Aberdeenshire East (Scottish Parliament constituency)

Not to be confused with East Aberdeenshire (UK Parliament constituency).

Aberdeenshire East (Gaelic: Siorrachd Obar Dheathain an Ear) is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood) covering part of the council area of Aberdeenshire. It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the first past the post method of election. It is also one of ten constituencies in the North East Scotland electoral region, which elects seven additional members, in addition to the ten constituency MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.

Aberdeenshire East
County constituency for the Scottish Parliament
Aberdeenshire East shown within the North East Scotland electoral region and the region shown within Scotland
Population	80,855 (2019)[1]
Current constituency
Created	2011
Party	Scottish National Party
MSP	Gillian Martin
Council area	Aberdeenshire
Created from	Banff and Buchan, Gordon

The seat was created for the 2011 election, and largely consists of areas that were in the former constituency of Gordon. It has been held by Gillian Martin of the Scottish National Party since the 2016 Scottish Parliament election.

Electoral region

See also: North East Scotland (Scottish Parliament electoral region)

The other nine constituencies of the North East Scotland region are: Aberdeen Central, Aberdeen Donside, Aberdeen South and North Kincardine, Aberdeenshire West, Angus North and Mearns, Angus South, Banffshire and Buchan Coast, Dundee City East and Dundee City West.

The region covers all of the Aberdeen City council area, Aberdeenshire, Angus, the Dundee City council area and part of Moray.

Constituency boundaries and council area

Outline of the constituency

Aberdeenshire is represented by four constituencies in the Scottish Parliament: Aberdeenshire East, Aberdeenshire West, Angus North and Mearns and Banffshire and Buchan Coast.

The electoral wards used in the creation of Aberdeenshire East are:

• In full: Central Buchan, Turriff and District, Mid-Formartine, Ellon and District, Inverurie and District
• In part: Peterhead South and Cruden (shared with Banffshire and Buchan Coast), East Garioch (shared with Aberdeenshire West)

It was created for the 2011 election, mostly replacing Gordon.

Member of the Scottish Parliament

First contested in the 2011 election, the seat was won by Alex Salmond, who was then First Minister, and had previously held the Gordon seat, from which Aberdeenshire East was largely formed. Salmond had also previously been MSP for Banff and Buchan from 1999 until resigning in 2001, as well as representing the Westminster seat of Banff and Buchan from 1987 until retiring from the British Parliament in 2010.

Election		Member	Party
	2011	Alex Salmond	SNP
	2016	Gillian Martin

Election results

Aberdeenshire East election results 1999-2021

2020s

2021 Scottish Parliament election: Aberdeenshire East^[2][3]

Party		Candidate	Constituency			Regional
			Votes	%	±%	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Gillian Martin[a]	18,307	44.6	1.2	14,873	36.1	7.4
	Conservative	Stewart Whyte	16,418	40.0	11.0	15,112	36.7	6.0
	Liberal Democrats	Conrad Wood	3,396	8.3	10.7	3,007	7.3	4.4
	Labour	Graeme Downie	2,900	7.1	0.9	3,092	7.3	1.1
	Scottish Green					2,326	5.7	1.6
	Alba					1,235	3.0	New
	Scottish Family					301	0.7	New
	All for Unity					284	0.7	New
	Independent Green Voice					218	0.5	New
	Abolish the Scottish Parliament					151	0.4	New
	Reform UK					103	0.3	New
	Freedom Alliance (UK)					101	0.3	New
	Scottish Libertarian					75	0.2	0.1
	Restore Scotland					70	0.2	New
	UKIP					52	0.1	1.9
	Independent	Laura Marshall				45	0.1	New
	Independent	Geoffrey Farquharson				18	0.0	New
	Renew					9	0.0	New
Majority			1,889	4.6	12.2
Valid Votes			41,021			41,072
Invalid Votes			134			103
Turnout			41,155	64.3	9.8	41,175	64.3	8.7
	SNP hold		Swing		6.1
Notes Incumbent member for this constituency

This was the largest Conservative vote share increase at the 2021 Scottish Parliament election.

2010s

2016 Scottish Parliament election: Aberdeenshire East^[4]

Party		Candidate	Constituency			Regional
			Votes	%	±%	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Gillian Martin	15,912	45.8	18.7	15,204	43.6	15.1
	Conservative	Colin Clark	10,075	29.0	15.1	10,706	30.7	16.7
	Liberal Democrats	Christine Jardine	6,611	19.0	5.0	4,079	11.7	1.2
	Labour	Sarah Flavell	2,155	6.2	1.4	2,244	6.4	0.9
	Scottish Green					1,410	4.0	0.5
	UKIP					720	2.1	1.2
	Scottish Christian					214	0.6	0.0
	Scottish Libertarian					84	0.2	New
	National Front					65	0.2	0.0
	Communist					58	0.2	New
	Solidarity					58	0.2	0.1
	RISE					39	0.1	New
Majority			5837	16.8	33.7
Valid Votes			34,753			34,881
Invalid Votes			107			39
Turnout			34,860	55.5	2.8	34,920	55.6	2.9
	SNP hold		Swing		16.9

2011 Scottish Parliament election: Aberdeenshire East^[5][6]

Party		Candidate	Constituency			Region
			Votes	%	±%	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Alex Salmond[a]	19,533	64.5	N/A	17,795	58.7	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	Alison McInnes[a]	4,238	14.0	N/A	3,169	10.5	N/A
	Conservative	Geordie Stuart	4,211	13.9	N/A	4,225	14.0	N/A
	Labour	Peter Smyth	2,304	7.6	N/A	2,209	7.3	N/A
	Scottish Green					1,374	4.5	N/A
	All-Scotland Pensioners Party					407	1.3	N/A
	Scottish Christian					192	0.6	N/A
	UKIP					263	0.8	N/A
	Socialist Labour					101	0.3	N/A
	BNP					235	0.8	N/A
	Scottish Socialist					84	0.3	N/A
	National Front					62	0.2	N/A
	Solidarity					12	0.0	N/A
	Angus Independents					5	0.0	N/A
	Independent	John Cox				124	0.4	N/A
	Independent	David Henderson				28	0.1	N/A
	Independent	Andrew McBride				12	0.0	N/A
Majority			15,295	50.5	N/A
Valid Votes			30,286			30,297
Invalid Votes			81			77
Turnout			30,367	52.7	N/A	30,374	52.7	N/A
	SNP win (new seat)
Notes Incumbent member on the party list, or for another constituency