1985 Ards Borough Council election

Main article: Northern Ireland local elections, 1985

1985 Ards Borough Council election

15 May 1985 (1985-05-15)
All 20 seats to Ards Borough Council 11 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Party DUP Ulster Unionist Alliance Seats won 8 6 3 Seat change 1 3 0   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Party NI Labour UPUP Independent Seats won 1 1 1 Seat change 0 1 1   Seventh party   Party SDLP Seats won 0 Seat change 1

Elections to Ards Borough Council were held on 15 May 1985 on the same day as the other Northern Irish local government elections. The election used three district electoral areas to elect a total of 20 councillors.

Election results

Ards Borough Council Election Result 1985

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	DUP	8	1	0	1	40.0	39.3	8,069	2.2
	Ulster Unionist	6	3	0	3	30.0	30.5	6,257	8.8
	Alliance	3	0	0	0	15.0	12.4	2,537	0.1
	NI Labour	1	0	0	0	5.0	5.6	1,156	0.9
	UPUP	1	0	1	1	5.0	4.9	999	8.0
	Independent	1	1	0	1	5.0	4.1	851	0.7
	SDLP	0	0	1	1	0.0	2.2	448	2.1
	Labour Party NI	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.8	188	New
	Ulster Liberal	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.2	35	0.2

Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes.

Districts summary

Results of the Ards Borough Council election, 1985
by district

Ward	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	Total Cllrs
	DUP		UUP		Alliance		NILP		UPUP		Others
Ards Peninsula	31.3	2	27.7	2	10.1	1	0.0	0	13.7	1	17.2	1	7
Ards West	42.9	3	39.3	2	17.1	1	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.7	0	6
Newtownards	44.3	3	25.7	2	10.6	1	16.3	1	0.0	0	3.1	0	7
Total	39.3	8	30.5	6	12.4	3	5.6	1	4.9	1	7.3	1	20

District results

Ards Peninsula

1985: 2 x DUP, 2 x UUP, 1 x UPUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Independent

Ards Peninsula - 7 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	UPUP	Gladys McIntyre*	13.68%	999
	Ulster Unionist	Robert Ambrose*	11.46%	837	849.4	928.4
	Independent	Thomas Byers	11.07%	808	808.4	826.48	830.56	1,058.56
	Alliance	Kieran McCarthy	6.22%	454	455.76	466	667.92	816.92	944.92
	Ulster Unionist	John Shields	8.34%	609	625.16	641.28	668.24	669.32	669.32	1,036.32
	DUP	Jim Shannon	11.46%	837	844.36	858.32	863.64	863.64	863.64	899
	DUP	Oliver Johnston*	11.11%	811	819.8	822.2	823.36	827.36	828.36	867.12
	DUP	Joseph Thompson*	8.72%	637	642.68	649.68	651.76	651.84	651.84	672.24
	Ulster Unionist	John Scott*	5.70%	416	428.88	468.8	505.16	505.16	505.16
	SDLP	Patrick Doherty*	4.92%	359	359.24	415.24	419.32
	Alliance	James Muirhead	3.93%	287	292.04	298.44
	Ulster Unionist	Samuel McKeown	2.16%	158	165.12
	SDLP	Seamus O'Neill	1.22%	89	89.16
Electorate: 14,998   Valid: 7,301 (48.68%)   Spoilt: 220   Quota: 913   Turnout: 7,521 (50.15%)

Ards West

1985: 3 x DUP, 2 x UUP, 1 x Alliance

Ards West - 6 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	DUP	Thomas Gourley*	24.29%	1,493
	Ulster Unionist	Robert Gibson	24.13%	1,483
	DUP	John Hamilton*	9.58%	589	1,040.82
	Alliance	Jim McBriar*	13.00%	799	816.63	851.07	854.37	1,098.37
	Ulster Unionist	Stanley McCoy	10.27%	631	666.26	801.92	809.72	899.72
	DUP	Bobby McBride	9.08%	558	626.88	658.38	798.93	830.63	860.63
	Ulster Unionist	Trevor Hussey	2.80%	172	187.58	529.46	534.56	625.38	716.38
	Alliance	Alan McDowell	4.03%	248	249.23	257.63	257.78
	Ulster Unionist	Arthur Spence	2.13%	131	135.92	166.58	167.93
	Independent	Johnston Haire	0.70%	43	53.66	70.46	71.06
Electorate: 12,416   Valid: 6,147 (49.51%)   Spoilt: 143   Quota: 879   Turnout: 6,290 (50.66%)

Newtownards

1985: 3 x DUP, 2 x UUP, 1 x NILP, 1 x Alliance

Newtownards - 7 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
	DUP	Simpson Gibson*	22.50%	1,596
	NI Labour	Robert Gaw*	16.30%	1,156
	DUP	John Elliott*	14.47%	1,026
	Ulster Unionist	Thomas Benson	13.96%	990
	Alliance	Owen Dorrian*	7.74%	549	568.8	638.64	640.07	645.07	666.67	848.2	1,002.2
	Ulster Unionist	David Smyth	7.29%	517	552.1	595.06	597.79	613.79	641.15	656.35	665.87	678.87	922.87
	DUP	William Gilmore	3.41%	242	701.9	741.26	845.65	852.15	859.57	860.63	866.49	869.49	891.94
	DUP	Joseph Patterson	3.95%	280	425.35	443.83	458.39	460.79	467.97	470.45	472.65	473.65	489.95
	Ulster Unionist	David Jeffers	3.34%	237	263.1	301.5	307.48	369.38	412.86	420.88	427.76	443.76
	Labour Party NI	Hugh McMullan	2.65%	188	190.25	217.85	217.98	218.18	230.86	235.34
	Alliance	Laurence Thompson	2.82%	200	201.8	214.76	215.15	215.95	219.29
	Ulster Unionist	James McKernon	1.07%	76	84.1	89.38	90.94	95.24
	Ulster Liberal	Michael McGuigan	0.49%	35	36.35	40.43	40.43	40.83
Electorate: 15,487   Valid: 7,092 (45.79%)   Spoilt: 157   Quota: 887   Turnout: 7,249 (46.81%)