2007 Moray Council election

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.

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 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

Background

Previous election

Further information: 2003 Moray Council election

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.

2003 Moray Council election results

Party	Seats	Vote share
Independent	16	49.3%
Labour	5	12.7%
SNP	3	25.2%
Liberal Democrats	1	7.9%
Conservative	1	4.3%

Source:^[1]

Composition

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.

Composition of Moray Council

Party	2003 election	Dissolution
Independent	16	16
Labour	5	5
SNP	3	3
Liberal Democrats	1	1
Conservative	1	1

Source:^[1]

Results

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.

Source:^[2][3][4][5]

Ward results

Speyside Glenlivet

Speyside Glenlivet - 3 Seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	SNP	Pearl Paul	29.2	1,107
	SNP	Mike McConnachie	23.2	881	974
	Conservative	Gordon Henderson	17.3	658	665	668	711	801
	Independent	Fiona Murdoch	15.1	571	583	589	617	862	1,259
	Independent	Adrina Taylor	12.2	462	477	480	493
	UKIP	Matthew Desmond	3.1	116	118	120
Valid: 3,795   Spoilt: 90   Quota: 949   Turnout: 55.7%

Source:^[6]

Keith and Cullen

Keith and Cullen - 3 Seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	SNP	Gary Coull	36.9	1,555
	Independent	Ron Shepherd	19.6	827	882	945	1,022	1,243
	Independent	Stewart Cree	16.6	698	809	847	955	1,293
	Independent	Percy Watt	13.8	582	657	701	786
	Liberal Democrats	Peter Matheson	7.1	300	366	411
	Conservative	Olive Starsmore	6.1	256	269
Valid: 4,218   Spoilt: 55   Quota: 1,055   Turnout: 53.8%

Source:^[7]

Buckie

Buckie - 3 Seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	SNP	Gordon McDonald	32.4	1,188
	Independent	Anne McKay	19.3	708	755	829	969
	Independent	Joe Mackay	19.0	698	755	790	902	927
	Labour	John Leslie	13.8	507	551	573	622	631
	Conservative	Ian Moir	10.8	397	413	436
	Independent	Bruce Smith	4.6	169	187
Valid: 3,667   Spoilt: 66   Quota: 917   Turnout: 50.4%

Source:^[8]

Fochabers Lhanbryde

Fochabers Lhanbryde - 3 Seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
	SNP	Anita McDonald	28.9	1,159
	Conservative	Douglas Ross	18.1	727	738	742	751	795	847	926	929	1,101
	Independent	George McIntyre	15.1	608	623	630	640	675	826	1,017
	Labour	Lans Bangura	11.0	440	459	460	470	539	586	638	640
	Independent	Eddie Coutts	9.3	374	381	388	396	428	476
	Independent	Paul McBain	8.3	333	347	352	364	416
	Liberal Democrats	Peter Horton	7.2	287	310	314	319
	Independent	Gordon Davidson	1.4	56	61	67
	Independent	Alan Bodman	0.8	32	34
Valid: 4,016   Spoilt: 45   Quota: 1,005   Turnout: 53.1%

Source:^[9]

Heldon & Laich

Heldon & Laich - 4 Seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
	SNP	David Stewart	21.0	1,646
	Independent	Eric McGillivray	15.3	813	886	905	945	957	1,002	1,062
	Independent	John Hogg	14.0	744	781	787	797	810	844	941	952	1,099
	Conservative	Allan Wright	11.4	606	634	640	645	653	671	726	730	799
	Independent	Chris Tuke	10.0	531	564	594	607	615	635	677	688
	Independent	Harry Halkett	6.7	354	399	401	418	502	621
	Independent	Eric Paton	4.8	254	311	315	326	366
	Independent	Des Donaldson	2.9	155	196	203	215
	Independent	Martyn Harris	2.2	114	126	141
	Independent	Neil Hutchinson	1.7	92	104
Valid: 5,309   Spoilt: 81   Quota: 1,062   Turnout: 54.4%

Source:^[10]

Elgin City North

Elgin City North - 3 Seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4
	SNP	Mike Shand	41.3	1,500
	Labour	Barry Jarvis	23.9	866	1,005
	Independent	John Russell	18.5	671	837	876	1,349
	Conservative	Frank Brown	16.3	592	648	666
Valid: 3,629   Spoilt: 46   Quota: 908   Turnout: 45.8%

Source:^[11]

Elgin City South

Elgin City South - 3 Seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2
	SNP	Graham Leadbitter	33.2	1,304
	Labour	John Divers	28.8	1,132
	Independent	Alistair Bisset	23.0	904	1,019
	Conservative	Dennis Thompson	15.1	592	656
Valid: 3,932   Spoilt: 50   Quota: 984   Turnout: 50.7%

Source:^[12]

Forres

Forres - 4 Seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	SNP	Irene Ogilvie	29.8	1,602
	Conservative	Iain Young	28.8	1,546
	Independent	Jeff Hamilton	13.3	716	789	880	992	1,122
	Independent	Lee Bell	9.0	482	540	610	672	831	849	1,160
	Scottish Senior Citizens	Thomas Anderson	8.2	438	549	615	653	719	726
	Independent	Pat Carroll	6.1	326	368	413	492
	Independent	Rick Walker	4.9	261	294	356
Valid: 5,371   Spoilt: 129   Quota: 1,075   Turnout: 51.1%

Source:^[13]

Aftermath

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.

Elgin City South by-election

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.

Elgin City South by-election (14 February 2008) - 1 seat

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
	SNP	John Alexander Sharp	32.10	670	670	672	672	679	685	706	763	884
	Independent	Hamish Simpson	24.3	513	513	518	523	527	540	612	722	845
	Labour	Mark Cascarino	17.0	358	358	361	363	370	380	403	459
	Independent	James Scott Allan	10.6	223	224	227	229	233	240	278
	Conservative	Frank Brown	9.8	206	206	206	208	216	223
	Liberal Democrats	Peter J Horton	2.3	48	48	49	50	53
	Scottish Senior Citizens	Andy Anderson	1.5	32	32	32	37
	UKIP	Matthew Coughlan Desmond	1.0	20	20	20
	Independent	Martyn Harris	0.8	16	16
	Independent	Gordon Davidson	0.1	1
Electorate: 7,886   Valid: 2,087   Spoilt: 25   Quota: 1,044   Turnout: 2,112

Source:^[14]

Forres by-election

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.

Forres by-election (11 November 2010) - 1 seat

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	SNP	Aaron John McLean	24.1	773	774	789	800	837	899	950	1,045
	Independent	Lorna Creswell	17.5	562	576	615	686	726	878	999	1,399
	Independent	Anne Audrey Skene	14.4	463	464	491	541	572	695	860
	Conservative	Paul McBain	14.4	463	464	476	486	491	511
	Scottish Green	Fabio Villani	12.5	401	405	419	433	459
	Labour	Mark Cascarino	6.1	195	195	201	205
	Independent	Janet Kennedy	6.0	192	194	201
	Scottish Senior Citizens	Andy Anderson	4.1	132	135
	Independent	Jane Elizabeth Cotton	0.9	30
Electorate: 11,224   Valid: 3,210   Spoilt: 23   Quota: 1,606   Turnout: 28.8%

Source:^[15]