2013 Aberdeen Donside by-election

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The 2013 Aberdeen Donside by-election is a by-election that was held for the Scottish Parliament constituency of Aberdeen Donside on Thursday 20 June, following the death from cancer of the constituency's MSP, Brian Adam. [1]

Contents

The seat was created as Aberdeen North following the establishment of the Scottish Parliament in 1999. In the first election to the Scottish Parliament the seat was won by the Scottish Labour Party, but was gained by Brian Adam (who had contested, but lost, the seat in 1999) for the Scottish National Party in the next election. He held the seat in 2007 and 2011 with increased majorities. In the last election, Adam held the seat with a majority of 7,175 votes.

In the 2011 Scottish Parliament election, the SNP became the first ever majority government of the Scottish Parliament, winning 69 seats out of 129. Prior to Adam's death, however, the SNP only held a majority of one (following the election of Tricia Marwick as presiding officer and the departure of three other MSPs). This meant that if the SNP lost the by-election then the government would lose its overall majority.

SNP list MSP for the North-East region, Mark McDonald, resigned his seat to contest the constituency by-election. [2] McDonald held the seat for the SNP, but with a significantly reduced majority on a lower turnout.

Election

Nine candidates contested the election, with their detail published on 17 May 2013. [3]

Aberdeen Donside By-Election, 20 June 2013
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
SNP Mark McDonald 9,814 41.98 -13.42
Labour Willie Young7,78933.32+4.82
Liberal Democrats Christine Jardine 1,9408.30+3.10
Conservative Ross Thomson 1,7917.66-0.44
UKIP Otto Inglis1,1284.83+4.03
Scottish Green Rhonda Reekie4101.75New
National Front Dave MacDonald2491.07+0.27
Scottish Christian Tom Morrow2220.95New
SDA James Trolland350.15New
Majority2,0258.66-18.2
Turnout 23,39638.8
SNP hold Swing

Scottish Parliament Election result, 2011

Scottish Parliament election, 2011: Aberdeen Donside [4]
Notes:

Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote.
Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list.
Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent.
A Green check.svgY or Red x.svgN denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.

PartyCandidateVotes%±%Party votes%±%
SNP Green check.svgY Brian Adam 14,79055.4+10.614,52654.2
Labour Barney Crockett7,61528.5-3.26,23723.3
Conservative Ross Thomson2,1668.1+0.62,0767.7
Liberal Democrats Millie McLeod1,6066.0-10.01,3905.2
Scottish Green  6832.5
All Scotland Pensioners Party 5442.0
Socialist Labour  2310.9
Scottish Socialist  2200.8
UKIP  2170.8
Christian Party "Proclaiming Christ's Lordship" 2100.8
BNP  1770.7
Independent David Henderson3171.2New770.3
National Front Christopher Willett2130.8New1350.5
Independent - John Cox380.1
Solidarity  170.1
Independent - Andrew McBride80.03
Angus Independent Representatives60.02
Total Valid votes26,70726,792

See also

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References

  1. "Aberdeen SNP MSP Brian Adam dies aged 64". BBC News. 25 April 2013. Retrieved 31 July 2013.
  2. Urquhart, Frank (14 May 2013). "Aberdeen Donside by-election: SNP MSP quits Holyrood". The Scotsman . Retrieved 31 July 2013.
  3. Urquhart, Frank (17 May 2013). "Nine candidates confirmed for Donside by-election". The Scotsman. Retrieved 30 April 2017.
  4. "Declaration of regional votes cast in a constituency". Archived from the original on 24 July 2013. Retrieved 2 May 2013.