Elections to Ballymoney Borough 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 16 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="" | DUP !colspan=2 bgcolor="" | UUP !colspan=2 bgcolor="" | SDLP !colspan=2 bgcolor="" | Alliance !colspan=2 bgcolor="white"| Others |- |align="left"|Area A |bgcolor="#D46A4C"|53.8 |bgcolor="#D46A4C"|2 |27.2 |1 |0.0 |0 |19.0 |1 |0.0 |0 |4 |- |align="left"|Area B |bgcolor="#D46A4C"|31.6 |bgcolor="#D46A4C"|3 |30.3 |2 |21.3 |2 |0.0 |0 |16.8 |1 |8 |- |align="left"|Area C |bgcolor="#D46A4C"|42.3 |bgcolor="#D46A4C"|2 |10.8 |0 |11.6 |0 |0.0 |0 |35.3 |2 |4 |- |- class="unsortable" class="sortbottom" style="background:#C9C9C9" |align="left"| Total |40.3 |7 |24.0 |3 |9.9 |2 |8.1 |1 |17.7 |3 |16
Districts results
Area A
1977: 2 x DUP, 2 x UUP 1981: 2 x DUP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Alliance 1977-1981 Change: Alliance gain from UUP
Area B
1977: 3 x UUP, 3 x SDLP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Independent 1981: 3 x DUP, 2 x UUP, 2 x SDLP, 1 x Independent 1977-1981 Change: DUP (two seats) gain from UUP and SDLP
Area C
1977: 2 x Independent, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Independent Unionist 1981: 2 x DUP, 2 x Independent 1977-1981 Change: DUP (two seats) gain from Alliance and Independent Unionist
References