Dorset is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south-east, the English Channel to the south, and Devon to the west. The largest settlement is Bournemouth, and the county town is Dorchester.
West Dorset was a local government district in Dorset, England. The district was formed on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, and was a merger of the boroughs of Bridport, Dorchester and Lyme Regis, along with Sherborne urban district and the rural districts of Beaminster, Bridport, Dorchester and Sherborne. Its council was based in Dorchester.
South Dorset is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2024 by Lloyd Hatton, of the Labour Party.
West Dorset is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2024 by Edward Morello, a Liberal Democrat.
One third of Daventry District Council in Northamptonshire, England was elected each year, followed by one year when there was an election to Northamptonshire County Council instead. Since the last boundary changes in 1999, 38 councillors were elected from 24 wards. In another boundary review in 2012 the councillors were reduced to 36 councillors across 16 wards. The council was abolished in 2021, with the area becoming part of West Northamptonshire.
Weymouth and Portland Borough Council in Dorset, England existed from 1974 to 2019. One-third of the council was elected each year, followed by one year where there was an election to Dorset County Council instead. The council was abolished and subsumed into Dorset Council in 2019.
An election to Dorset County Council took place on 2 May 2013 as part of the United Kingdom local elections. 45 councillors were elected from 42 electoral divisions, which returned either one or two county councillors each by first-past-the-post voting for a four-year term of office. The electoral divisions were the same as those used at the previous election in 2009. No elections were held in Bournemouth or Poole, which are unitary authorities outside the area covered by the County Council. The election saw the Conservative Party maintain overall control of the council.
The 2014 Westminster City Council election took place on 22 May 2014 to elect members of Westminster City Council in England. This was on the same day as other local elections.
An election was held to Swale Borough Council in England as part of the United Kingdom local elections on 7 May 2015. All 47 seats were up for election under new ward boundaries.
The 2015 East Dorset District Council election took place on 7 May 2015 in order to elect members of the East Dorset District Council in Dorset, England. The whole council was up for election after boundary changes reduced the number of seats by seven. The Conservative Party stayed in overall control of the council.
The 2003 Christchurch Borough Council election took place on 1 May 2003 to elect members of Christchurch Borough Council in Dorset, England. The whole council was up for election after boundary changes reduced the number of seats by one. The Conservative Party stayed in overall control of the council.
The 2007 Christchurch Borough Council election took place on 3 May 2007 to elect members of Christchurch Borough Council in Dorset, England. The whole council was up for election and the Conservative party stayed in overall control of the council.
The 2012 West Oxfordshire District Council election took place on 3 May 2012 to elect members of West Oxfordshire District Council in Oxfordshire, England. One third of the council was up for election and the Conservative Party stayed in overall control of the council.
The 2015 North Hertfordshire Council election was held on 5 May 2016, at the same time as other local elections across England. Of the 49 seats on North Hertfordshire District Council, 15 were up for election.
The 2017 Dorset County Council election took place on 4 May 2017 as part of the 2017 local elections in the United Kingdom. All 46 councillors were elected from 40 electoral divisions, which returned either one or two county councillors each by first-past-the-post voting for a four-year term of office.
The 2019 United Kingdom local elections took place on Thursday 2 May 2019, with 248 English local councils, six directly elected mayors in England, and all 11 local councils in Northern Ireland being contested.
The 2019 Dorset Council election was held on Thursday 2 May 2019 to elect councillors to the new Dorset Council in England. It took place on the same day as other district council elections in the United Kingdom.
The Alliance for Local Living (ALL) was a minor localist party and political group based in Dorset, with separate branches in the two authorities, ALL for Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and ALL for Dorset. The BCP office was based in Poole, whilst the Dorset office was based in Weymouth. The party was deregistered in November 2023, at which point it had four councillors on Dorset Council, who continued to sit together as an informal grouping. The group became Independents for Dorset in 2024.
Lyme and Charmouth is an electoral ward in Dorset. Since 2019, the ward has elected 1 councillor to Dorset Council.
