1997 Omagh District Council election

Main article: Northern Ireland local elections, 1997

1997 Omagh District Council election

21 May 1997 (1997-05-21)
All 21 seats to Omagh District Council 11 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Party Sinn Féin SDLP Ulster Unionist Seats won 6 6 4 Seat change 0 1 0   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Party DUP Alliance Labour Coalition Seats won 3 1 1 Seat change 0 0 1   Seventh party Eighth party   Party Independent Labour Independent Nationalist Seats won 0 0 Seat change 1 1

Elections to Omagh 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 21 councillors.

Election results

Omagh District Council Election Result 1997

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Sinn Féin	6	0	0	0	28.6	31.4	7,024	7.1
	SDLP	6	1	0	1	28.6	23.2	5,183	1.3
	Ulster Unionist	4	0	0	0	19.0	18.9	4,223	1.1
	DUP	3	0	0	0	14.3	14.6	3,259	0.8
	Alliance	1	0	0	0	4.8	3.3	744	1.7
	Labour Coalition	1	1	0	1	4.8	3.2	711	New
	Independent Nationalist	0	0	1	1	0.0	2.5	554	0.7
	Workers' Party	0	0	0	0	0.0	2.0	457	0.1
	Democratic Left	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.7	148	0.8
	Ulster Independence	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.2	42	New

Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes.

Districts summary

Results of the Omagh District Council election, 1997
by district

Ward	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	Total Cllrs
	Sinn Féin		SDLP		UUP		DUP		Alliance		Labour		Others
Mid Tyrone	47.1	3	18.9	2	14.6	1	10.1	1	0.7	0	0.0	0	8.6	0	7
Omagh Town	20.0	1	26.9	2	16.2	1	20.3	1	7.2	1	8.8	1	0.6	0	7
West Tyrone	24.3	2	24.7	2	25.8	2	14.6	1	2.8	0	1.8	0	6.0	0	7
Total	31.4	6	23.2	6	18.9	4	14.6	3	3.3	1	3.2	1	5.4	0	21

District results

Mid Tyrone

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

Mid Tyrone - 7 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	Sinn Féin	Patrick McMahon*	16.77%	1,375
	Sinn Féin	Sean Clarke*	13.77%	1,129
	Ulster Unionist	Desmond Anderson*	12.51%	1,026
	Sinn Féin	Michael McAnespie	11.95%	980	1,148.48
	SDLP	Joe Byrne*	9.84%	807	811.68	813.77	817.01	835.01	857.46	868.46	1,092.46
	SDLP	Seamus Shields*	9.04%	741	761.02	764.63	765.89	772.89	838.67	843.67	994.57
	DUP	Drew Baxter*	6.62%	543	543	543	543	545	548	960	962.09
	Sinn Féin	Barney McAleer*	4.66%	382	525.52	629.07	713.76	714.03	724.53	726.05	874.16
	Independent Nationalist	Brian McGrath*	6.76%	554	561.54	568.19	575.21	578.3	599.82	605.82
	DUP	Jim Patterson	3.46%	284	284.26	284.26	284.26	284.26	285.26
	Ulster Unionist	John Anderson	2.12%	174	174.52	174.52	174.52	191.52	197.52
	Democratic Left	Patrick McClean	1.80%	148	150.86	151.81	152.08	158.08
	Alliance	Paul Gallagher	0.70%	57	57.26	57.26	57.62
Electorate: 10,661   Valid: 8,200 (76.92%)   Spoilt: 187   Quota: 1,026   Turnout: 8,387 (78.67%)

Omagh Town

1993: 2 x SDLP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Sinn Féin, 1 x UUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Labour Coalition
1997: 2 x SDLP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Sinn Féin, 1 x UUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Independent Labour
1993-1997 Change: Independent Labour joins Labour Coalition

Omagh Town - 7 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
	Sinn Féin	Francis Mackey*	16.85%	1,096
	SDLP	Patrick McGowan*	16.60%	1,080
	DUP	Oliver Gibson*	11.48%	747	747	747	889
	SDLP	Vincent Campbell	5.56%	362	365.64	450.64	450.64	450.64	729.92	846.38
	Labour Coalition	Johnny McLaughlin*	8.76%	570	583	606	611.25	611.25	676.3	805.92	825.6
	Ulster Unionist	Reuben McKelvey	8.72%	567	567	567.75	577.75	584.35	584.35	585.87	585.87	806.22	806.46
	Alliance	Ann Gormley*	7.24%	471	474.64	498.14	499.14	500.24	545.24	584.11	595.87	606.12	616.44
	Ulster Unionist	William Oldcroft	7.47%	486	486	486	498	506.25	507.25	508.25	508.97	609.82	610.3
	DUP	Harry Cairns	5.76%	375	375	375.25	434.25	492.55	492.8	493.8	493.8
	Sinn Féin	Patrick O'Hagan	3.14%	204	456.46	464.71	464.96	464.96	492.06
	SDLP	Stephen McKenna	4.75%	309	315.24	436.74	437.74	437.74
	DUP	Keith Mosgrove	3.01%	196	196	196
	Ulster Independence	Sandra Jones	0.65%	42	42	42.5
Electorate: 11,051   Valid: 6,505 (58.86%)   Spoilt: 180   Quota: 814   Turnout: 6,685 (60.49%)

West Tyrone

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

West Tyrone - 7 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
	Ulster Unionist	Arthur McFarland*	16.27%	1,243
	Sinn Féin	Kevin McGrade	14.46%	1,105
	Ulster Unionist	Allan Rainey*	9.52%	727	963.67
	DUP	Thomas Buchanan*	10.73%	820	843	843	843	849	891.84	1,144.84
	SDLP	Liam McQuaid*	10.51%	803	804.15	811.56	825.56	849.47	888.7	892.62	904.62	989.62
	Sinn Féin	Cathal Quinn	9.86%	753	753.46	875.27	883.27	899.66	913.66	913.66	914.66	978.66
	SDLP	Patrick McDonnell	8.57%	655	656.15	660.31	671.44	684.7	701.16	702.85	703.85	828.11
	SDLP	James Connolly	5.58%	426	426	428.08	429.08	460.08	510.83	513.42	519.42	555.01
	Workers' Party	Tommy Owens	5.07%	387	387.23	389.18	417.18	433.31	448.54	452	459
	DUP	Walter McFarland	3.85%	294	309.87	310	310	314.23	324.46
	Alliance	George Kerr	2.83%	216	219.68	220.07	221.2	231.43
	Labour Coalition	Amanda McLaughlin	1.85%	141	141.46	143.41	148.41
	Workers' Party	Tony Winters	0.92%	70	70	70.26
Electorate: 10,521   Valid: 7,640 (72.62%)   Spoilt: 208   Quota: 956   Turnout: 7,848 (74.59%)