Elections to Lisburn Borough Council were held on 20 May 1981 on the same day as the other Northern Irish local government elections. The election used five 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 ! % !Cllrs !rowspan=2|TotalCllrs |- class="unsortable" align="center" !colspan=2 bgcolor="" | DUP !colspan=2 bgcolor="" | UUP !colspan=2 bgcolor="" | Alliance !colspan=2 bgcolor="" | SDLP !colspan=2 bgcolor="" | UUUP !colspan=2 bgcolor="white"| Others |- |align="left"|Area A |30.2 |1 |bgcolor="40BFF5"|51.8 |bgcolor="40BFF5"|2 |0.0 |0 |18.0 |1 |0.0 |0 |0.0 |0 |4 |- |align="left"|Area B |bgcolor="#D46A4C"|43.7 |bgcolor="#D46A4C"|3 |39.7 |2 |10.6 |0 |0.0 |0 |0.0 |0 |6.0 |0 |5 |- |align="left"|Area C |bgcolor="#D46A4C"|54.3 |bgcolor="#D46A4C"|3 |20.6 |1 |11.9 |1 |0.0 |0 |5.9 |0 |7.3 |0 |5 |- |align="left"|Area D |bgcolor="#D46A4C"|49.6 |bgcolor="#D46A4C"|2 |27.3 |2 |18.5 |1 |0.0 |0 |1.8 |0 |2.8 |0 |5 |- |align="left"|Area E |bgcolor="#D46A4C"|30.0 |bgcolor="#D46A4C"|1 |28.7 |1 |15.3 |0 |15.9 |1 |1.6 |1 |8.5 |0 |4 |- |- class="unsortable" class="sortbottom" style="background:#C9C9C9" |align="left"| Total |42.7 |10 |32.2 |8 |12.2 |2 |5.9 |2 |2.0 |1 |5.0 |0 |23
Districts results
Area A
1977: 2 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x SDLP 1981: 2 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x SDLP 1977-1981 Change: No change
Area B
1977: 3 x UUP, 2 x DUP 1981: 3 x DUP, 2 x UUP 1977-1981 Change: DUP gain from UUP
Area C
1977: 2 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x UUUP 1981: 3 x DUP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Alliance 1977-1981 Change: DUP (two seats) gain from UUP and UUUP
Area D
1977: 2 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x UPNI 1981: 2 x DUP, 2 x UUP, 1 x Alliance 1977-1981 Change: DUP gain from UPNI
Area E
1977: 1 x Alliance, 1 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x SDLP 1981: 1 x DUP, 1 x UUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x UUUP 1977-1981 Change: UUUP gain from Alliance
References