Elections to Belfast City Council were held on 21 May 1997 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.
Unionists lost overall control of Belfast City Council for the first time in its history, with Alliance holding the balance of power between unionists and nationalists. Alban Maginness from the SDLP became the first nationalist Lord Mayor.
<small>Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes.</small>
|- class="unsortable" align="centre" !rowspan=2 align="left"|Ward ! % <br /> !Cllrs<br /> ! %<br /> !Cllrs<br /> ! %<br /> !Cllrs<br /> ! %<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;">Sinn Féin</span> !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;">DUP</span> !colspan=2 bgcolor="" | <span style="color:black;">Alliance</span> !colspan=2 bgcolor="" | <span style="color:black;">PUP</span> !colspan=2 bgcolor="" | <span style="color:black;">UDP</span> !colspan=2 bgcolor="white"| <span style="black;">Others</span> |- |align="left"|Balmoral |0.0 |0 |bgcolor="40BFF5"|31.5 |bgcolor="40BFF5"|2 |26.1 |2 |13.9 |1 |17.0 |1 |3.5 |0 |4.6 |0 |3.4 |0 |6 |- |align="left"|Castle |11.4 |1 |bgcolor="40BFF5"|27.0 |bgcolor="40BFF5"|2 |20.9 |1 |24.6 |1 |11.9 |1 |0.0 |0 |1.8 |0 |2.4 |0 |6 |- |align="left"|Court |0.0 |0 |27.8 |2 |0.0 |0 |19.0 |1 |1.5 |0 |bgcolor="#2B45A2"|32.8 |bgcolor="#2B45A2"|1 |12.9 |1 |6.0 |0 |5 |- |align="left"|Laganbank |15.1 |1 |25.1 |2 |bgcolor="#99FF66"|27.4 |bgcolor="#99FF66"|2 |5.1 |0 |12.2 |1 |7.0 |0 |0.0 |0 |8.1 |0 |5 |- |align="left"|Lower Falls |bgcolor="#008800"|79.7 |bgcolor="#008800"|4 |0.0 |0 |16.2 |1 |0.0 |0 |0.4 |0 |0.0 |0 |0.0 |0 |3.7 |0 |5 |- |align="left"|Oldpark |bgcolor="#008800"|44.8 |bgcolor="#008800"|3 |16.3 |1 |16.3 |1 |4.7 |0 |1.2 |0 |11.2 |1 |3.0 |0 |2.5 |0 |6 |- |align="left"|Pottinger |8.6 |0 |bgcolor="40BFF5"|29.3 |bgcolor="40BFF5"|2 |2.7 |0 |26.5 |2 |7.7 |1 |20.9 |1 |1.5 |0 |2.8 |0 |6 |- |align="left"|Upper Falls |bgcolor="#008800"|68.1 |bgcolor="#008800"|4 |0.0 |0 |29.1 |1 |1.4 |0 |0.6 |0 |0.0 |0 |0.0 |0 |0.8 |0 |5 |- |align="left"|Victoria |0.0 |0 |bgcolor="40BFF5"|31.7 |bgcolor="40BFF5"|2 |0.0 |0 |31.0 |2 |31.2 |2 |0.0 |0 |0.0 |0 |5.9 |0 |7 |- class="unsortable" class="sortbottom" style="background:#C9C9C9" |align="left"| Total |27.6 |13 |20.1 |13 |15.6 |7 |12.1 |7 |9.2 |6 |9.2 |3 |2.4 |1 |3.8 |0 |51 |-
1993: 2 x UUP, 2 x DUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x Alliance<br /> 1997: 2 x UUP, 2 x SDLP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x DUP<br /> 1993-1997 Change: SDLP gain from DUP
1993: 2 x UUP, 2 SDLP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Independent Unionist <br /> 1997: 2 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Sinn Féin <br /> 1993-1997 Change: Alliance and Sinn Féin gain from UUP and SDLP, Independent Unionist joins UUP
1993: 2 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x PUP, 1 x Independent Unionist<br /> 1997: 2 x UUP, 1 x PUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x UDP<br /> 1993-1997 Change: UDP gain from Independent Unionist
1993: 2 x UUP, 2 x SDLP, 1 x Alliance <br /> 1997: 2 x UUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x Sinn Féin, 1 x Alliance <br /> 1993-1997 Change: Sinn Féin gain from SDLP
1993: 4 x Sinn Féin, 1 x SDLP<br /> 1997: 4 x Sinn Féin, 1 x SDLP<br /> 1993-1997 Change: No change
1993: 3 x Sinn Féin, 2 x UUP, 1 x SDLP<br /> 1997: 3 x Sinn Féin, 1 x SDLP, 1 x UUP, 1 x PUP<br /> 1993-1997 Change: PUP gain from UUP
1993: 3 x DUP, 2 x UUP, 1 x Alliance<br /> 1997: 2 x DUP, 2 x UUP, 1 x PUP, 1 x Alliance<br /> 1993-1997 Change: PUP gain from DUP
1993: 3 x Sinn Féin, 2 x SDLP<br /> 1997: 4 x Sinn Féin, 1 x SDLP<br /> 1993-1997 Change: Sinn Féin gain from SDLP
1993: 3 x UUP, 2 x Alliance, 2 x DUP<br /> 1997: 2 x UUP, 2 x Alliance, 2 x DUP, 1 x Independent Unionist<br /> 1993-1997 Change: Independent Unionist gain from UUP