1997 Magherafelt District Council election

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^[1]
	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
UUP	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.

Results of the Magherafelt District Council election, 1997
by district^[1]
Ward	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	Total Cllrs
Ward	Sinn Féin		SDLP		DUP		UUP		Others		Total Cllrs
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

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^[2]
Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
Party		Candidate	FPv%	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
	UUP	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%)

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^[2]
Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
Party		Candidate	FPv%	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
	UUP	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
	UUP	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%)

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^[2]
Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
Party		Candidate	FPv%	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
	UUP	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%)