2023 Ards and North Down Borough Council election

Main article: 2023 Northern Ireland local elections

The 2023 election to Ards and North Down Borough Council was held on 18 May 2023, alongside other local elections in Northern Ireland, two weeks after local elections in England.^[1] The Northern Ireland elections were delayed by 2 weeks to avoid overlapping with the coronation of King Charles III.^[2]

2023 Ards and North Down Borough Council election

← 2019 18 May 2023 2027 →
All 40 council seats 21 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Leader Jeffrey Donaldson Naomi Long Doug Beattie Party DUP Alliance UUP Seats before 14 10 8 Seats won 14 12 8 Seat change 0 2 0 Popular vote 16,522 15,137 9,393 Percentage 29.0% 26.6% 16.5% Swing 4.4% 4.4% 1.3%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   GPNI Leader Mal O'Hara Colum Eastwood Party Independent Green (NI) SDLP Seats before 3 3 1 Seats won 3 2 1 Seat change 0 1 0 Popular vote 6,351 3,381 2,115 Percentage 11.2% 5.9% 3.7% Swing 2.6% 4.3% 0.5%
Ards and North Down 2023 Council Election Results by DEA (Shaded by plurality of FPVs)
Council control before election No overall control Council control after election TBC

They returned 40 members to the council via Single Transferable Vote.

Background

Ards and North Down is the only council in Northern Ireland on which Sinn Féin have never won a seat.^[3]

Election results

2023 Ards and North Down Borough Council election result

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	DUP	14	1	1	0	35.00	29.02	16,522	4.36
	Alliance	12	3	1	2	30.00	26.59	15,137	4.36
	UUP	8	0	0	0	20.00	16.50	9,393	1.31
	Independent	3	1	1	0	7.50	11.16	6,351	2.55
	Green (NI)	2	0	1	1	5.00	5.94	3,381	4.23
	SDLP	1	0	0	0	2.50	3.72	2,115	0.49
	TUV	0	0	1	1	0.00	4.83	2,748	3.45
	Sinn Féin	0	0	0	0	0.00	1.66	945	1.13
	NI Conservatives	0	0	0	0	0.00	0.59	337	0.72
Total		40						56,929

Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes.

District summary

Results of the 2023 Ards and North Down Borough Council election by District Electoral Area

District Electoral Area (DEA)	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	Total cllrs
	DUP		Alliance		UUP		Green		SDLP		TUV		Sinn Féin		Independents and others
Ards Peninsula	44.71	3	13.78	1	8.05	1	1.62	0	13.93	1	6.45	0	10.29	0	1.18	0	6
Bangor Central	16.73	1 1	28.75	2 1	14.55	1	6.90	0 1	0.00	0	5.37	0	0.00	0	27.69	2 1	6
Bangor East and Donaghadee	23.39	2	23.90	2 1	34.18	2	4.18	0	0.00	0	0.00	0	0.00	0	14.35	0 1	6
Bangor West	25.72	2 1	30.09	1 1	13.33	1	11.33	1	4.57	0	5.09	0	0.00	0	9.87	0	5
Comber	38.48	2	28.83	2 1	19.31	1	2.72	0	0.0	0	5.61	0 1	0.00	0	5.00	0	5
Holywood and Clandeboye	19.81	1	41.03	2	12.80	1	14.67	1	6.97	0	4.71	0	0.00	0	0.00	0	5
Newtownards	32.38	3	23.51	2	13.54	1	2.43	0	0.00	0	6.44	0	0.00	0	21.70	1	7
Total	29.02	14	26.59	12 2	16.50	8	5.94	2 1	3.72	1	4.83	0 1	1.66	0	11.75	3	40

District results

Ards Peninsula

2019: 3 x DUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Alliance

2023: 3 x DUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Alliance

2019–2023 Change: No change

Ards Peninsula - 6 seats^[4]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	DUP	Robert Adair*	21.33%	1,959
	Alliance	Lorna McAlpine*	13.78%	1,266	1,273.92	1,383.92
	SDLP	Joe Boyle*	13.93%	1,279	1,288.24	1,308.57	1,314.57
	DUP	Nigel Edmund*	6.89%	633	996.99	1,003.32	1,174.22	1,675.22
	DUP	Davy Kerr	9.00%	827	990.68	1,014.99	1,165.61	1,314.61
	UUP	Pete Wray	8.05%	739	773.98	810.31	949.27	1,069.06
	Sinn Féin	Noel Sands	10.29%	945	946.65	963.65	964.65	965.65
	DUP	Eddie Thompson*	7.48%	687	720.00	725.33	852.62
	TUV	Tom Thompson	6.45%	592	616.09	628.09
	Green (NI)	Gilian McNaull	1.62%	149	149.99
	Independent	Boyd Ireland	1.18%	108	111.63
Electorate: 19,000   Valid: 9,184 (48.34%)   Spoilt: 111   Quota: 1,313   Turnout: 9,925 (52.24%)

Bangor Central

2019: 2 x DUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x UUP, 1 x Green, 1 x Independent

2023: 2 x Alliance, 2 x Independent, 1 x DUP, 1 x UUP

2019–2023 Change: Alliance and Independent gain from DUP and Green

Bangor Central - 6 seats^[4]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
	Alliance	Karen Douglas* †	16.31%	1,378
	Independent	Wesley Irvine*	16.20%	1,369
	DUP	Alistair Cathcart*	12.46%	1,053	1,053.84	1,061.84	1,091.36	1,107.68	1,397.68
	UUP	Craig Blaney*	10.85%	917	920.48	935.48	965.96	1,205.28	1,225.28
	Alliance	Chris McCracken	7.88%	666	699.24	705.36	707.16	718.76	719.88	722.76	1,154.88	1,436.88
	Independent	Ray McKimm* †	10.47%	885	891.48	906.48	933.84	958.52	962.36	975.8	1,003.44	1,218.44
	TUV	Peter Wilson	5.37%	454	454.36	463.48	492.88	505.36	552.2	712.52	713.52	729.52
	Green (NI)	Stephen Dunlop*	6.90%	583	598.84	600.84	605.4	615.88	622.48	631.12	666
	Alliance	Alex Harbinson	4.56%	385	485.92	492.04	494.44	503.92	504.16	507.04
	DUP	Dean McSorley	4.27%	361	361.12	366.12	381.84	388.16
	UUP	Rachel McCord	3.70%	313	315.76	328.76	341.12
	NI Conservatives	Tim Mullen	1.02%	86	86.36
Electorate: 19,376   Valid: 8,450 (43.61%)   Spoilt: 105   Quota: 1,208   Turnout: 8,555 (44.15%)

Bangor East and Donaghadee

2019: 2 x DUP, 2 x UUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Independent

2023: 2 x DUP, 2 x UUP, 2 x Alliance

2019–2023 Change: Alliance gain from Independent

Bangor East and Donaghadee - 6 seats^[4]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	UUP	Mark Brooks*	23.21%	1,972
	Alliance	Hannah Irwin*	17.01%	1,445
	DUP	James Cochrane	15.01%	1,275
	UUP	David Chambers*	10.97%	932	1,323.95
	Alliance	Gillian McCollum †	6.89%	585	630.63	839.59	864.14	1,110.04	1,128.24	1,208.73	1,208.85
	DUP	Janice MacArthur* †	8.38%	712	816.52	817.64	837.20	853.25	901.13	1,062.63	1,110.67
	Independent	Bill Keery*	7.54%	641	668.30	671.66	697.22	731.42	751.58	1,019.71	1,021.15
	Independent	Tom Smith*	5.41%	460	590.26	592.34	612.46	646.29	669.67
	Green (NI)	Ciara Henry	4.18%	355	394.30	408.25
	NI Conservatives	Paul Leeman	1.40%	119	132.65	133.13
Electorate: 18,066   Valid: 8,496 (47.03%)   Spoilt: 94   Quota: 1,214   Turnout: 8,590 (47.55%)

Bangor West

2019: 2 x Alliance, 1 x DUP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Green

2023: 2 x DUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x UUP, 1 x Green

2019–2023 Change: DUP gain from Alliance

Bangor West - 5 seats^[4]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
	Alliance	Christine Creighton †	18.06%	1,175
	DUP	Jennifer Gilmour*	15.88%	1,033	1,063	1,063.77	1,068.77	1,205.77
	UUP	Stephen Hollywood	13.33%	867	902	903.75	911.96	976.10	996.12	1,003.33	1,185.33
	DUP	Peter Martin †	9.84%	640	649	649.35	650.35	732.42	828.88	830.95	1,045.93	1,113.13
	Green (NI)	Barry McKee*	11.33%	737	752	758.23	880.63	884.77	884.77	913.47	978.61	1,002.97	1,019.77
	Alliance	Alison McWhinney	5.96%	388	392	440.02	548.91	551.91	551.91	961.60	997.02	1,005.42	1,008.78
	Independent	Susan Prentice	7.84%	510	522	522.77	529.77	585.77	589.41	598.48
	Alliance	Huw Stacy	6.07%	395	398	417.67	460.81	460.81	460.81
	TUV	John Gordon	5.09%	331	348	348.35	350.35
	SDLP	Tony McCann	4.57%	297	298	301.92
	NI Conservatives	Colin Breen	2.03%	132
Electorate: 14,486   Valid: 6,505 (44.91%)   Spoilt: 83   Quota: 1,085   Turnout: 6,588 (45.48%)

Comber

2019: 2 x DUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x UUP, 1 x TUV

2023: 2 x DUP, 2 x Alliance, 1 x UUP

2019–2023 Change: Alliance gain from TUV

Comber - 5 seats^[4]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	DUP	Libby Douglas [5]	20.60%	1,501
	UUP	Philip Smith*	19.31%	1,407
	DUP	Trevor Cummings*	17.88%	1,303
	Alliance	Patricia Morgan*	14.84%	1,081	1,087.38	1,127.54	1,204.6	1,219.6
	Alliance	Rachel Ashe	13.99%	1,019	1,032.64	1,074.72	1,160.8	1,215.2
	TUV	Sam Patterson	5.61%	409	595.56	651.24	677.36	922.12
	Independent	Stephen Cooper*	4.42%	322	374.14	399.58	452.36
	Green (NI)	Cory Quinn	2.72%	197	207.56	219.56
	Independent	John Sloan	0.58%	47	52.5	66.42
Electorate: 15,112   Valid: 7,286 (48.21%)   Spoilt: 95   Quota: 1,215   Turnout: 7,381 (48.84%)

Holywood and Clandeboye

2019: 2 x Alliance, 1 x DUP, 1 x Green, 1 x UUP

2023: 2 x Alliance, 1 x DUP, 1 x Green, 1 x UUP

2019–2023 Change: No change

Holywood and Clandeboye - 5 seats^[4]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	DUP	Alan Graham	14.39%	1,112	1,300
	UUP	Linzi McLaren	12.80%	989	1,056	1,344
	Alliance	Martin McRandal*	15.81%	1,222	1,226	1,237	1,385
	Green (NI)	Rachel Woods* †	14.67%	1,134	1,144	1,186	1,361
	Alliance	David Rossiter †	13.90%	1,074	1,076	1,083	1,179	1,256.39
	Alliance	Helen Corbett	11.32%	875	891	900	1,004	1,021.75
	SDLP	Déirdre Vaughan	6.97%	539	541	549
	DUP	Carl McClean*	5.42%	419	483
	TUV	Diane Adams	4.71%	364
Electorate: 15,973   Valid: 7,728 (48.38%)   Spoilt: 87   Quota: 1,289   Turnout: 7,815 (48.93%)

Newtownards

2019: 3 x DUP, 2 x Alliance, 1 x UUP, 1 x Independent

2023: 3 x DUP, 2 x Alliance, 1 x UUP, 1 x Independent

2019–2023 Change: No change

Newtownards - 7 seats^[4]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	Independent	Steven Irvine*	15.76%	1,463
	DUP	Naomi Armstrong*	14.75%	1,370
	UUP	Richard Smart*	13.54%	1,257
	Alliance	Alan McDowell*	13.31%	1,236
	DUP	Stephen McIlveen*	11.38%	1,057	1,111.78	1,154.98	1,161.98
	Alliance	Vicky Moore*	10.20%	947	959.32	961.42	1,126.21	1,159.33	1,230.97
	DUP	Colin Kennedy*	6.25%	580	628.4	764.75	768.49	797.83	798.25	801.43	981.25
	TUV	Eddie Allen	6.44%	598	670.16	681.26	686.68	700.36	700.72	702.4	872.68
	Independent	Ian Cox	5.68%	527	618.3	625.5	672.21	685.08	685.56	701.16
	Green (NI)	Maurice Macartney	2.43%	226	233.04	234.39
	Independent	Ben King	0.26%	24	36.54	36.84
Electorate: 21,723   Valid: 9,285 (42.74%)   Spoilt: 167   Quota: 1,161   Turnout: 9,452 (43.51%)

Changes during the term

† Co-options

Date co-opted	Electoral Area	Party		Outgoing	Co-optee	Reason
25 September 2023	Bangor Central		Alliance	Karen Douglas	Alex Harbinson	Douglas resigned.[6]
30 October 2023	Holywood and Clandeboye		Green (NI)	Rachel Woods	Lauren Kendall	Woods resigned.[7]
24 April 2024	Bangor East and Donaghadee		DUP	Janice MacArthur	Eddie Thompson	MacArthur resigned.[8]
31 July 2024	Bangor West		DUP	Peter Martin	Carl McClean	Martin was co-opted to the Northern Ireland Assembly.[9]
14 October 2024	Holywood and Clandeboye		Alliance	David Rossiter	Gillian McCollum	Rossiter resigned.[10]
15 October 2024	Bangor East and Donaghadee		Alliance	Gillian McCollum	John Hennessy	McCollum was co-opted to Holywood and Clandeboye.[11]
21 October 2024	Bangor West		Alliance	Christine Creighton	Naomi McBurney	Creighton resigned.[12]
3 June 2025	Bangor Central		Independent	Ray McKimm	Tom Brady	McKimm resigned.[13]

Notes