Elections to the Moray Council were held on 3 May 2012, the same day as the other 31 local authorities in Scotland. The election used the eight wards created under the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004 , with 26 councillors being elected. Each ward elected either 3 or 4 members, using the STV electoral system .
The election saw the Scottish National Party increase their representation by 1 seat, equalling the seat numbers of the Independents who lost 2 seats, while becoming the largest party on the Council in terms of vote share. The Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party retained their 3 seats while the Scottish Labour Party gained an additional seat.
Following the election a coalition was formed between the Independents and the Conservatives which was a continuance of the arrangement from 2007 to 2012.
Election summary [ edit ] 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 3 May 2007. This may differ from other published sources showing gain/loss relative to seats held at dissolution of Scotland's councils.
Ward results [ edit ] Speyside Glenlivet [ edit ] 2007: 2xSNP; 1xIndependent 2012: 2xSNP; 1xIndependent 2007-2012 Change: No change Speyside Glenlivet – 3 seats Party Candidate FPv% Count 1 2 3 Independent Fiona Murdoch (incumbent ) 27.59% 771 SNP Pearl Paul (incumbent ) 27.17% 759 SNP Mike McConnachie (incumbent) 22.87% 639 656.6 705.6 Conservative David Gambles 13.46% 376 393.2 395 UKIP Matthew Desmond 5.73% 160 168 170.1 UKIP Don Gatt 3.19% 89 96.1 97.9 Electorate: 7,059 Valid: 2,794 Spoilt: 40 Quota: 699 Turnout: 2,834 (39.58%)
Keith and Cullen [ edit ] 2007: 2xIndependent; 1xSNP 2012: 2xIndependent; 1xSNP 2007-2012 Change: No change Keith and Cullen – 3 seats Party Candidate FPv% Count 1 2 3 4 5 SNP Gary Coull (incumbent) 42.45% 1,319 Independent Ron Shepherd (incumbent) 22.59% 702 750.5 866.7 Independent Stewart Cree (incumbent) 15.25% 474 591.5 706.1 752.5 964.8 Conservative Valery Dickson 10.04% 312 336.2 SNP Hazel Thain 9.66% 300 615.2 633.5 650.6 Electorate: 7,810 Valid: 3,107 Spoilt: 33 Quota: 777 Turnout: 3,140 (39.78%)
2007: 2xIndependent; 1xSNP 2012: 2xIndependent; 1xSNP 2007-2012 Change: No change Buckie – 3 seats Party Candidate FPv% Count 1 2 3 4 SNP Gordon McDonald (incumbent) 38.37% 967 Independent Anne McKay (incumbent) †† 25.71% 648 Independent Joe Mackay (incumbent) †††† 22.10% 557 596.9 607.2 728.6 Conservative Margaret Gambles 7.1% 179 183.2 184.9 SNP Linda Scobie McDonald 6.71% 169 449.1 451.7 457.5 Electorate: 7,336 Valid: 2,520 Spoilt: 39 Quota: 631 Turnout: 2,559 (34.35%)
Fochabers Lhanbryde [ edit ] 2007: 1xSNP; 1xCon; 1xIndependent 2012: 1xCon; 1xSNP; 1xLab 2007-2012 Change: Lab gain one seat from Independent Fochabers Lhanbryde – 3 seats Party Candidate FPv% Count 1 2 3 4 Conservative Douglas Ross (incumbent) 39.5% 1,318 SNP Margo Howe 21.82% 728 768.7 810.2 1,335 SNP Anita McDonald (incumbent) 18.34% 612 676.1 708.2 Labour Sean Morton 15.34% 512 583.5 714.7 793.9 Liberal Democrats Peter Horton 5.0% 167 304.1 Electorate: 7,717 Valid: 3,337 Spoilt: 28 Quota: 835 Turnout: 3,365 (43.24%)
Heldon and Laich [ edit ] 2007: 2xIndependent; 1xSNP; 1xCon 2012: 2xIndependent; 1xSNP; 1xCon 2007-2012 Change: No change Heldon and Laich – 4 seats Party Candidate FPv% Count 1 2 3 4 5 6 SNP Carolle Ralph † 20.0% 797 807 Independent Eric McGillivray (incumbent)††††† 18.44% 735 828 Conservative Allan Wright (incumbent) 17.26% 688 699 703.4 703.5 763.7 835.8 SNP David Stewart (incumbent) 17.01% 678 687 692.1 699.4 740.9 Independent Chris Tuke 14.65% 584 659 670 670.4 764.1 921.7 Scottish Green James Mackessack-Leitch 6.57% 262 279 281.3 281.7 Independent John Gordon 6.05% 241 Electorate: 10,287 Valid: 3,985 Spoilt: 56 Quota: 798 Turnout: 4,041 (38.74%)
Elgin City North [ edit ] 2007: 1xSNP; 1xLab; 1xIndependent 2012: 2xSNP; 1xLab 2007-2012 Change: SNP gain one seat from Independent Elgin City North – 3 seats Party Candidate FPv% Count 1 2 3 4 5 Labour Barry Jarvis (incumbent) ††† 29.85% 766 SNP Mike Shand (incumbent) 23.23% 596 612.5 661.7 SNP Patsy Gowans 20.07% 515 526.9 550.4 566.8 688.3 Conservative Frank Brown 17.46% 448 466.9 565.8 566.3 Independent Darren Margach 9.39% 241 274.2 Electorate: 8,386 Valid: 2,566 Spoilt: 31 Quota: 642 Turnout: 2,597 (30.6%)
Elgin City South [ edit ] 2007: 1xSNP; 1xLab; 1xIndependent 2012: 1xLab; 1xCon; 1xSNP 2007-2012 Change: Con gain from Independent Elgin City South – 3 seats Party Candidate FPv% Count 1 2 Labour John Divers (incumbent) 37.57% 1,073 Conservative James Allan 25.0% 714 810.1 SNP Graham Leadbitter (incumbent) 23.63% 675 771.1 SNP John Sharp (incumbent) 13.8% 394 434 Electorate: 8,356 Valid: 2,856 Spoilt: 40 Quota: 715 Turnout: 2,896 (34.18%)
2007: 2xIndependent; 1xSNP; 1xCon 2012: 3xIndependent; 1xSNP 2007-2012 Change: Independent gain one seat from Con Forres – 4 seats Party Candidate FPv% Count 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Independent George Alexander 25.19% 1,134 Independent Lorna Creswell (incumbent) 12.77% 575 650.4 675.5 690.1 814.9 866.5 870.6 987.2 SNP Aaron McLean 12.15% 547 559.1 568.5 574.7 588.4 924.1 Conservative Paul McBain 10.35% 466 483.5 486.7 507.1 529.4 540.2 541 Scottish Green Fabio Villani 10.15% 457 474.7 488.1 492.1 524.2 548.6 551.9 614.2 630.7 SNP Irene Ogilvie (incumbent) 9.53% 429 440.3 443.7 446.9 478.2 Independent Anne Audrey Skene 9.11% 410 441.2 450.8 468.7 549.9 569.3 571.7 731.6 764.2 1,072.5 Independent Jeff Hamilton (incumbent) 6.98% 314 343.8 349.8 356.2 UKIP Ian Meiklejohn 2.02% 91 96.1 98.5 Scottish Senior Citizens Andy Anderson 1.73% 78 85.4 Electorate: 10,999 Valid: 4,501 Spoilt: 50 Quota: 901 Turnout: 4,551 (40.92%)
Changes since last election [ edit ] † Heldon and Laich SNP Cllr Carolle Ralph resigned her seat on 7 December 2012. The by-election was held on 7 March 2013 and was won by the Independent, John Cowe. [1] Archived 11 November 2014 at the Wayback Machine †† Buckie Independent Cllr Anne McKay resigned her seat on 13 November 2013. A by-election was held on 30 January 2014 and was won by the Independent, Gordon Cowie. [2] ††† Elgin City North Labour Cllr Barry Jarvis resigned his seat on 26 September 2014 to train as a teacher.[3] A by-election was held on 11 December 2014 and the seat was won by the SNP's Kirsty Reid. †††† Buckie Independent Cllr Joe Mackay died on 12 January 2015 after a fall from his mobility scooter. [4] A by-election was held to fill the vacancy on 26 March 2015 and the seat was won by the SNP's Sonya Warren. ††††† Heldon and Laich Independent Cllr Eric McGillivray announced on 31 July 2015 he was standing down from the council for personal reasons.[5] A by-election was held on 1 October 2015 and the seat was won by the Independent Dennis Slater. By-elections since 2012 [ edit ] Heldon and Laich By-election (7 March 2013) – 1 Seat[1] Party Candidate FPv% Count 1 2 3 4 5 Independent John Cowe 31.36% 972 1,020 1,058 1,273 1,507 SNP Stuart Crowther 26.88% 833 844 891 960 1,005 Conservative Pete Bloomfield 15.26% 473 490 516 558 Independent Nick Traynor 13.49% 418 459 496 Scottish Green James Edward Mackessack-Leitch 7.36% 228 242 Independent Jeff Hamilton 5.65% 175 Electorate: 10,579 Valid: 3,099 Spoilt: 38 (1.21%) Quota: 1,550 Turnout: 3,137 (29.65%)
Buckie By-election (30 January 2014) – 1 Seat[2] Party Candidate FPv% Count 1 2 3 Independent Gordon Cowie 43.94 830 907 1,034 SNP Linda McDonald 35.47 670 679 710 Independent Marc Macrae 11.65 220 248 Conservative Margaret Gambles 7.57 143 Electorate: 7,872 Valid: 1,889 Spoilt: 26 Quota: 933 Turnout: 1,915 (24.33%)
Elgin City North By-election (11 December 2014) – 1 Seat[3] Party Candidate FPv% Count 1 2 3 4 5 SNP Kirsty Ella Reid 37.96 728 748 764 773 850 Independent Sandy Cooper 24.61 472 483 499 595 693 UKIP Captain Craig Ahab Graham 14.96 287 305 316 368 Conservative Alex Griffiths 14.23 273 280 299 Labour Ramsay Urquhart 4.22 81 84 Scottish Green Morvern Forrest 4.01 77 Electorate: 9,263 Valid: 1,918 Spoilt: 20 Quota: 960 Turnout: (20.9%) 1,938
Buckie By-election (26 March 2015) – 1 Seat[4] Party Candidate FPv% Count 1 SNP Sonya Warren 59.5% 1,485 Independent Norman Calder 27.9% 696 Conservative Tim Eagle 12.6% 315 Electorate: 7,798 Valid: 2,496 Spoilt: 25 Quota: 1,249 Turnout: 2,521 (32.3%)
Heldon and Laich By-election (1 October 2015) – 1 Seat[5] Party Candidate FPv% Count 1 2 3 Independent Dennis Slater 41.1% 1,323 1,382 1,775 SNP Joyce O'Hara 31.1% 1,003 1,054 1,100 Conservative Pete Bloomfield 21.8% 703 725 Scottish Green James Edward Mackessack-Leitch 6% 192 Electorate: 11,070 Valid: 3,221 Spoilt: 27 Quota: 1,612 Turnout: 3,248 (29.3%)
References [ edit ] External links [ edit ]