The 2023 election to Mid and East Antrim District Council was held on 18 May 2023, alongside other local elections in Northern Ireland, two weeks after local elections in England. The Northern Ireland elections were delayed by 2 weeks to avoid overlapping with the coronation of King Charles III.
They returned 40 members to the council via Single Transferable Vote.
Controversies
Tyler Hoey was selected as a DUP candidate to contest the 2023 Mid and East Antrim Council elections. In 2020, Hoey 'liked' a social media post commemorating the Greysteel massacre, which stated, "On this day 27 years ago, An Ulster Freedom Fighters Active Service Unit from North Antrim-Londonderry Brigade 'Trick or Treated' its way into the republican Rising Sun bar in Greysteel in order to gain revenge for the Shankill Bombing. Spirit of '93". Following this revelation, DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson said that Hoey "deeply regrets some of the things that he said in the past" and that he is "entitled to a second chance."
Election results
| colspan="2" style="background-color:#f2f2f2;text-align:center;margin-bottom:-1px;border:1px solid #aaa;padding:.2em .4em" | Total | style="text-align:right;" | 40
| style="text-align:right;" | 50,571 |<noinclude>
Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes.
Districts summary
|- class="unsortable" align="centre" !rowspan=2 align="left"|District Electoral Area (DEA) ! % !Cllrs ! % !Cllrs ! % !Cllrs ! % !Cllrs ! % !Cllrs ! % !Cllrs ! % !Cllrs !rowspan=2|Totalcllrs |- class="unsortable" align="center" !colspan=2 bgcolor="" | DUP !colspan=2 bgcolor="" | UUP !colspan=2 bgcolor="" | Alliance !colspan=2 bgcolor="" | TUV !colspan=2 bgcolor="" | Sinn Féin !colspan=2 bgcolor=""| SDLP !colspan=2 bgcolor="white"| Independents and others |- |align="left"|Ballymena |bgcolor="#D46A4C"|23.09 |bgcolor="#D46A4C"|2 |13.28 |1 1 |12.29 |1 |13.58 |1 |12.69 |1 1 |11.03 |0 1 |14.04 |1 1 |7 |- |align="left"|Bannside |23.85 |2 |10.74 |1 |8.75 |0 |bgcolor="#D1E5FA"|39.54 |bgcolor="#D1E5FA"|2 |14.72 |1 |2.40 |0 |0.0 |0 |6 |- |align="left"|Braid |bgcolor="#D46A4C"|35.31 |bgcolor="#D46A4C"|2 1 |18.68 |1 |10.74 |1 |21.51 |2 |13.76 |1 1 |0.0 |0 |0.0 |0 |7 |- |align="left"|Carrick Castle |bgcolor="#D46A4C"|39.22 |bgcolor="#D46A4C"|2 |23.30 |2 |25.70 |1 |6.99 |0 |0.0 |0 |0.0 |0 |4.79 |0 |5 |- |align="left"|Coast Road |bgcolor="#D46A4C"|32.65 |bgcolor="#D46A4C"|2 |13.3 |1 |26.23 |1 |5.79 |0 |20.08 |1 |0.0 |0 |1.95 |0 |5 |- |align="left"|Knockagh |bgcolor="#D46A4C"|31.99 |bgcolor="#D46A4C"|2 |19.04 |1 |25.53 |1 |5.37 |0 |0.0 |0 |0.0 |0 |18.07 |1 |5 |- |align="left"|Larne Lough |32.15 |2 |25.27 |1 |bgcolor="#F6CB2F"|32.56 |bgcolor="#F6CB2F"|2 |6.67 |0 |0.0 |0 |0.0 |0 |3.35 |0 |5 |- class="unsortable" class="sortbottom" style="background:#C9C9C9" |align="left"| Total |30.90 |14 1 |17.33 |8 1 |18.93 |7 |15.92 |5 |9.29 |4 2 |2.01 |0 1 |5.60 |2 1 |40
District results
Ballymena
2019: 2 x DUP, 2 x Independent, 1 x TUV, 1 x SDLP, 1 x Alliance
2023: 2 x DUP, 1 x TUV, 1 x UUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Independent
2019–2023 Change: Sinn Féin and UUP gain from SDLP and Independent
Bannside
2019: 2 x TUV, 2 x DUP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Sinn Féin
2023: 2 x TUV, 2 x DUP, 1 x Sinn Féin, 1 x UUP
2019–2023 Change: No change
Braid
2019: 3 x DUP, 2 x TUV, 1 x UUP, 1 x Alliance
2023: 2 x DUP, 2 x TUV, 1 x UUP, 1 x Sinn Féin, 1 x Alliance
2019–2023 Change: Sinn Féin gain from DUP
Carrick Castle
2019: 2 x DUP, 2 x UUP, 1 x Alliance
2023: 2 x DUP, 2 x UUP, 1 x Alliance
2019–2023 Change: No change
Coast Road
2019: 2 x DUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Sinn Féin, 1 x UUP
2023: 2 x DUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Sinn Féin, 1 x UUP
2019–2023 Change: No change
Knockagh
2019: 2 x DUP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Independent
2023: 2 x DUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x UUP, 1 x Independent
2019–2023 Change: No change
Larne Lough
2019: 2 x DUP, 2 x Alliance, 1 x UUP
2023: 2 x Alliance, 2 x DUP, 1 x UUP
2019–2023 Change: No change
Changes during the term † Co-options Date co-optedElectoral AreaPartyOutgoingCo-opteeReason8 September 2023Ballymena John HylandJack GibsonHyland resigned.3 October 2023Carrick Castle Cheryl BrownleeDavid ClarkeBrownlee was co-opted to the Northern Ireland Assembly.23 July 2024Bannside Timothy GastonAnna HenryGaston was co-opted to the Northern Ireland Assembly.13 August 2024Ballymena Colin CrawfordBrian ThompsonCrawford was co-opted to the Northern Ireland Assembly.17 April 2025Braid Beth AdgerRuth LawrenceAdger died.
‡ Changes in affiliation DateElectoral AreaNamePrevious affiliationNew affiliationCircumstance19 January 2024Carrick CastleDavid Clarke Left the DUP following claims of bullying.15 March 2024Carrick CastleDavid Clarke Joined the TUV.18 August 2025BallymenaLawrie Philpott Left the DUP, wanting to focus more on local needs than party politics.
Notes
References