1973 Ards Borough Council election

Northern Ireland local election

30 May 1973 (1973-05-30)

1977 →

All 17 seats to Ards Borough Council
9 seats needed for a majority

	First party	Second party	Third party

Party	UUP	Alliance	NI Labour
Seats won	11	2	1

	Fourth party	Fifth party	Sixth party

Party	SDLP	Ind. Unionist	Loyalist Coalition
Seats won	1	1	1

Elections to Ards Borough Council were held on 30 May 1973 on the same day as the other Northern Irish local government elections. The election used three district electoral areas to elect a total of 17 councillors.

The elections were the first following the reorganisation of local government in Northern Ireland, brought about by the Local Government (Boundaries) Act (Northern Ireland) 1971 & Local Government Act (Northern Ireland) 1972, which replaced the previous FPTP ward system with a new system of proportional representation using multi-member district electoral areas.

Election results

Party		Seats	First Pref. votes	FPv%	±%
	UUP	11	11,499	54.5
	Alliance	2	3,133	14.8
	Loyalist Coalition	1	1,608	8.0
	SDLP	1	1,180	5.6
	NI Labour	1	1,114	5.3
	Ind. Unionist	1	895	4.2
	Vanguard	0	1,510	7.2
	Ulster Liberal	0	167	0.8
Totals		17	21,106	100.0	—

^[1]

Districts summary

Results of the Ards Borough Council election, 1973
by district^[1]
Ward	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	Total Cllrs
Ward	UUP		Alliance		NILP		SDLP		Others		Total Cllrs
Area A	67.4	6	10.8	0	0.7	0	14.7	1	6.4	0	7
Area B	48.6	3	15.4	1	13.1	1	1.0	0	22.9	1	6
Area C	45.5	2	19.5	1	0.0	0	0.0	0	35.0	1	4
Total	54.5	11	14.8	2	5.3	1	5.6	1	19.8	2	17

Districts results

Area A

1973: 6 x UUP, 1 x SDLP

Ards Area A - 7 seats^[2]
Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
Party		Candidate	FPv%	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
	SDLP	J. B. McPolin	14.68%	1,101
	UUP	Henry Cosbey	12.81%	961
	UUP	John Scott	11.27%	845	845	847.17	854.17	879.51	1,029.51
	UUP	J. Donnan	12.07%	905	906.87	910.55	925.55	937.89	1,020.89
	UUP	T. G. H. Pollock	11.64%	873	873.17	873.51	891.51	904.51	990.51
	UUP	Oliver Johnston	9.59%	719	719.17	722.17	730.34	742.34	814.34	870.58	915.58	944.83
	UUP	G. McMordie	10.05%	754	755.02	757.02	760.19	778.7	836.7	871.48	891.48	914.73
	Alliance	C. McNamara	4.20%	315	416.49	451.74	510.8	817.24	823.92	823.92	824.92	824.92
	Vanguard	R. H. Willis	6.37%	478	478.68	484.19	940.36	492.36
	Alliance	M. Leroux	3.52%	264	268.25	278.25	403.35
	Alliance	William Sheldon	3.07%	230	234.59	249.67
	NI Labour	J. M. Paden	0.73%	55	100.22
Electorate: 13,393 Valid: 7,500 (56.00%) Spoilt: 92 Quota: 938 Turnout: 7,592 (56.69%)

Area B

1973: 3 x UUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x NILP, 1 x Loyalist Coalition

Ards Area B - 6 seats^[2]
Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
Party		Candidate	FPv%	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14
	UUP	John Algie	19.38%	1,568
	UUP	Cecilia Cooke	11.79%	954	1,120.14	1,120.14	1,130.14	1,146.92	1,228.92
	Alliance	Owen Dorrian	8.26%	668	671.9	719.9	755.9	830.42	835.68	836.59	1,207.59
	UUP	William Spratt	8.80%	712	777.26	777.26	791.26	793.26	949.34	986.65	1,005.69	1,016.89	1,039.62	1,328.62
	Loyalist Coalition	Robert Brown	6.90%	558	573.86	573.86	580.86	581.38	587.9	589.72	593.72	593.88	961.9	1,009.53	1,044.53	1,605.53
	NI Labour	Robert Gaw	7.00%	566	584.46	591.46	630.46	648.72	652.72	652.72	687.93	702.33	712.43	789.12	815.12	858.26	934.26
	NI Labour	William Allen	6.09%	493	515.62	522.62	550.88	556.88	562.88	562.88	583.79	593.55	608.75	670.86	699.86	729.73	784.73
	Loyalist Coalition	William Hannigan	6.64%	537	541.94	542.2	543.2	546.2	550.72	552.54	554.54	555.98	642.28	674.99	697.99
	UUP	Georgina Foulis	4.59%	371	430.54	430.54	443.8	449.06	512.7	539.09	560.39	570.31	607.3
	DUP	Irene Brown	6.34%	513	533.54	534.54	537.54	540.54	545.54	547.36	550.88	552.64
	Alliance	W. H. Forsythe	4.19%	339	343.68	344.68	354.68	477.68	481.68	484.41
	UUP	H. McGimpsey	4.02%	325	344.76	344.76	349.28	351.28
	Alliance	G. Hirst	2.97%	240	242.34	242.34	254.34
	Ulster Liberal	Albert McElroy	2.06%	167	168.04	182.04
	SDLP	D. G. C. Devaney	0.98%	79	79.26
Electorate: 13,801 Valid: 8,090 (58.62%) Spoilt: 127 Quota: 1,156 Turnout: 8,217 (59.54%)

Area C

1973: 2 x UUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Independent Unionist

Ards Area C - 4 seats^[2]
Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
Party		Candidate	FPv%	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	UUP	D. Hamilton	11.69%	645	653	669	973	1,249
	UUP	Hamilton McKeag	13.18%	727	740	777	881	1,201
	Alliance	Jim McBriar	12.36%	682	1,003	1,011	1,037	1,068	1,105.4
	Ind. Unionist	James Caughey	16.23%	895	920	939	969	1,004	1,065.2	1,123.85
	Vanguard	W. Crawford	10.75%	593	594	936	953	977	1,022.9	1,060.64
	UUP	Harold Porter	10.55%	582	595	605	692
	UUP	J. H. Cromie	10.12%	558	561	572
	Vanguard	D. McCreery	7.96%	439	445
	Alliance	Alice Rudnitzky	7.16%	395
Electorate: 8,762 Valid: 5,516 (62.95%) Spoilt: 83 Quota: 1,104 Turnout: 5,599 (63.90%)

References

^ ^a ^b "Local Government Elections 1973 - 1981: Ards". Retrieved 7 June 2021.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Local Government Results 1973". EONI. Retrieved 8 July 2021.

Council elections in County Down

Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council

Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council

Newry, Mourne and Down District Council

Ards and North Down Borough Council

Ards Borough Council

1973
1977
1981
1985
1989
1993
1997
2001
2005
2011
Abolished

Banbridge District Council

1973
1977
1981
1985
1989
1993
1997
2001
2005
2011
Abolished

Castlereagh Borough Council

1973
1977
1981
1985
1989
1993
1997
2001
2005
2011
Abolished

Craigavon Borough Council

1973
1977
1981
1985
1989
1993
1997
2001
2005
2011
Abolished

Down District Council

1973
1977
1981
1985
1989
1993
1997
2001
2005
2011
Abolished

Lisburn City Council

1973
1977
1981
1985
1989
1993
1997
2001
2005
2011
Abolished

Newry and Mourne District Council

1973
1977
1981
1985
1989
1993
1997
2001
2005
2011
Abolished

North Down Borough Council

1973
1977
1981
1985
1989
1993
1997
2001
2005
2011
Abolished

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