1985 Down District Council election

Main article: Northern Ireland local elections, 1985

1985 Down District Council election

15 May 1985 (1985-05-15)
All 23 seats to Down District Council 12 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Party SDLP Ulster Unionist DUP Seats won 10 7 3 Seat change 1 2 0   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Party Sinn Féin Workers' Party Alliance Seats won 2 1 0 Seat change 2 0 1   Seventh party   Party Independent Labour Seats won 0 Seat change 1

Elections to Down District Council were held on 15 May 1985 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

Down District Council Election Result 1985

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	SDLP	10	1	0	1	43.5	41.6	9,851	0.5
	Ulster Unionist	7	2	0	2	30.4	30.3	7,167	3.0
	DUP	3	0	0	0	13.0	12.2	2,886	0.8
	Sinn Féin	2	2	0	2	0.0	6.5	1,549	New
	Workers' Party	1	0	0	0	4.3	4.2	993	2.3
	Alliance	0	0	1	1	0.0	5.2	1,237	3.2

Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes.

Districts summary

Results of the Down District Council election, 1985
by district

Ward	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	Total Cllrs
	SDLP		UUP		DUP		Sinn Féin		Workers Party		Others
Ballynahinch	40.5	2	33.3	2	18.9	1	0.0	0	0.0	0	7.3	0	5
Downpatrick	57.4	4	16.3	1	0.0	0	9.9	1	9.1	1	7.3	0	7
Newcastle	40.8	3	22.1	1	12.0	1	14.0	1	5.8	0	5.3	0	6
Rowallane	22.4	1	55.7	3	21.9	1	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	5
Total	41.6	10	30.3	7	12.2	3	6.5	1	4.2	1	5.2	0	23

District results

Ballynahinch

1985: 2 x SDLP, 2 x UUP, 1 x DUP

Ballynahinch - 5 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	SDLP	James Magee*	19.00%	1,020
	Ulster Unionist	William Brown*	18.70%	1,004
	DUP	Thomas Poole*	13.82%	742	742.24	971.24
	Ulster Unionist	James Cochrane	14.57%	782	782	822	928
	SDLP	Francis Laverty*	10.36%	556	630.52	630.64	788.12	879.32
	SDLP	Patrick Savage	11.10%	596	635	635	711.48	728.76
	Alliance	Patrick Forde*	7.38%	396	403.44	405.44
	DUP	Stanley Priestley	5.08%	273	273.12
Electorate: 7,947   Valid: 5,369 (67.56%)   Spoilt: 111   Quota: 895   Turnout: 5,480 (68.96%)

Downpatrick

1985: 4 x SDLP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Sinn Féin, 1 x Workers' Party

Downpatrick - 7 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
	SDLP	Eddie McGrady*	26.92%	1,886
	Ulster Unionist	Samuel McCartney	16.28%	1,141
	SDLP	Dermot Curran*	11.50%	806	963.68
	SDLP	Sean Quinn	8.26%	579	976.44
	SDLP	John Ritchie*	6.62%	464	686.48	692.72	696.34	755.7	797.94	803.1	1,008.1
	Sinn Féin	Geraldine Ritchie	9.90%	694	740.44	740.83	750.22	757.22	761.84	762.84	805.15	820.15
	Workers' Party	Raymond Blaney*	7.91%	554	616.1	625.85	685.18	693.86	700.46	710.85	763.26	797.26
	Alliance	Michael Healy	4.40%	308	324.74	406.64	410.89	412.71	414.69	702.8	748.39	782.39
	SDLP	Madge McAvoy	4.08%	286	375.1	377.83	382.91	403.77	434.13	443.45
	Alliance	Margaret Donnelly	2.95%	207	212.94	373.23	375.31	376.43	377.09
	Workers' Party	Alan McCullough	2.95%	82	89.56	93.07
Electorate: 10,997   Valid: 7,007 (63.72%)   Spoilt: 159   Quota: 876   Turnout: 7,166 (65.16%)

Newcastle

1985: 3 x SDLP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Sinn Féin, 1 x DUP

Newcastle - 6 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	Ulster Unionist	Gerald Douglas*	22.06%	1,350
	Sinn Féin	Hugh McDowell	13.97%	855
	DUP	Ethel Smyth*	11.99%	734	1,117.75
	SDLP	Eamon O'Neill*	13.51%	827	829.52	832.08	924.08
	SDLP	Michael Boyd	13.43%	822	825.24	827.16	890.16
	SDLP	James Curry*	7.25%	444	446.16	448.4	487.4	516.51	843.1
	Alliance	Anthony Dickinson	5.33%	326	396.92	625.36	672.04	677.01	690.15
	SDLP	Peter Fitzpatrick	6.62%	405	405.72	406.36	426.72	441.53
	Workers' Party	Edward O'Hagan	4.17%	255	257.52	259.76
	Workers' Party	Sean Magee	1.67%	102	103.44	103.76
Electorate: 8,978   Valid: 6,120 (68.17%)   Spoilt: 135   Quota: 875   Turnout: 6,255 (69.67%)

Rowallane

1985: 3 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x SDLP

Rowallane - 5 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	Ulster Unionist	Dermot Nesbitt*	22.75%	1,180
	Ulster Unionist	Samuel Osborne*	20.59%	1,068
	Ulster Unionist	William Biggerstaff	12.38%	642	877.44
	DUP	William Dick	14.42%	748	789.58	857.98	866.82
	SDLP	Margaret Ritchie	12.13%	629	636.29	639.41	639.67	1,146.67
	DUP	Trevor Lennon	7.50%	389	413.03	539.75	542.83	547.83
	SDLP	Oliver Flanagan	10.24%	531	532.62	535.98	536.14
Electorate: 7,860   Valid: 5,187 (65.99%)   Spoilt: 87   Quota: 865   Turnout: 5,274 (67.10%)