Elections for

local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of a higher-level political or administrative unit, such a ...

were held in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

on Thursday 5 May 2011, contesting 582 seats in all.

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

and

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth ...

citizens aged 18 or over on election day were entitled to vote. The deadline for voters to register to

vote Voting is the process of choosing officials or policies by casting a ballot, a document used by people to formally express their preferences. Republics and representative democracies are governments where the population chooses representative ...

in the elections was midnight on Thursday 14 April 2011. A total of 1,210,009 were eligible to vote, and 55.7% of the electorate turned out. All voters were required to present one piece of photographic ID in order to cast a vote at the polling station – accepted forms of ID are an electoral identity card, a photographic NI or GB driving licence, a European Union member-state passport, a Translink 60+ SmartPass, a Translink Senior SmartPass, a Translink Blind Person's SmartPass or a Translink War Disabled SmartPass. Voters who didn't have an accepted type of photographic ID had until Friday 22 April 2011 to apply for an electoral identity card from the Electoral Office. The elections were originally scheduled to take place in 2009. In 2008, Minister of the Environment

Arlene Foster Arlene Isobel Foster, Baroness Foster of Aghadrumsee (née Kelly; born 17 July 1970), is a British broadcaster and politician from Northern Ireland who is serving as Chair of Intertrade UK since September 2024. She previously served as First ...

requested that they be postponed until 2011 to allow the implementation of a proposed reform of local government in Northern Ireland, which would have reduced the number of local councils from 26 to 11. In February 2009, an order was made, postponing the election, and councillors' terms of office were extended until the fourth day after the election day in 2011. In June 2010, the proposed reforms were abandoned, and it was confirmed that the 2011 elections would be to the existing 26 councils.Local Elections in 2011 will be held to existing 26 Councils
",

Northern Ireland Office The Northern Ireland Office (NIO; , Ulster-Scots: ''Norlin Airlann Oaffis'') is a ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for handling Northern Ireland affairs. The NIO is led by the Secretary of S ...

There was also an election to the Northern Ireland Assembly and a referendum on voting reform on the same day. The reforms have since been adopted and the

2014 Northern Ireland local elections Local elections were held in Northern Ireland on Thursday 22 May 2014, contesting 462 seats in all, as part of the wider 2014 United Kingdom local elections, local elections across the United Kingdom. The election took place on the same day as t ...

were for the 11 new districts.

Results

By council

Councils

Antrim

Ards

Armagh

Ballymena

Ballymoney

Banbridge

Belfast

Carrickfergus

Castlereagh

Coleraine

Cookstown

Craigavon

Derry

Down

Dungannon and South Tyrone

Fermanagh

Larne

Limavady

Lisburn

Magherafelt

Moyle

Newry and Mourne

Newtownabbey

North Down

Omagh

Strabane

References

{{United Kingdom local elections, 2011

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...