2022 Scottish local elections
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All 1,227 seats to 32 Scottish councils | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Turnout | 44.8% (2.1%)[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 2022 Scottish local elections were held on 5 May 2022, as part of the
Compared to the previous elections of 2017, the Scottish National Party (SNP) gained seats and maintained its position as largest party in local government, winning 36.9% of the seats available. Scottish Labour (winning 22.9% of seats) gained seats, whilst the Scottish Conservatives (who won 17.5%) lost many seats, being displaced by Scottish Labour as the second-largest party. Independent candidates also lost seats, whilst the Scottish Liberal Democrats and the Scottish Greens increased their vote share and gained seats across Scotland.
At the 2017 election, no council was won by an overall majority of any party. In the 2022 election, the SNP increased its vote share and secured an overall majority on
The
Background
The last election was in 2017, which was held five years after the 2012 election, instead of four was changed in order to avoid clashing with the 2016 Scottish Parliament election.
Voting system and eligibility to vote
Councillors are elected to represent multi-member
Overall, the 32 local authorities had one one-seat district (Arran), seven two-seat districts and three five-seat districts (North Ayrshire) in addition to the bulk of the members elected in three and four seat districts.
All
Individuals must have been registered to vote by midnight on 18 April 2022. The deadlines to register for a postal vote and proxy vote were 19 and 26 April 2022, respectively.[11]
Results
Party | First-preference votes | Councils | Seats | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Count | Of total (%) | Change | Count | Change | Count | Of total (%) | Change | ||
SNP | 633,251 | 34.1% | 1.8% | 1 | 1 | 453 | 37.0% | 22 | |
Labour
|
403,243 | 21.7% | 1.6% | 1 | 1 | 282 | 23.1% | 20 | |
Conservative
|
364,824 | 19.6% | 5.7% | 0 | 214 | 17.5% | 62 | ||
Independents | 156,751 | 8.4% | 2.0% | 3 | 149 | 12.2% | 19 | ||
Liberal Democrats | 159,815 | 8.6% | 1.7% | 0 | 87 | 7.1% | 20 | ||
Green
|
110,791 | 6.0% | 1.9% | 0 | 35 | 2.9% | 16 | ||
West Dunbartonshire Community | 1,462 | 0.1% | 0 | 1 | 0.1% | ||||
BUP | 859 | 0.1% | 0 | 1 | 0.1% | 1 | |||
Rubbish
|
787 | 0.0% | 0 | 1 | 0.1% | ||||
Alba | 12,335 | 0.7% | New | 0 | 0 | 0.0% | New | ||
Scottish Family | 6,857 | 0.4% | New | 0 | 0 | 0.0% | New | ||
Scottish Socialist | 1,058 | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0 | 0 | 0.0% | |||
TUSC | 1,022 | 0.1% | 0 | 0 | 0.0% | ||||
Independence for Scotland | 742 | 0.0% | New | 0 | 0 | 0.0% | New | ||
Libertarian | 698 | 0.0% | 0 | 0 | 0.0% | ||||
Freedom Alliance | 555 | 0.0% | New | 0 | 0 | 0.0% | New | ||
Volt UK | 421 | 0.0% | New | 0 | 0 | 0.0% | New | ||
Socialist Labour | 381 | 0.0% | 0 | 0 | 0.0% | ||||
UKIP | 372 | 0.0% | 0.2% | 0 | 0 | 0.0% | |||
Women's Equality | 228 | 0.0% | New | 0 | 0 | 0.0% | New | ||
Social Democratic
|
222 | 0.0% | 0 | 0 | 0.0% | ||||
Sovereignty
|
154 | 0.0% | New | 0 | 0 | 0.0% | New | ||
Communist | 119 | 0.0% | New | 0 | 0 | 0.0% | New | ||
Pensioner's | 75 | 0.0% | New | 0 | 0 | 0.0% | New | ||
Vanguard
|
74 | 0.0% | New | 0 | 0 | 0.0% | New | ||
Workers | 61 | 0.0% | New | 0 | 0 | 0.0% | New | ||
Scottish Eco-Federalist | 24 | 0.0% | New | 0 | 0 | 0.0% | New | ||
Vacant seats | — | 3 | 0.0% | 3 | |||||
No overall control | — | 27 | 2 | — | |||||
Total | 1,857,181 | 100.0 | 32 | 1,226 | 100.00 |
Councils
Council | 2017 | 2022 | Article | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Largest party | Control | Largest party | Control | ||||||
Aberdeen City | SNP | Ind coalition
|
SNP | SNP + Lib Dem coalition
|
Details | ||||
Aberdeenshire | Conservative | Con, Lib Dem + Ind coalition | Conservative | Con, Lib Dem + Ind coalition | Details | ||||
Angus
|
SNP + Ind | Ind, Con + Lib Dem coalition | SNP | SNP minority | Details | ||||
Argyll and Bute | SNP | Ind, Con + Lib Dem coalition | SNP | Con, Ind + Lib Dem coalition | Details | ||||
Clackmannanshire | SNP | SNP minority | SNP | SNP minority | Details | ||||
Dumfries and Galloway
|
Conservative | SNP + Lab coalition | Conservative | SNP, Lab, Ind + Lib Dem coalition | Details | ||||
Dundee City | SNP | SNP minority | SNP | SNP majority | Details | ||||
East Ayrshire | SNP | SNP minority | SNP | SNP minority | Details | ||||
East Dunbartonshire
|
SNP | Con + Lib Dem coalition | SNP | SNP minority | Details | ||||
East Lothian | Labour | Labour minority | Labour | Labour minority | Details | ||||
East Renfrewshire
|
Conservative | SNP, Lab + Ind coalition | SNP | Lab + Ind coalition | Details | ||||
City of Edinburgh | SNP | SNP + Lab coalition | SNP | Labour minority | Details | ||||
Falkirk
|
SNP | SNP + Ind coalition | SNP | SNP minority | Details | ||||
Fife | SNP | SNP + Lab coalition | SNP | Labour minority | Details | ||||
Glasgow City | SNP | SNP minority | SNP | SNP minority | Details | ||||
Highland | Independent | Ind, Lib Dem + Lab coalition | SNP | SNP + Ind coalition | Details | ||||
Inverclyde | Labour | Labour minority | Labour | Labour minority | Details | ||||
Midlothian | Labour | Labour minority | SNP | SNP minority | Details | ||||
Moray | SNP | SNP minority | Conservative | Conservative minority | Details | ||||
Na h-Eileanan Siar | Independent | Independent majority | Independent | Independent majority | Details | ||||
North Ayrshire
|
Lab + SNP | Labour minority | SNP | SNP minority | Details | ||||
North Lanarkshire | SNP | Labour minority | SNP | SNP minority | Details | ||||
Orkney Islands | Independent | Independent majority | Independent | Ind + Green coalition | Details | ||||
Perth and Kinross | Conservative | Conservative minority | SNP | SNP minority | Details | ||||
Renfrewshire | SNP | SNP minority | SNP | SNP minority | Details | ||||
Scottish Borders
|
Conservative | Con + Ind coalition | Conservative | Con + Ind coalition | Details | ||||
Shetland Islands | Independent | Independent majority | Independent | Independent majority | Details | ||||
South Ayrshire | Conservative | SNP, Lab + Ind coalition | Conservative | Conservative minority | Details | ||||
South Lanarkshire | SNP | SNP minority | SNP | Lab, Lib Dem + Ind coalition | Details | ||||
Stirling
|
SNP + Con | SNP + Lab coalition | SNP | Labour minority | Details | ||||
West Dunbartonshire
|
SNP | SNP + Ind coalition | Labour | Labour majority | Details | ||||
West Lothian | SNP | Labour minority | SNP | Labour minority | Details |
Opinion polling
Date(s) conducted |
Polling organisation/client | Sample size | SNP | Con | Lab | Lib Dem | Green | Alba | Others |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
29 Apr – 3 May 2022 | Survation | 893 | 41% | 17% | 23% | 8% | 5% | 1% | 4% |
24–28 Mar 2022 | Survation/Ballot Box Scotland | 1,002 | 44% | 18% | 23% | 6% | 3% | 1% | 4% |
20–26 Oct 2021 | Panelbase/Scot Goes Pop | 1,001 | 45% | 22% | 21% | 6% | 4% | 2% | <1% |
4 May 2017 | 2017 Scottish local elections | 1,889,658 | 32.30% | 25.30% | 20.16% | 6.82% | 4.1% | - | 10.4% |
See also
- 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election
- 2022 United Kingdom local elections
- 2022 Welsh local elections
- Politics of Scotland
Notes
References
- ^ a b Clark, Alistair (9 May 2022). "Scottish Local Government Elections 2022: The Need for a Long View". Holyrood. Retrieved 13 May 2022.
- ^ "Dundee election results 2022: SNP take overall control of city council". BBC News. 6 May 2022. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
- ^ "Scottish council elections 2022: SNP finishes as biggest party". BBC News. 6 May 2022. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
- ^ "Scottish election results 2022: Tories blame Partygate for 'disappointing' result". BBC News. 6 May 2022. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
- ^ "2019 Reviews of Electoral Arrangements | Scottish Boundary Commission". boundaries.scot. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
- ^ "Electoral Arrangements Regulations" (PDF). Scottish Parliament. Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 October 2021. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
- ^ "News Release: Final Proposals for Na h-Eileanan an Iar, Orkney Islands and Shetland Islands council areas submitted to Scottish Ministers" (PDF) (Press release). Boundaries Scotland. 28 May 2021. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
- ^ "Right to vote extended". gov.scot. 20 February 2020. Retrieved 19 October 2021.
- ^ Uberoi, Elise; Johnston, Neil (19 November 2020). "Voting age". Commons Library. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
- ^ Electoral Commission. "I have two homes. Can I register at both addresses?". electoralcommission.org.uk. The Electoral Commission. Archived from the original on 15 November 2008. Retrieved 24 April 2017.
- ^ "Scotland council elections 2022: A really simple guide". BBC News. 28 March 2022. Retrieved 4 April 2022.