
1977-1981 Change: DUP and IIP gain from SDLP and UUP

Omagh Area C - 7 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	Irish Independence	Patrick Fahy	15.77%	1,185
	DUP	Oliver Gibson	13.65%	1,026
	SDLP	Bernadette Grant*	10.88%	818	839.84	840.08	843.08	847.18	849.39	????
	Alliance	Aidan Lagan*	9.62%	723	744	744.8	753.8	766.53	769.53	????
	Ulster Unionist	John Ashenhurst	8.70%	654	654	658.16	668.24	668.24	750.2	????
	Ulster Unionist	William Thompson	6.08%	457	457	461.72	468.8	468.8	548.2	????
	SDLP	Stephen McKenna*	6.83%	513	526.23	526.39	526.39	536.75	536.75	????
	SDLP	Patrick McGowan	6.60%	496	503.98	503.98	504.98	512.87	512.87	????
	SDLP	Arthur Breen	6.03%	453	464.13	464.13	464.13	471.39	473.39	????
	Alliance	Richard Hinds	4.47%	336	336.42	336.74	337.74	337.74	339.74	????
	DUP	William Caldwell	4.45%	251	251.21	281.77	292.25	292.25	305.81	????
	Irish Independence	Michael Kelly	1.05%	79	179.38	179.38	181.38	273.99	273.99	????
	DUP	James Mitchell	2.30%	173	173	209.8	224.2	224.2	238.92	????
	Ulster Unionist	Alfred Barnett*	2.58%	194	194.21	196.93	203.93	203.93
	Irish Independence	Francis Loughran	1.10%	83	146.21	146.21	147.21
	Ind. Unionist	Edward Sayers	0.98%	74	74	75.04
Electorate: 10,778   Valid: 7,515 (69.73%)   Spoilt: 166   Quota: 940   Turnout: 7,681 (71.27%)

• Data missing from stage 7 onwards

Area D

1977: 1 x SDLP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Republican Clubs
1981: 2 x IIP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x DUP
1977-1981 Change: IIP (two seats) and DUP gain from UUP, Alliance and Republican Clubs

Omagh Area D - 7 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
	Irish Independence	Francis Conway	23.59%	984
	SDLP	Brendan Martin*	15.42%	643	654.1	691.3	760.4	906.4
	DUP	Willis Cooke	13.81%	576	576.9	576.9	582.9	584.9	584.9	983.9
	Irish Independence	Brian McGrath	7.26%	303	371.4	375.85	382.95	457.5	636.85	642	652	684
	Independent Republican	Francis McElroy*	8.99%	375	386.1	395.55	448.05	489.85	575.95	583.1	594.1	626.1
	Ulster Unionist	John Johnston*	10.24%	427	427.6	427.6	466.6	467.6	467.75
	Irish Independence	Patrick Walsh	6.83%	285	312.75	315.2	324.95	325.85
	SDLP	Patrick McCrory	5.39%	225	232.8	282.7	323.2
	Alliance	John Hadden*	5.63%	235	243.7	257.15
	SDLP	John McSherry	2.83%	118	122.05
Electorate: 5,408   Valid: 4,171 (77.13%)   Spoilt: 160   Quota: 835   Turnout: 4,331 (80.09%)