Elections to

Belfast City Council Belfast City Council ( ga, Comhairle Cathrach Bhéal Feirste) is the local authority with responsibility for part of the city of Belfast, the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland. The Council serves an estimated population of (), the ...

were held on 30 May 1973 on the same day as the other Northern Irish local government

elections An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold Public administration, public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative ...

. The election used eight district electoral areas to elect a total of 51

councillors A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...

. The elections were the first following the reorganisation of local government in Northern Ireland, brought about by the

Local Government (Boundaries) Act (Northern Ireland) 1971 The Local Government (Boundaries) Act (Northern Ireland) 1971 was an Act of the Parliament of Northern Ireland, passed in 1971 to replace the previous system of local authorities established by the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898. The system ...

Local Government Act (Northern Ireland) 1972 The Local Government (Northern Ireland) Act 1972 (1972 c. 9) was an Act of the Parliament of Northern Ireland that constituted district councils to administer the twenty-six local government districts created by the Local Government (Boundaries ...

, which replaced the previous FPTP ward system with a new system of proportional representation using multi-member district electoral areas. The

Ulster Unionist Party The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland. The party was founded in 1905, emerging from the Irish Unionist Alliance in Ulster. Under Edward Carson, it led unionist opposition to the Irish Home Rule m ...

maintained its position as the largest party, winning just short of a majority, and William Christie continued as Lord Mayor.

Results by party

Districts summary

, - class="unsortable" align="centre" !rowspan=2 align="left", Ward ! %
!Cllrs
! %
!Cllrs
! %
!Cllrs
! %
!Cllrs
! %
!Cllrs
! %
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! %
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!rowspan=2, Total
Cllrs
, - class="unsortable" align="center" !colspan=2 bgcolor="" , UUP !colspan=2 bgcolor="" , Alliance !colspan=2 bgcolor="", SDLP !colspan=2 bgcolor="" , NILP !colspan=2 bgcolor="" , RC !colspan=2 bgcolor="" , DUP !colspan=2 bgcolor="white", Others , - , align="left", Area A , bgcolor="40BFF5", 55.4 , bgcolor="40BFF5", 4 , 10.6 , 1 , 5.2 , 0 , 6.1 , 1 , 0.0 , 0 , 8.2 , 0 , 14.5 , 1 , 7 , - , align="left", Area B , bgcolor="40BFF5", 62.3 , bgcolor="40BFF5", 5 , 19.6 , 1 , 0.0 , 0 , 5.4 , 0 , 0.0 , 0 , 0.0 , 0 , 12.7 , 0 , 7 , - , align="left", Area C , bgcolor="40BFF5", 54.7 , bgcolor="40BFF5", 4 , 22.8 , 2 , 4.5 , 0 , 4.7 , 0 , 2.4 , 0 , 0.0 , 0 , 10.9 , 0 , 6 , - , align="left", Area D , 7.0 , 0 , 19.3 , 1 , bgcolor="#99FF66", 44.5 , bgcolor="#99FF66", 4 , 4.0 , 0 , 18.2 , 1 , 0.0 , 0 , 7.0 , 0 , 6 , - , align="left", Area E , bgcolor="40BFF5", 39.9 , bgcolor="40BFF5", 1 , 7.4 , 1 , 7.3 , 0 , 10.2 , 1 , 0.0 , 0 , 13.5 , 1 , 21.7 , 2 , 6 , - , align="left", Area F , bgcolor="40BFF5", 49.2 , bgcolor="40BFF5", 3 , 3.8 , 0 , 18.7 , 1 , 2.5 , 0 , 16.1 , 1 , 7.5 , 1 , 2.2 , 0 , 6 , - , align="left", Area G , bgcolor="40BFF5", 56.6 , bgcolor="40BFF5", 3 , 3.3 , 1 , 16.5 , 1 , 3.9 , 0 , 4.8 , 0 , 0.0 , 0 , 14.9 , 0 , 6 , - , align="left", Area H , bgcolor="40BFF5", 62.0 , bgcolor="40BFF5", 5 , 15.9 , 1 , 14.8 , 1 , 4.7 , 0 , 0.0 , 0 , 0.0 , 0 , 2.6 , 0 , 7 , - , - class="unsortable" class="sortbottom" style="background:#C9C9C9" , align="left", Total , 50.7 , 25 , 13.4 , 8 , 11.4 , 7 , 5.5 , 2 , 4.0 , 2 , 2.3 , 2 , 12.7 , 5 , 51 , -

Districts results

Area A

1973: 4 x UUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Vanguard, 1 x NILP

Area B

1973: 5 x UUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x United Loyalist

Area C

1973: 4 x UUP, 2 x Alliance

Area D

1973: 4 x SDLP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Republican Clubs

Area E

1973: 1 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x NILP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x United Loyalist, 1 x Independent Unionist

Area F

1973: 3 x UUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Republican Clubs

Area G

1973: 3 x UUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Independent Unionist

Area H

1973: 5 x UUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x SDLP

References

{{1973 United Kingdom local elections

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: ...

1973 Northern Ireland local elections 20th century in Belfast