1997 Magherafelt District Council election

Main article: Northern Ireland local elections, 1997

1997 Magherafelt District Council election

21 May 1997 (1997-05-21)
All 16 seats to Magherafelt District Council 9 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Party Sinn Féin SDLP Ulster Unionist Seats won 5 5 3 Seat change 1 0 0   Fourth party   Party DUP Seats won 3 Seat change 1

Elections to Magherafelt District Council were held on 21 May 1997 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

Magherafelt District Council Election Result 1997

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Sinn Féin	5	1	0	1	31.3	36.5	7,309	13.0
	SDLP	5	0	0	0	31.3	22.6	4,528	10.3
	DUP	3	0	1	1	18.8	20.6	4,628	2.6
	Ulster Unionist	3	0	0	0	18.8	14.3	2,870	6.0
	Ind. Unionist	0	0	0	0	0.0	1.2	250	1.2
	Workers' Party	0	0	0	0	0.0	1.0	193	0.9
	Independent Labour	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.4	73	0.4
	Green (NI)	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.1	12	0.1

Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes.

Districts summary

Results of the Magherafelt District Council election, 1997
by district

Ward	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	Total Cllrs
	Sinn Féin		SDLP		DUP		UUP		Others
Magherafelt Town	24.9	1	23.2	2	39.0	2	11.4	1	1.5	0	6
Moyola	34.1	2	19.2	1	22.0	1	19.9	1	4.8	0	5
Sperrin	51.0	2	25.3	2	9.9	0	12.1	1	1.7	0	5
Total	36.5	5	22.6	5	20.6	3	14.3	3	6.0	0	16

District results

Magherafelt Town

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

Magherafelt Town - 6 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4
	DUP	William McCrea*	37.50%	2,675
	Sinn Féin	Seamus O'Brien	24.91%	1,777
	SDLP	Patrick Kilpatrick*	16.11%	1,149
	DUP	Paul McLean*	1.50%	107	1,551.6
	SDLP	Joseph McBride*	7.00%	499	499.62	1,184.76
	Ulster Unionist	George Shiels	11.44%	816	1,007.58	1,008.15	1,514.25
	Independent Labour	Harry Hutchinson	1.02%	73	78.58	101.95	114.25
	Workers' Party	Marian Donnelly	0.52%	37	38.24	80.42	81.92
Electorate: 10,104   Valid: 7,133 (70.60%)   Spoilt: 89   Quota: 1,019   Turnout: 7,222 (71.48%)

Moyola

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

Moyola - 5 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	Sinn Féin	Margaret McKenna*	18.91%	1,180
	Sinn Féin	Paul Henry	15.21%	949	1,067.25
	Ulster Unionist	John Junkin*	14.13%	882	882	922	922	1,231
	DUP	Thomas Catherwood*	13.28%	829	829.11	913.11	913.11	980.11	1,106.4
	SDLP	Patrick McErlean*	11.65%	727	733.49	753.49	771.73	771.73	774.65	774.65	1,218.65
	DUP	Thomas Wilson*	8.67%	541	541	592	592	641	699.4	762.88	763.88
	SDLP	Francis Kearney	7.50%	468	470.2	477.42	485.28	485.28	487.47	488.39
	Ulster Unionist	Norman Montgomery	5.80%	362	362	431	431
	Ind. Unionist	James Mulholland	4.01%	250	250
	Workers' Party	Patrick Scullion	0.85%	53	53.66
Electorate: 8,175   Valid: 6,241 (76.34%)   Spoilt: 135   Quota: 1,041   Turnout: 6,376 (77.99%)

Sperrin

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

Sperrin - 5 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	Sinn Féin	Patrick Groogan*	27.00%	1,801
	Sinn Féin	John Kelly	24.01%	1,602
	SDLP	Kathleen Lagan*	17.54%	1,170
	SDLP	Francis McKendry	7.72%	515	1,059.62	1,416.32
	Ulster Unionist	Robert Montgomery*	12.14%	810	810	810	810.87	851.45
	DUP	Rodney Mitchell	9.86%	658	658	658	658.87	701.41
	Workers' Party	Francis Donnelly	1.54%	103	218.71	328.33	444.04
	Green (NI)	Judith Stephens	0.18%	12	34.62	53.76	72.9
Electorate: 8,541   Valid: 6,671 (78.11%)   Spoilt: 102   Quota: 1,112   Turnout: 6,773 (79.30%)