Elections to Ards Borough Council were held on 21 May 1997 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
Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes.
Districts summary
|- class="unsortable" align="centre" !rowspan=2 align="left"|Ward ! % !Cllrs ! % !Cllrs ! % !Cllrs ! % !Cllrs ! % !Cllrs !rowspan=2|TotalCllrs |- class="unsortable" align="center" !colspan=2 bgcolor="" | UUP !colspan=2 bgcolor="" | DUP !colspan=2 bgcolor="" | Alliance !colspan=2 bgcolor="" | SDLP !colspan=2 bgcolor="white"| Others |- |align="left"|Ards East |bgcolor="40BFF5"|52.1 |bgcolor="40BFF5"|4 |23.0 |1 |15.3 |1 |0.0 |0 |9.6 |0 |6 |- |align="left"|Ards West |bgcolor="40BFF5"|56.1 |bgcolor="40BFF5"|3 |18.8 |1 |25.1 |2 |0.0 |0 |0.0 |0 |6 |- |align="left"|Newtownards |26.6 |2 |18.6 |1 |15.4 |1 |0.0 |0 |bgcolor="#0077FF"|39.4 |bgcolor="#0077FF"|2 |6 |- |align="left"|Peninsula |22.6 |1 |bgcolor="#D46A4C"|29.7 |bgcolor="#D46A4C"|2 |28.8 |1 |18.2 |1 |0.7 |0 |5 |- class="unsortable" class="sortbottom" style="background:#C9C9C9" |align="left"| Total |39.6 |10 |22.6 |5 |21.1 |5 |4.6 |1 |12.1 |0 |23
Districts results
Ards East
1993: 3 x UUP, 2 x DUP, 1 x Alliance 1997: 4 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Alliance 1993-1997 Change: UUP gain from DUP
Ards West
1993: 3 x UUP, 2 x Alliance, 1 x DUP 1997: 3 x UUP, 2 x Alliance, 1 x DUP 1993-1997 Change: No change
Newtownards
1993: 2 x UUP, 2 x DUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Independent Unionist 1997: 2 x DUP, 2 x Independent Unionist, 1 x DUP, 1 x Alliance 1993-1997 Change: Independent Unionist gain from DUP
Peninsula
1993: 2 x Alliance, 1 x DUP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Independent 1997: 2 x DUP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x SDLP 1997-2001 Change: DUP and SDLP gain from Alliance and Independent
References