Elections to Down District Council were held on 20 May 1981 on the same day as the other Northern Irish local government elections. The election used three 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 ! % !Cllrs !rowspan=2|TotalCllrs |- class="unsortable" align="center" !colspan=2 bgcolor="" | SDLP !colspan=2 bgcolor="" | UUP !colspan=2 bgcolor="" | DUP !colspan=2 bgcolor="" | Alliance !colspan=2 bgcolor="" | Workers Party !colspan=2 bgcolor="white"| Others |- |align="left"|Area A |24.4 |2 |bgcolor="40BFF5"|43.0 |bgcolor="40BFF5"|3 |24.4 |2 |7.3 |0 |0.0 |0 |0.9 |0 |7 |- |align="left"|Area B |bgcolor="#99FF66"|50.5 |bgcolor="#99FF66"|3 |17.5 |1 |0.0 |0 |9.5 |0 |14.1 |1 |8.4 |1 |6 |- |align="left"|Area C |bgcolor="#99FF66"|51.2 |bgcolor="#99FF66"|4 |20.8 |1 |13.9 |1 |8.4 |1 |5.7 |0 |0.0 |0 |7 |- class="unsortable" class="sortbottom" style="background:#C9C9C9" |align="left"| Total |42.1 |9 |27.3 |5 |13.0 |3 |8.4 |1 |6.5 |1 |2.7 |1 |20
Districts results
Area A
1977: 4 x UUP, 2 x SDLP, 1 x Alliance 1981: 3 x UUP, 2 x SDLP, 2 x DUP 1977-1981 Change: DUP (two seats) gain from UUP and Alliance
Area B
1977: 4 x SDLP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Alliance 1981: 3 x SDLP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Republican Clubs, 1 x Independent Labour 1977-1981 Change: Republican Clubs and Independent Labour gain from SDLP and Alliance
Area C
1977: 4 x SDLP, 2 x UUP, 1 x Alliance 1981: 4 x SDLP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x DUP 1977-1981 Change: DUP gain from UUP
References