Elections to Down District Council were held on 30 May 1973 on the same day as the other Northern Irish local government elections. The election used three district electoral areas to elect a total of 20 councillors.
|- class="unsortable" align="centre" !rowspan=2 align="left"|Ward ! % <br /> !Cllrs<br /> ! % <br /> !Cllrs<br /> ! %<br /> !Cllrs<br /> ! %<br /> !Cllrs<br /> ! %<br /> !Cllrs<br /> !rowspan=2|Total<br />Cllrs<br /> |- class="unsortable" align="center" !colspan=2 bgcolor="" | <span style="color:black;">UUP</span> !colspan=2 bgcolor="" | <span style="color:black;">SDLP</span> !colspan=2 bgcolor="" | <span style="color:black;">Alliance</span> !colspan=2 bgcolor="" | <span style="color:black;">Vanguard</span> !colspan=2 bgcolor="white"| <span style="black;">Others</span> |- |align="left"|Area A |bgcolor="40BFF5"|53.9 |bgcolor="40BFF5"|4 |19.8 |1 |11.5 |1 |12.8 |1 |2.0 |0 |7 |- |align="left"|Area B |23.7 |1 |bgcolor="#99FF66"|45.4 |bgcolor="#99FF66"|3 |15.4 |1 |0.0 |0 |15.5 |0 |6 |- |align="left"|Area C |36.3 |3 |bgcolor="#99FF66"|41.3 |bgcolor="#99FF66"|4 |10.4 |0 |0.0 |0 |12.0 |0 |7 |- class="unsortable" class="sortbottom" style="background:#C9C9C9" |align="left"| Total |38.6 |8 |35.0 |8 |12.3 |2 |4.5 |1 |9.6 |1 |20 |-
1973: 4 x UUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Vanguard
1973: 3 x SDLP, 1 x UUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Independent
1973: 4 x SDLP, 3 x UUP