Elections
Councillors are elected for a four-year term of office under the single transferable vote (STV) system. Elections were last held in May 2011 and are due again in May 2015. In order to qualify for election, a councillor candidate must be:
- at least 18 years of age, and
- a British, Irish, Commonwealth or European Union citizen.
In addition, he or she must either:
- be a local elector for the district, or
- have, during the whole of the 12-month period prior to the election, either owned or occupied land in the district, or else resided or worked in the district.
The results of the last election, held on 5 May 2011, are summarised below.
| Party | Seats won | Change from 2005 |
First Pref. % | Change from 2005 |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic Unionist | 175 | -3 | 27.2% | -2.4% | |
| Sinn Féin | 138 | +9 | 24.8% | +1.5% | |
| Ulster Unionist | 99 | -16 | 15.2% | -2.7% | |
| SDLP | 87 | -14 | 15.0% | -2.4% | |
| Alliance | 44 | +14 | 7.4% | +2.5% | |
| Traditional Unionist Voice | 6 | +6 | 2.0% | +2.0% | |
| Green (NI) | 3 | — | 1.0% | +0.1% | |
| Progressive Unionist | 2 | — | 0.6% | -0.1% | |
| UKIP | 1 | +1 | 0.4% | +0.4% | |
| Other parties | 0 | -3 | 1.3% | -0.1% | |
| Independents | 27 | +6 | 5.1% | +1.6% | |
| TOTAL | 582 |
Read more about this topic: Local Government In Northern Ireland
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