1997 Fermanagh District Council election

Main article: Northern Ireland local elections, 1997

1997 Fermanagh District Council election

21 May 1997 (1997-05-21)
All 23 seats to Fermanagh District Council 12 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Party Ulster Unionist Sinn Féin SDLP Seats won 9 5 4 Seat change 1 2 1   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Party DUP Independent Nationalist Independent Socialist Seats won 2 2 1 Seat change 0 0 0

Elections to Fermanagh District Council were held on 21 May 1997 on the same day as the other Northern Irish local government elections. The election used four district electoral areas to elect a total of 23 councillors.

Election results

Fermanagh District Council Election Result 1997

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Ulster Unionist	9	0	1	1	39.1	40.4	11,642	0.9
	Sinn Féin	5	2	0	2	21.7	23.5	6,770	6.4
	SDLP	5	0	1	1	21.7	17.3	4,976	2.0
	Independent Nationalist	2	0	0	0	0.0	7.5	2,159	1.9
	DUP	2	0	0	0	8.7	7.4	2,123	2.1
	Independent Socialist	1	0	0	0	0.0	2.0	581	1.3
	NI Women's Coalition	0	0	0	0	0.0	1.1	319	New
	Alliance	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.9	254	0.9

Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes.

Districts summary

Results of the Fermanagh District Council election, 1997
by district

Ward	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	Total Cllrs
	UUP		Sinn Féin		SDLP		DUP		Others
Enniskillen	47.2	3	16.8	1	15.3	1	9.5	1	11.2	1	7
Erne East	36.3	2	32.8	2	15.3	1	4.5	0	11.1	1	6
Erne North	45.6	2	12.0	1	24.1	1	16.7	1	1.6	0	5
Erne West	32.9	2	30.2	1	15.8	1	0.0	0	21.1	1	5
Total	40.4	9	23.5	5	17.3	4	7.4	2	11.4	3	23

District results

Enniskillen

1993: 3 x UUP, 1 x Sinn Féin, 1 x SDLP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Independent Socialist
1997: 3 x UUP, 1 x Sinn Féin, 1 x SDLP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Independent Socialist
1993-1997 Change: No change

Enniskillen - 7 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	Ulster Unionist	Samuel Foster*	26.31%	2,055
	Sinn Féin	Gerry McHugh*	16.81%	1,313
	Ulster Unionist	Raymond Ferguson*	9.84%	769	1,325.4
	Ulster Unionist	Basil Johnston	8.77%	685	866.48	982.64
	SDLP	Eamon Flanagan*	11.87%	927	928.56	930.16	1,030.48
	Independent Socialist	Davy Kettyles*	7.44%	581	588.8	594.24	672.78	679.81	732.88	811.38	1,002.38
	DUP	Joseph Dodds*	7.44%	581	664.72	700.24	700.24	700.24	702.24	829.64	833.53
	Ulster Unionist	Ethel Gregg	2.24%	175	379.88	546.92	546.92	547.11	596.71	643.79	660.02
	SDLP	John Rooney	3.42%	267	267.52	267.84	381.69	420.64	438.34	514.05
	NI Women's Coalition	Margaret McCaffrey	1.83%	143	144.04	144.36	180	183.99	215.99
	DUP	Robert Irvine	2.05%	160	175.6	186.48	186.48	186.48	187.48
	Alliance	John Haslett	2.00%	156	164.32	166.88	170.18	170.94
Electorate: 12,960   Valid: 7,812 (60.28%)   Spoilt: 117   Quota: 977   Turnout: 7,929 (61.18%)

Erne East

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

Erne East - 6 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	Ulster Unionist	Harold Andrews	14.04%	1,149	1,150	1,281
	Sinn Féin	Brian McCaffrey	11.22%	918	944	946	1,385
	Sinn Féin	Ruth Lynch	13.11%	1,073	1,078	1,078	1,246
	SDLP	Fergus McQuillan*	10.96%	897	1,149	1,150	1,193
	Independent Nationalist	Tony McPhillips*	11.11%	909	961	963	1,000	1,137	1,137	1,194
	Ulster Unionist	Cecil Noble*	11.39%	932	932	1,071	1,071	1,071	1,104.3	1,104.3
	Ulster Unionist	Jean McVitty*	10.83%	886	888	962	963	964	1,042.3	1,043.3
	Sinn Féin	Hugh O'Reilly	8.48%	694	699	699
	DUP	Paul Robinson	4.51%	369	371
	SDLP	Marie O'Neill	4.34%	355
Electorate: 10,446   Valid: 8,182 (78.33%)   Spoilt: 141   Quota: 1,169   Turnout: 8,323 (79.68%)

Erne North

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

Erne North - 5 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4
	Ulster Unionist	Caldwell McClaughry*	16.46%	998	1,028
	SDLP	Tommy Gallagher*	15.39%	933	958	1,400
	DUP	Bert Johnston*	15.69%	951	1,001	1,001	1,002
	Sinn Féin	Geraldine Cassidy	12.04%	730	731	783	966
	Ulster Unionist	Bertie Kerr*	15.12%	917	937	939	959
	Ulster Unionist	Tom Elliott	13.99%	848	863	866	868
	SDLP	John Dolan	8.68%	526	537
	Alliance	Neville McElderry	1.62%	98
	DUP	Jean Jackson	1.02%	62
Electorate: 8,516   Valid: 6,063 (71.20%)   Spoilt: 98   Quota: 1,011   Turnout: 6,161 (72.35%)

Erne West

1993: 2 x UUP, 1 x Sinn Féin, 1 x SDLP, 1 x Independent Nationalist
1997: 2 x UUP, 1 x Sinn Féin, 1 x SDLP, 1 x Independent Nationalist
1993-1997 Change: No change

Erne West - 5 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	Ulster Unionist	Wilson Elliott*	23.88%	1,616
	Independent Nationalist	Patrick McCaffrey*	18.47%	1,250
	Sinn Féin	Robin Martin*	17.42%	1,179
	SDLP	Gerry Gallagher*	15.83%	1,071	1,077.6	1,183.6
	Ulster Unionist	Derrick Nixon*	9.04%	612	1,078.8	1,088.2	1,100.6	1,113.6
	Sinn Féin	Stephen Huggett	12.75%	863	863.9	892.2	996.8	1,025.8
	NI Women's Coalition	Imelda Maguire	2.60%	176	180.2
Electorate: 8,872   Valid: 6,767 (76.27%)   Spoilt: 149   Quota: 1,128   Turnout: 6,916 (77.95%)