1997 Strabane District Council election

Main article: Northern Ireland local elections, 1997

1997 Strabane District Council election

21 May 1997 (1997-05-21)
All 16 seats to Strabane District Council 9 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Party Social Democratic and Labour Sinn Féin Ulster Unionist Seats won 5 4 3 Seat change 0 2 1   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Party Democratic Unionist Independent Nationalist Ind. Unionist Seats won 3 1 0 Seat change 0 0 1

Elections to Strabane 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

Strabane District Council Election Result 1997

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Social Democratic and Labour	5	0	0	0	31.3	22.9	4,406	4.4
	Sinn Féin	4	2	0	2	25.0	33.1	6,364	12.0
	Ulster Unionist	3	1	2	1	18.8	23.6	4,547	3.7
	Democratic Unionist	3	0	0	0	18.8	14.7	2,821	5.2
	Independent Nationalist	1	0	0	0	6.3	4.8	915	0.5
	Alliance	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.9	182	1.3

Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes.

Districts summary

Results of the Strabane District Council election, 1997
by district

Ward	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	Total Cllrs
	SDLP		Sinn Féin		UUP		DUP		Others
Derg	17.2	1	32.1	1	33.8	2	16.9	1	0.0	0	5
Glenelly	19.5	1	19.3	1	27.7	1	30.1	2	3.4	0	5
Mourne	30.6	3	45.3	2	11.6	0	0.0	0	12.5	1	6
Total	22.9	5	33.1	4	23.6	3	14.7	3	5.7	1	16

District results

Derg

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

Derg - 5 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	Sinn Féin	Charles McHugh*	23.32%	1,440
	Ulster Unionist	Derek Hussey*	20.19%	1,247
	Ulster Unionist	Edward Turner*	13.57%	838	838.58	988.35	1,047.73
	Democratic Unionist	Thomas Kerrigan*	9.65%	596	596.29	647.8	1,034.7
	Social Democratic and Labour	Tomás Murtagh	8.91%	550	583.06	584.08	584.08	1,022.08
	Sinn Féin	Sean Elliott	8.82%	545	886.62	886.79	887.96	944.53
	Social Democratic and Labour	Bernadette McNamee	8.31%	513	543.16	543.84	544.84
	Democratic Unionist	Sarah Anderson	7.24%	447	447.29	454.94
Electorate: 8,241   Valid: 6,176 (74.94%)   Spoilt: 128   Quota: 1,030   Turnout: 6,304 (76.50%)

Glenelly

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

Glenelly - 5 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	Social Democratic and Labour	Tom McBride	19.53%	1,155
	Sinn Féin	Martin Conway	19.34%	1,144
	Democratic Unionist	Allan Bresland*	18.61%	1,101
	Ulster Unionist	James Emery*	13.84%	1,021
	Democratic Unionist	John Donnell*	11.45%	677	677.42	680.72	781.82	805.61	822.73
	Ulster Unionist	Wilfred Sinclair	10.41%	616	616.63	617.95	624.75	633.8	708.62
	Alliance	Elizabeth McCaffrey	1.47%	87	196.62	281.76	281.76	350.45
	Independent Nationalist	John Gallagher*	1.93%	114	166.92	230.61	231.91
Electorate: 7,727   Valid: 5,915 (76.55%)   Spoilt: 99   Quota: 986   Turnout: 6,014 (77.83%)

Mourne

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

Mourne - 6 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	Sinn Féin	Ivan Barr*	27.42%	1,959
	Sinn Féin	Jarlath McNulty	17.86%	1,276
	Social Democratic and Labour	Thomas Mullen	15.73%	1,124
	Independent Nationalist	James O'Kane*	11.21%	801	1,224.28
	Social Democratic and Labour	Eugene McMenamin	10.58%	756	1,091.96
	Social Democratic and Labour	Ann Bell*	4.31%	308	471.54	701.94	740.82	940.57	1,039.9
	Ulster Unionist	John Cummings*	11.55%	825	830.92	842.12	878.86	882.26	882.81
	Alliance	Marie Wallace	1.33%	95	98.7	109.1
Electorate: 10,298   Valid: 7,144 (69.37%)   Spoilt: 125   Quota: 1,021   Turnout: 7,269 (70.59%)