The
2012 Scottish local elections
were held on 3 May 2012 in all 32
local authorities
. The
Scottish National Party
(SNP) overtook
Labour
to win the highest share of the vote, and retained and strengthened its position as the party with most councillors. Labour also made gains, while the
Liberal Democrats
experienced meltdown, losing over half their seats and falling behind the
Conservatives
. For the first time since the introduction of the
Single Transferable Vote
system, the SNP won majority control of 2 councils, from
no overall control
. Labour also won majority control of 2 councils from no overall control, while retaining majority control over 2 councils.
Independent councillors
retained majority control over the 3 island councils. The 23 other councils remained under no overall control.
Background
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The election was due to be held on 5 May 2011, but
Scottish Ministers
heeded the advice of the Gould Report and split the
Holyrood
and local elections - in order to avoid a repeat of the
2007 fiasco
. These local elections were the second since the
Single Transferable Vote
(STV) was first introduced for the 2007 local government elections. This election was the first since the
SNP
won a majority in the Scottish Parliament. They were also the first local elections in Scotland since
1995
not to take place at the same time as a Scottish parliamentary election.
New eCounting system
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In October 2010 a new company -
Logica
was awarded the contract for the vote counting system for the 2012 council elections, and since January 2011 testing has been under way to sort out many issues. On the 5 August 2011, A Dummy election was set up in Perth to test out new "eCounting" system, as part of robust test, in which 160,000 ballot papers run through the machine. This forms third stage of rigorous testing of the system in partition of these elections.
[2]
Party performance
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Both the SNP and
Labour
performed well, increasing both share of the vote and their numbers of councillors. The SNP gained control of two councils from
No Overall Control
:
Angus
and
Dundee
. Labour gained majority control over two councils,
Renfrewshire
and
West Dunbartonshire
, also from No Overall Control, and held on to their overall majority in both
Glasgow
and
North Lanarkshire
councils. The
Conservatives
lost significant ground, but did gain a seat in
Argyll & Bute
and managed to come third.
The
Liberal Democrats
continued to experience a political meltdown following on from the previous year's
Scottish elections
, losing 57% of their councillors. In the Edinburgh ward of
Pentland Hills
, Mike 'Professor Pongoo' Ferrigan, who dressed as a penguin to council meetings, received 444 first-preference votes, 74 more than the Liberal Democrat candidate, Stuart Bridges, and 122 more than the
Green Party
candidate.
[3]
In Edinburgh, where the Liberal Democrats had previously been in a ruling coalition with the SNP, they lost 13 of their 16 seats. In the Fife Council ward of
Buckhaven, Methil and Wemyss Villages
, the party's candidate, Lois Lothian, received just 21 votes.
The Greens boosted their councillor numbers from 8 to 14, including doubling their representation in
Edinburgh
(where they topped the poll in two wards for the first time) and electing councillors for the first time to
Stirling
,
Midlothian
and
Aberdeenshire
local authorities (note: Cllr Martin Ford, re-elected in 2012 as a Green, won in 2007 as a Liberal Democrat).
The
Scottish Socialist Party
held its sole seat, that of
Jim Bollan
in
West Dunbartonshire
. Meanwhile, the
UK Independence Party
lost its sole councillor in Scotland on Fife Council.
Independent councillors
retained majority control over the three island councils (
Na h-Eileanan Siar
,
Orkney
and
Shetland
).
Aftermath
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Talks took place to decide who would control of the 23 remaining councils
[4]
This resulted in Labour taking control of Fife, East and West Lothian, Inverclyde and South Lanarkshire and forming a grand coalition with the SNP in the City of Edinburgh and an anti-Conservative alliance in East Renfrewshire.
The SNP took control of Clackmannanshire, North Ayrshire and Perth and Kinross and became the largest party in controlling coalitions in Argyll and Bute, Highland, Midlothian, Scottish Borders and East Ayrshire. They also joined the Scottish Conservatives in a coalition arrangement in Dumfries and Galloway.
Results
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Results to follow:
Summary of the 3 May 2012
Scottish council
election results
[5]
Party
|
First-preference votes
|
Seats won
|
#
|
%
|
Swing
(
pp
)
|
#
|
Net Gain
|
%
|
|
SNP
|
503,233
|
32.33
|
+4.48
|
425
|
+62
|
34.75
|
|
Labour
|
488,703
|
31.39
|
+3.26
|
394
|
+46
|
32.22
|
|
Conservative
|
206,599
|
13.27
|
?2.35
|
115
|
?28
|
9.40
|
|
Independents
|
183,329
|
11.78
|
+1.27
|
196
|
+12
|
16.03
|
|
Liberal Democrats
|
103,087
|
6.62
|
?6.05
|
71
|
?95
|
5.81
|
|
Green
|
36,000
|
2.31
|
+0.11
|
14
|
+6
|
1.14
|
|
UKIP
|
4,289
|
0.28
|
+0.22
|
0
|
±0
|
0.00
|
|
Scottish Socialist
|
4,183
|
0.27
|
?0.61
|
1
|
±0
|
0.08
|
|
Borders Party
|
3,755
|
0.24
|
+0.12
|
2
|
±0
|
0.16
|
|
Action to Save St John's Hospital
|
3,474
|
0.22
|
+0.03
|
0
|
?3
|
0.00
|
|
East Dunbartonshire Independent Alliance
|
2,973
|
0.19
|
?0.09
|
2
|
±0
|
0.16
|
|
Glasgow First
|
2,547
|
0.16
|
+0.16
|
1
|
+1
|
0.08
|
|
TUSC
|
2,485
|
0.16
|
+0.16
|
0
|
±0
|
0.00
|
|
Christian Party
|
2,344
|
0.15
|
+0.12
|
0
|
±0
|
0.00
|
|
All Scotland Pensioners Party
|
2,328
|
0.15
|
+0.08
|
0
|
±0
|
0.00
|
|
Cumbernauld Independent Alliance
|
1,894
|
0.12
|
+0.02
|
1
|
±0
|
0.08
|
|
Unionist
|
864
|
0.06
|
?0.09
|
0
|
±0
|
0.00
|
|
Perth Independent Candidates
|
805
|
0.05
|
+0.05
|
1
|
+1
|
0.08
|
|
Solidarity
|
787
|
0.05
|
?0.81
|
0
|
?1
|
0.00
|
|
Socialist Labour Party
|
714
|
0.05
|
+0.03
|
0
|
±0
|
0.00
|
|
East Kilbride Alliance
|
681
|
0.04
|
?0.03
|
0
|
±0
|
0.00
|
|
Liberal
|
595
|
0.04
|
?0.02
|
0
|
±0
|
0.00
|
|
National Front
|
369
|
0.02
|
+0.02
|
0
|
±0
|
0.00
|
|
Pirate Party
|
292
|
0.02
|
+0.02
|
0
|
±0
|
0.00
|
|
Christian Peoples Alliance
|
209
|
0.01
|
+0.01
|
0
|
±0
|
0.00
|
|
Communist Party of Britain
|
94
|
<0.01
|
+0.01
|
0
|
±0
|
0.00
|
|
Britannica
|
73
|
<0.01
|
|
0
|
±0
|
0.00
|
|
Official Monster Raving Loony Party
|
67
|
<0.01
|
|
0
|
±0
|
0.00
|
Total
|
1,556,773
|
100.00
|
±0.00
|
1,223
|
+1
|
100.00
|
Note: The net gain/loss and percentage change in number of votes relates to the result of the previous
Scottish local elections
on 3 May 2007. This differs from the table in the reference above
[6]
which shows gain/loss relative to seats held at dissolution of Scotland's councils.
Analysis
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Candidates elected on first preferences, by party (2012)
Party
|
Total elected
|
Elected on 1st prefs
|
Total
|
%
|
% (2007)
|
|
Conservative
|
115
|
46
|
40.0
|
40.6
|
|
Labour
|
394
|
199
|
50.5
|
37.4
|
|
Liberal Democrats
|
71
|
20
|
28.2
|
21.7
|
|
SNP
|
425
|
185
|
43.5
|
56.5
|
|
Scottish Green
|
14
|
1
|
7.1
|
–
|
|
Independent
|
200
|
79
|
39.5
|
31.6
|
|
Other
|
4
|
2
|
50.0
|
14.3
|
Totals
|
1,223
|
532
|
43.5
|
39.7
|
Average first terminal transfer rates (2012)
[a]
Transferred from
|
% non-transferable
|
% transferred to
|
Con
|
Lab
|
LD
|
SNP
|
Ind/Other
|
|
Conservative
|
33.6
|
–
|
8.0
|
32.4
|
8.3
|
17.6
|
|
Labour
|
47.8
|
5.8
|
–
|
13.2
|
16.5
|
16.7
|
|
Liberal Democrats
|
23.1
|
21.8
|
20.4
|
–
|
15.5
|
19.3
|
|
SNP
|
44.2
|
6.0
|
18.1
|
14.1
|
–
|
17.8
|
|
Scottish Green
|
20.4
|
5.1
|
19.2
|
19.9
|
18.3
|
17.0
|
Councils
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Name of party shows the largest group within each council. However, the party names in brackets identify members of a coalition leading the council. In some cases, the largest party is shown, but is not in charge of the council.
Further reading
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Complete results and vote data files for all wards in Scotland, with figures illustrating the count process, are available at
Scottish Council election May 2012
Notes
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- ^
the first terminal transfer of a major party candidate in a ward, where all of the other parties still had a candidate in the count
References
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