In total 36 candidates endorsed by the H-Block committee were elected of whom 21 belonged to the Irish Independence Party.

[2] Following the end of the Hunger Strike, attention focused on attempts by the new Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Jim Prior, to restore devolution.

This forum, established in May 1983, reported in May 1984 and represented the combined efforts of the nationalist parties to obtain a solution to the constitutional issue.

[3] The entry into electoral politics of Sinn Féin (SF) became a significant issue in the run up to the elections.

In Dungannon and Fermanagh, independent councillors Seamus Cassidy and John Joe McCusker joined SF.

Prior's successor as Secretary of State, Douglas Hurd, refused to ban SF and also rejected calls by unionists for an anti-violence declaration to be signed by all candidates.

With the wards drawn the government decided that a new procedure would be used to group them together to form District Electoral Areas (DEA).

The debate over the Order in January and February 1984 centred on the merits of STV, the narrower number of councillors in each DEA and the names issue.