Elections to Belfast City Council were held on 17 May 1989 on the same day as the other Northern Irish local government elections. The election used nine district electoral areas to elect a total of 51 councillors, most representing the more heavily populated north and west.
The UUP remained the largest party, and Reg Empey became the Lord Mayor.
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 ! % !Cllrs ! % !Cllrs !rowspan=2|TotalCllrs |- class="unsortable" align="center" !colspan=2 bgcolor="" | UUP !colspan=2 bgcolor="" | Sinn Féin !colspan=2 bgcolor=""| SDLP !colspan=2 bgcolor="" | DUP !colspan=2 bgcolor="" | Alliance !colspan=2 bgcolor="" | Workers' Party !colspan=2 bgcolor="" | PUP !colspan=2 bgcolor="white"| Others |- |align="left"|Balmoral |bgcolor="40BFF5"|34.9 |bgcolor="40BFF5"|2 |0.0 |0 |14.3 |1 |19.3 |1 |19.0 |1 |2.1 |0 |0.0 |0 |10.4 |0 |5 |- |align="left"|Castle |bgcolor="40BFF5"|24.6 |bgcolor="40BFF5"|1 |3.8 |0 |19.2 |1 |16.6 |1 |8.8 |1 |4.1 |0 |0.0 |0 |22.9 |2 |6 |- |align="left"|Court |19.8 |1 |2.3 |0 |0.0 |0 |15.8 |1 |0.0 |0 |3.5 |0 |24.2 |1 |bgcolor="#0077FF"|34.4 |bgcolor="#0077FF"|2 |6 |- |align="left"|Laganbank |bgcolor="40BFF5"|31.6 |bgcolor="40BFF5"|2 |7.7 |0 |20.8 |1 |12.0 |1 |19.0 |1 |4.9 |0 |0.0 |0 |4.0 |0 |5 |- |align="left"|Lower Falls |0.0 |0 |bgcolor="#008800"|61.0 |bgcolor="#008800"|3 |28.5 |2 |0.0 |0 |1.2 |0 |9.3 |0 |0.0 |0 |0.0 |0 |5 |- |align="left"|Oldpark |22.8 |2 |bgcolor="#008800"|37.8 |bgcolor="#008800"|3 |8.9 |0 |15.8 |1 |3.3 |0 |11.4 |1 |0.0 |0 |0.0 |0 |6 |- |align="left"|Pottinger |25.7 |2 |5.8 |0 |0.0 |0 |bgcolor="#D46A4C"|40.1 |bgcolor="#D46A4C"|2 |12.1 |1 |5.0 |0 |0.0 |0 |11.3 |1 |6 |- |align="left"|Upper Falls |0.0 |0 |bgcolor="#008800"|49.5 |bgcolor="#008800"|2 |41.9 |2 |2.2 |0 |2.6 |0 |3.1 |0 |0.0 |0 |0.7 |0 |5 |- |align="left"|Victoria |bgcolor="40BFF5"|39.5 |bgcolor="40BFF5"|3 |0.0 |0 |0.0 |0 |23.7 |2 |31.0 |2 |2.5 |0 |0.0 |0 |3.3 |0 |7 |- class="unsortable" class="sortbottom" style="background:#C9C9C9" |align="left"| Total |21.7 |14 |18.7 |8 |16.1 |8 |14.8 |8 |10.9 |6 |5.3 |1 |2.5 |1 |10.0 |5 |51
District results
Balmoral
1985: 2 x UUP, 2 x DUP, 1 x Alliance 1989: 2 x UUP, 2 x DUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x SDLP 1985-1989 Change: SDLP gain from DUP
Castle
1985: 2 x UUP, 1 SDLP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Independent Unionist 1989: 2 x Independent Unionist, 1 x UUP, 1 SDLP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Alliance 1985-1989 Change: Independent Unionist gain from UUP
Court
1985: 2 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x PUP, 1 x Protestant Unionist, 1 x Independent Unionist 1989: 2 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x PUP, 1 x Protestant Unionist, 1 x Independent Unionist 1985-1989 Change: No change
Laganbank
1985: 2 x UUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x DUP 1989: 2 x UUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x DUP 1985-1989 Change: No change
Lower Falls
1985: 3 x Sinn Féin, 1 x SDLP, 1 x Alliance 1989: 3 x Sinn Féin, 2 x SDLP 1985-1989 Change: SDLP gain from Alliance
Oldpark
1985: 2 x Sinn Féin, 1 x UUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Workers' Party 1989: 2 x Sinn Féin, 2 x UUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x Workers' Party 1985-1989 Change: UUP gain from DUP
Pottinger
1985: 3 x DUP, 2 x UUP, 1 x Alliance 1989: 2 x DUP, 2 x UUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 Independent Unionist 1985-1989 Change: Independent Unionist gain from DUP
Upper Falls
1985: 2 x Sinn Féin, 2 x SDLP, 1 x Alliance 1989: 3 x Sinn Féin, 2 x SDLP 1985-1989 Change: Sinn Féin gain from Alliance
Victoria
1985: 3 x UUP, 2 x Alliance, 2 x DUP 1989: 3 x UUP, 2 x Alliance, 2 x DUP 1985-1989 Change: No change
References