Elections to Newtownabbey Borough Council were held on 20 May 1981 on the same day as the other Northern Irish local government elections. The election used four district electoral areas to elect a total of 21 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 !rowspan=2|TotalCllrs |- class="unsortable" align="center" !colspan=2 bgcolor="" | UUP !colspan=2 bgcolor="" | DUP !colspan=2 bgcolor="" | Alliance !colspan=2 bgcolor="white"| Others |- |align="left"|Area A |bgcolor="#40BFF5"|45.3 |bgcolor="#40BFF5"|2 |32.2 |2 |10.8 |0 |11.7 |1 |5 |- |align="left"|Area B |bgcolor="#40BFF5"|37.0 |bgcolor="#40BFF5"|2 |34.8 |1 |11.6 |1 |16.6 |1 |6 |- |align="left"|Area C |bgcolor="#40BFF5"|34.2 |bgcolor="#40BFF5"|2 |33.7 |1 |19.1 |1 |13.0 |0 |5 |- |align="left"|Area D |25.2 |2 |bgcolor="#D46A4C"|37.3 |bgcolor="#D46A4C"|1 |17.5 |1 |20.0 |1 |5 |- |- class="unsortable" class="sortbottom" style="background:#C9C9C9" |align="left"| Total |34.5 |9 |34.7 |5 |15.6 |3 |15.2 |4 |21
Districts results
Area A
1977: 3 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Alliance 1981: 2 x UUP, 2 x DUP, 1 x Independent Unionist 1977-1981 Change: DUP and Independent Unionist gain from UUP and Alliance
Area B
1977: 2 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Newtownabbey Labour, 1 x Loyalist 1981: 3 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Newtownabbey Labour 1977-1981 Change: Loyalist joins UUP
Area C
1977: 2 x Alliance, 1 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x UPNI 1981: 2 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Independent Unionist 1977-1981 Change: UUP and Independent Unionist gain from Alliance and UPNI
Area D
1977: 2 x Alliance, 2 x UUP, 1 x DUP 1981: 2 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Independent Unionist 1977-1981 Change: Independent Unionist gain from Alliance
References