1981 Larne Borough Council election

Elections to Larne 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 15 councillors.

Election results
Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes.

Districts summary
!rowspan=2 align="left"|Ward ! %
 * - class="unsortable" align="centre"

!Cllrs

! %

!Cllrs

! %

!Cllrs

! %

!Cllrs

!rowspan=2|Total Cllrs

!colspan=2 bgcolor="" | DUP !colspan=2 bgcolor="" | UUP !colspan=2 bgcolor="" | Alliance !colspan=2 bgcolor="white"| Others
 * - class="unsortable" align="center"
 * align="left"|Area A
 * bgcolor="D46A4C"|30.8
 * bgcolor="D46A4C"|1
 * 27.7
 * 1
 * 14.5
 * 1
 * 27.0
 * 1
 * 4
 * align="left"|Area B
 * bgcolor="D46A4C"|44.6
 * bgcolor="D46A4C"|2
 * 16.7
 * 1
 * 8.6
 * 0
 * 30.1
 * 1
 * 4
 * align="left"|Area C
 * bgcolor="D46A4C"|37.2
 * bgcolor="D46A4C"|3
 * 26.0
 * 2
 * 23.4
 * 2
 * 13.4
 * 0
 * 7
 * - class="unsortable" class="sortbottom" style="background:#C9C9C9"
 * align="left"| Total
 * 37.2
 * 6
 * 24.2
 * 4
 * 17.4
 * 3
 * 21.2
 * 2
 * 15
 * }
 * 21.2
 * 2
 * 15
 * }
 * }

Area A
1977: 1 x DUP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Independent Nationalist

1981: 2 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x SDLP

1977-1981 Change: Independent Nationalist gain from SDLP

Area B
1977: 1 x DUP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Vanguard

1981: 2 x DUP, 1 x UUP, 1 x United Loyalist

1977-1981 Change: DUP and United Loyalist gain from Alliance and Vanguard

Area C
1977: 2 x Alliance, 2 x Vanguard, 2 x Independent, 1 x DUP

1981: 3 x DUP, 2 x UUP, 2 x Alliance

1977-1981 Change: DUP (two seats) and UUP (two seats) gain from Vanguard (two seats) and Independent (two seats)