Elections to Newry and Mourne District Council were held on 20 May 1981 on the same day as the other Northern Irish local government elections. The election used six district electoral areas to elect a total of 30 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="" | IIP !colspan=2 bgcolor="" | DUP !colspan=2 bgcolor="" | Anti H-Block !colspan=2 bgcolor="white"| Others |- |align="left"|Area A |31.9 |2 |bgcolor="40BFF5"|35.4 |bgcolor="40BFF5"|2 |0.0 |0 |23.1 |1 |0.0 |0 |9.6 |0 |5 |- |align="left"|Area B |bgcolor="#99FF66"|64.0 |bgcolor="#99FF66"|4 |8.9 |0 |8.5 |0 |2.8 |0 |0.0 |0 |15.8 |0 |4 |- |align="left"|Area C |bgcolor="#99FF66"|40.0 |bgcolor="#99FF66"|2 |26.0 |1 |0.0 |0 |22.2 |1 |0.0 |0 |11.8 |0 |4 |- |align="left"|Area D |bgcolor="#99FF66"|37.1 |bgcolor="#99FF66"|3 |19.1 |2 |25.8 |2 |3.9 |0 |0.0 |0 |14.1 |0 |7 |- |align="left"|Area E |bgcolor="#99FF66"|40.0 |bgcolor="#99FF66"|3 |7.6 |0 |7.6 |1 |3.7 |0 |30.1 |2 |11.0 |0 |6 |- |align="left"|Area F |bgcolor="#99FF66"|43.4 |bgcolor="#99FF66"|2 |16.2 |1 |21.6 |1 |5.6 |0 |0.0 |0 |13.2 |0 |6 |- class="unsortable" class="sortbottom" style="background:#C9C9C9" |align="left"| Total |41.7 |16 |18.7 |6 |11.4 |4 |9.5 |2 |6.1 |2 |12.6 |0 |30
Districts results
Area A
1977: 2 x UUP, 2 x SDLP, 1 x DUP 1981: 2 x UUP, 2 x SDLP, 1 x DUP 1977-1981 Change: No change
Area B
1977: 2 x SDLP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Independent Nationalist 1981: 4 x SDLP 1977-1981 Change: SDLP (two seats) gain from Alliance and Independent Nationalist
Area C
1977: 2 x SDLP, 2 x UUP 1981: 2 x SDLP, 1 x UUP, 1 x DUP 1977-1981 Change: DUP gain from UUP
Area D
1977: 3 x SDLP, 2 x UUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Independent Nationalist 1981: 3 x SDLP, 2 x UUP, 2 x IIP 1977-1981 Change: IIP gain from Alliance, Independent Nationalist joins IIP
Area E
1977: 4 x SDLP, 1 x Independent Nationalist, 1 x Independent Republican 1981: 3 x SDLP, 2 x Anti H-Block, 1 x IIP 1977-1981 Change: Anti H-Block (two seats) gain from SDLP and Independent Republican, Independent Nationalist joins IIP
Area F
1977: 2 x SDLP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Alliance 1981: 2 x SDLP, 1 x UUP, 1 x IIP 1977-1981 Change: IIP gain from Alliance
References