Elections to Armagh District 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 20 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="" | SDLP !colspan=2 bgcolor="" | DUP !colspan=2 bgcolor="" | UUUP !colspan=2 bgcolor="white"| Others |- |align="left"|Area A |bgcolor="40BFF5"|37.6 |bgcolor="40BFF5"|2 |33.3 |1 |27.2 |1 |1.8 |0 |0.0 |0 |4 |- |align="left"|Area B |bgcolor="40BFF5"|52.2 |bgcolor="40BFF5"|3 |16.2 |1 |22.5 |1 |9.2 |1 |0.0 |0 |6 |- |align="left"|Area C |25.3 |1 |bgcolor="#99FF66"|46.6 |bgcolor="#99FF66"|3 |12.6 |0 |0.0 |0 |15.5 |0 |5 |- |align="left"|Area D |32.3 |2 |bgcolor="#99FF66"|35.6 |bgcolor="#99FF66"|2 |11.7 |0 |0.0 |0 |20.4 |1 |5 |- class="unsortable" class="sortbottom" style="background:#C9C9C9" |align="left"| Total |38.7 |8 |30.8 |7 |18.5 |3 |3.6 |1 |8.4 |1 |20

Districts results

Area A

1977: 2 x UUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x DUP 1981: 2 x UUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x DUP 1977-1981 Change: No change

Area B

1977: 3 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x UUUP 1981: 3 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x UUUP 1977-1981 Change: No change

Area C

1977: 3 x SDLP, 2 x UUP 1981: 3 x SDLP, 1 x UUP, 1 x DUP 1977-1981 Change: DUP gain from UUP

Area D

1977: 2 x SDLP, 2 x UUP, 1 x Independent Nationalist 1981: 2 x SDLP, 2 x UUP, 1 x Independent Nationalist 1977-1981 Change: No change

References