East Lothian Council election, 2007

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Map showing results by ward. East Lothian Council election 2007.svg
Map showing results by ward.

Elections to East Lothian Council were held on 3 May 2007, the same day as the other Scottish local government elections and the Scottish Parliament general election.

East Lothian Council local government body in Scotland

East Lothian Council is one of the 32 Local Government councils in Scotland covering the East Lothian area.

Local government in Scotland is organised through 32 unitary authorities designated as councils which consist of councillors elected every five years by registered voters in each of the council areas.

Contents

The election was the first using seven new wards created as a result of the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004. Each ward will elect three or four councillors using the single transferable vote system of proportional representation. The new wards replace 23 single-member wards which used the plurality (first past the post) system of election.

Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004 act of the Scottish Parliament making local elections be run under the single transferable vote

The Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004 is an Act of the Scottish Parliament which provided, amongst other things, for the election of councillors to the local authorities in Scotland by the single transferable vote system.

The single transferable vote (STV) is a voting system designed to achieve proportional representation through ranked voting in multi-seat organizations or constituencies. Under STV, an elector (voter) has a single vote that is initially allocated to their most preferred candidate. Votes are totalled and a quota derived. If their candidate achieves quota, he/she is elected and in some STV systems any surplus vote is transferred to other candidates in proportion to the voters' stated preferences. If more candidates than seats remain, the bottom candidate is eliminated with his/her votes being transferred to other candidates as determined by the voters' stated preferences. These elections and eliminations, and vote transfers if applicable, continue until there are only as many candidates as there are unfilled seats. The specific method of transferring votes varies in different systems.

Proportional representation (PR) characterizes electoral systems in which divisions in an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. If n% of the electorate support a particular political party, then roughly n% of seats will be won by that party. The essence of such systems is that all votes contribute to the result - not just a plurality, or a bare majority. The most prevalent forms of proportional representation all require the use of multiple-member voting districts, as it is not possible to fill a single seat in a proportional manner. In fact, the implementations of PR that achieve the highest levels of proportionality tend to include districts with large numbers of seats.

Election results

East Lothian Local Election Result 2007
PartySeatsGainsLossesNet gain/lossSeats %Votes %Votes+/−
  Labour 7N\AN\A-930.432.613,514
  SNP 7N\AN\A+630.426.911,157
  Liberal Democrats 6N\AN\A+526.115.46,391
  Conservative 2N\AN\A-28.717.47,209
  Scottish Green 0N\AN\A00.01.6674
  Solidarity 0N\AN\A00.00.5221
  Scottish Senior Citizens 0N\AN\A00.00.275
  Independent 1N\AN\A04.35.32,200

Ward results

Musselburgh West
PartyCandidate1st Pref%SeatCount
SNP John Williamson1,42730.711
Labour John McNeil1,14424.622
Liberal Democrats Barry Turner85718.435
Labour John Ross57212.3
Conservative Robert Fairnie49910.7
Solidarity Jack Fraser1533.3
Musselburgh East and Carberry
PartyCandidate1st Pref%SeatCount
SNP Roger Knox1,25625.111
Labour Andy Forrest1,05721.125
Independent John Caldwell93718.736
Liberal Democrats Jenny Mollison80916.2
Labour Pat O'Donnell58511.7
Conservative Ian Robertson2815.6
Scottish Senior Citizens Alan Eeles751.5
Preston/Seton/Gosford
PartyCandidate1st Pref%SeatCount
Labour Willie Innes2,20530.511
SNP Peter MacKenzie1,90626.421
Conservative Michael Veitch1,04014.4
Labour Margaret Libberton92712.833
Liberal Democrats Stuart Currie90912.645
Independent Andy Spence2443.4
Fa'side
PartyCandidate1st Pref%SeatCount
SNP Kenny McLeod2,06530.411
Labour Jim Gillies1,34819.822
Labour Donald Grant1,11816.444
Liberal Democrats Ruth Currie††89213.134
Labour Robert McNeill83512.3
Conservative Henry Murray-Smith5407.9
North Berwick Coastal
PartyCandidate1st Pref%SeatCount
Conservative Neil Rankin1,83729.711
SNP David Berry1,67027.021
Labour Pat Hanson98015.8
Liberal Democrats Stuart MacKinnon74712.135
Conservative Kathryn Smith5659.1
Scottish Green Susan Moffat3936.3
Haddington and Lammermuir
PartyCandidate1st Pref%SeatCount
Conservative Ludovic Broun-Lindsay1,31722.614
SNP Tom Trotter1,10719.034
Liberal Democrats Sheena Richardson1,04117.924
Independent Charles Ingle1,01917.5
Labour Ann McCarthy98516.9
Scottish Green Eurig Scandrett2814.8
Solidarity Gary Galbraith681.2
Dunbar and East Linton
PartyCandidate1st Pref%SeatCount
SNP Paul McLennan1,72630.011
Liberal Democrats Jacquie Bell1,13619.833
Conservative Katie Mackie1,13019.7
Labour Norman Hampshire1,03318.023
Labour Herbert Coutts72512.6

Changes after 2007

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