2007 Moray Council election

2007 Moray Council election

← 2003 3 May 2007 (2007-05-03) 2012 →
All 26 seats to The Moray Council 14 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party   Party Independent SNP Last election 16 seats, 49.3% 3 seats, 25.2% Seats won 12 9 Seat change 4 6 Popular vote 12,535 11,942 Percentage 36.9% 35.2% Swing 12.4% 10.0%   Third party Fourth party   Party Conservative Labour Last election 1 seat, 4.3% 5 seats, 12.7% Seats won 3 2 Seat change 2 3 Popular vote 5,374 2,945 Percentage 15.8% 8.7% Swing 11.5% 4.0%
Council Leader before election Gordon McDonald Independent Council Leader after election Gordon McDonald Independent

The 2007 Moray Council Council election was held on 3 May 2007, the same day as the Scottish Parliament election. The election was the first using the eight new wards created under the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004. 26 councillors were elected. Each ward elected either 3 or 4 members, using the STV electoral system. Previously there were single-member wards which used the first past the post electoral system.

The election resulted in a previously independent council becoming an independent/Conservative coalition, with a majority of four. The use of STV electoral system benefited the SNP and the Conservatives, with them gaining 6 and 2 seats respectively. It did not benefit Labour at all, which fell from second place in terms of seats to last. In addition, the Liberal Democrats lost their sole representative on the council

The previous election in 2003 were the last to use the first-past-the-post voting system. At that election, independent won 16 seats - more than all the other groups combined.

Source:^[1]

There were 3 by-elections in the 2003-07 term. One by-election was held in the Buckie West ward and was an Independent hold. The other two by-elections were held in the Speyside ward, one resulted in a SNP gain from Independent, and the other resulted in an Independent gain from SNP. As such the composition of the council did not change between 2003 and 2007.

Source:^[1]

2007 Moray Council election result

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Independent	12	-	-	4	46.2	36.9	12,535	12.4
	SNP	9	-	-	6	34.6	35.2	11,942	10.0
	Conservative	3	-	-	2	11.5	15.8	5,374	11.5
	Labour	2	-	-	3	7.7	8.7	2,945	4.0
	Liberal Democrats	0	-	-	1	0.0	1.7	587	6.2
	Scottish Senior Citizens	0	-	-		0.0	1.3	438	New
	UKIP	0	-	-		0.0	0.3	116	New
Total		26						33,938

Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes. The net gain/loss and percentage changes relate to the result of the previous Scottish local elections on 1 May 2003. This may differ from other published sources showing gain/loss relative to seats held at dissolution of Scotland's councils.

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As no single political grouping on the council had enough seats to form a majority administration, the independent and Conservative groupings together formed a coalition.

On 14 February 2008, a by-election was held in the Elgin City South ward after the death of independent councillor Alistair Bisset. It was won by the SNP candidate John Sharp.

Source:^[14]

On 11 November 2010, a by-election was held in the Forres ward after the retirement of Conservative councillor Iain Young. It was won by independent candidate Lorna Creswell.

Source:^[15]

• Election Results, Moray Council
• Election Results, BBC