Moray Council elections

Moray Council in Scotland holds elections every five years, previously holding them every four years from its creation as a single-tier authority in 1995 to 2007.

Council elections

As a district council

Year	Conservative	SNP	Labour	Independent
1974	0	1	0	17
1977	0	3	0	15
1980	0	3	0	15
1984 [a]	0	2	1	15
1988	0	7	2	9
1992	1	7	1	9

1. New ward boundaries. ^[1]

As a unitary authority

Year	Conservative	SNP	Labour	Liberal Democrats	Green	Independent
1995	0	13	3	0	0	2
1999 [a]	1	2	6	2	0	15
2003	1	3	5	1	0	16
2007 [b]	3	9	2	0	0	12
2012	3	10	3	0	0	10
2017 [c]	8	9	1	0	0	8
2022	11	8	3	1	1	2

1. New ward boundaries. ^[2]
2. Change to single transferable vote system and new ward boundaries.
3. New ward boundaries. ^[3]

Results maps

• 
  2012 results map
• 
  2017 results map

By-elections

2003-2007

Buckie West By-Election 1 July 2004 ^{[4] [5]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Joseph Mackay	552	63.6	+63.6
	SNP	Gordon McDonald	196	22.6	−9.7
	Conservative	Ian Moir	89	10.3	+10.3
	Liberal Democrats	Gordon Holms	31	3.6	+3.6
Majority			356	41.0
Turnout			868
	Independent hold		Swing

Speyside By-Election 12 August 2004 ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP		286	30.8	+4.0
	Independent		244	26.3	+26.3
	Independent		187	20.1	+20.1
	Conservative		121	13.0	+13.0
	Independent		91	9.8	+9.8
Majority			42	4.5
Turnout			929
	SNP gain from Independent		Swing

Speyside By-Election 11 November 2004 ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Andrina Taylor [8]	383	37.6	+37.6
	Conservative		242	23.8	+10.8
	Independent		232	22.8	+22.8
	Independent		99	9.7	+9.7
	Liberal Democrats		62	6.1	+6.1
Majority			141	13.9
Turnout			1,018
	Independent gain from SNP		Swing

2007-2012

Elgin City South By-Election 14 February 2008 ^[9]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
	SNP	John Alexander Sharp	32.1	670	670	672	672	679	685	706	763	884
	Independent	Hamish Simpson	24.3	513	513	518	523	527	540	612	722	845
	Labour	Mark Cascarino	17.0	358	358	361	363	370	380	403	459
	Independent	James Scott Allan	10.6	223	224	227	229	233	240	278
	Conservative	Frank Brown	9.8	206	206	206	208	216	223
	Liberal Democrats	Peter J Horton	2.3	48	48	49	50	53
	Scottish Senior Citizens	Andy Anderson	1.5	32	32	32	37
	UKIP	Matthew Coughlan Desmond	1.0	20	20	20
	Independent	Martyn Harris	0.8	16	16
	Independent	Gordon Davidson	0.1	1
	SNP gain from Independent
Valid: 2,087  Spoilt: 25  Quota: 1,044  Turnout: 2,112

Forres By-Election 11 November 2010 ^[10]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	Independent	Lorna Creswell	17.5	562	576	615	686	726	878	999	1,399
	SNP	Aaron John McLean	24.1	773	774	789	800	837	899	950	1,045
	Independent	Anne Audrey Skene	14.4	463	464	491	541	572	695	860
	Conservative	Paul McBain	14.4	463	464	476	486	491	511
	Scottish Green	Fabio Villani	12.5	401	405	419	433	459
	Labour	Mark Cascarino	6.1	195	195	201	205
	Independent	Janet Kennedy	6.0	192	194	201
	Scottish Senior Citizens	Andy Anderson	4.1	132	135
	Independent	Jane Elizabeth Cotton	0.9	30
	Independent gain from Conservative
Valid: 3,210  Spoilt: 23  Quota: 1,606  Turnout: 3,233

2012-2017

Heldon and Laich By-Election 7 March 2013 ^[11]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	Independent	John Cowe	31.4	972	1,020	1,058	1,273	1,507
	SNP	Stuart Crowther	26.9	833	844	891	960	1,005
	Conservative	Pete Bloomfield	15.3	473	490	516	558
	Independent	Nick Traynor	13.5	418	459	496
	Scottish Green	James Edward Mackessack-Leitch	7.4	228	242
	Independent	Jeff Hamilton	5.7	175
	Independent gain from SNP
Valid: 3,099  Spoilt: 38  Quota: 1,550  Turnout: 3,137

Buckie By-Election 30 January 2014 ^[12]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3
	Independent	Gordon Cowie	43.9	830	907	1,034
	SNP	Linda McDonald	35.5	670	679	710
	Independent	Marc Macrae	11.7	220	248
	Conservative	Margaret Gambles	7.6	143
	Independent hold
Valid: 1,889  Spoilt: 26  Quota: 933  Turnout: 1,915

Elgin City North By-Election 11 December 2014 ^[13]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	SNP	Kirsty Ella Reid	38.0	728	748	764	773	850
	Independent	Sandy Cooper	24.6	472	483	499	595	693
	UKIP	Craig Ahab Graham	15.0	287	305	316	368
	Conservative	Alex Griffiths	14.2	273	280	299
	Labour	Ramsay Urquhart	4.2	81	84
	Scottish Green	Morvern Forrest	4.0	77
	SNP gain from Labour
Valid: 1,918  Spoilt: 20  Quota: 960  Turnout: 1,938

Buckie By-Election 26 March 2015 ^[14]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1
	SNP	Sonya Warren	59.5	1,485
	Independent	Norman Calder	27.9	696
	Conservative	Tim Eagle	12.6	315
	SNP gain from Independent
Valid: 2,496  Spoilt: 25  Quota: 1,249  Turnout: 2,521

Heldon and Laich By-Election 1 October 2015 ^[15]

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	6.0	192
	Independent hold
Valid: 3,221  Spoilt: 27  Quota: 1,612  Turnout: 3,248

2017-2022

Elgin City North By-Election 13 July 2017 ^[16]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3
	Conservative	Maria McLean	40.0	923	970	1,061
	SNP	Patsy Gowans	38.8	895	904	994
	Labour	Nick Taylor	15.8	365	389
	Independent	Terry Monaghan	5.4	124
	Conservative gain from Independent
Electorate: 9,354  Valid: 2,307  Spoilt: 17  Quota: 1,155  Turnout: 2,324

Keith and Cullen By-Election 21 November 2019 ^[17]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3
	Conservative	Laura Powell	41.5	1,142	1,177	1,339
	SNP	Jock McKay	38.1	1,047	1,077	1,184
	Independent	Rob Barsby	12.7	349	430
	Liberal Democrats	Ian Aitchison	7.7	212
	Conservative gain from Independent
Valid: 2,778  Spoilt: 28  Quota: 1,376  Turnout: 2,806

2022-2027

Buckie By-Election 3 November 2022 ^[18]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4
	SNP	John Stuart	48.9	1,172	1,181	1,192	1,269
	Conservative	Tim Eagle	36.7	879	884	904	989
	Labour	Keighley Goldie	10.0	239	247	276
	Liberal Democrats	Les Tarr	2.8	67	78
	Independent	Neil Houlden	1.6	38
	SNP gain from Liberal Democrats
Valid: 2,395  Spoilt: 13  Quota: 1,199  Turnout: 2,408

Elgin City South By-Election 7 November 2024 ^[19]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3
	Conservative	Elaine Kirby	31.6	834	962	1,160
	SNP	Laura Mitchell	32.2	849	928	1,093
	Labour	Catriona McBain	18.5	487	615
	Liberal Democrats	Neil Alexander	17.7	466
	Conservative gain from SNP
Valid: 2,636  Spoilt: 33  Quota: 1,319  Turnout: 2,669

References

1. "Initial Statutory Reviews of Electoral Arrangements". National Records of Scotland. Retrieved 6 March 2025.
2. "Third Statutory Review of Electoral Arrangements - Moray Council Area" (PDF). Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland. Retrieved 14 March 2025.
3. "Fifth Statutory Review of Electoral Arrangements Final Recommendations - Moray Council Area" (PDF). Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland. Retrieved 24 February 2025.
4. "Local Elections Archive Project — Buckie West Ward". www.andrewteale.me.uk. Retrieved 14 March 2025.
5. "2004" (PDF). Buckie Heritage. p. 8. Retrieved 25 March 2025.
6. "Local Elections Archive Project — Speyside Ward". www.andrewteale.me.uk. Retrieved 25 March 2025.
7. "Local Elections Archive Project — Speyside Ward". www.andrewteale.me.uk. Retrieved 25 March 2025.
8. "Sons of Cornwall make sole byelection gain". The Guardian. 12 November 2004. Retrieved 25 March 2025.
9. "Ward 7 - Elgin City South By-Election" (PDF). Moray Council. Retrieved 28 July 2024.
10. "Declaration of Results from Local Government By-Election" (PDF). Moray Council. Retrieved 28 July 2024.
11. "Local Government By-Election Electoral Ward No. 5 - Heldon and Laich (Transfers)" (PDF). Moray Council. Retrieved 29 July 2024.
12. "Local Government By-Election Ward 3 - Buckie" (PDF). Moray Council. Retrieved 29 July 2024.
13. "Local Government By-Election Ward 6 - Elgin City North" (PDF). Moray Council. Retrieved 29 July 2024.
14. "Local Government By-Election - Ward 3 - Buckie" (PDF). Moray Council. Retrieved 29 July 2024.
15. "Heldon and Laich by-election, 2015". Scottish Elections. Archived from the original on 23 March 2016. Retrieved 26 March 2025.
16. "Local Government By-Election Ward 6 - Elgin City North" (PDF). Moray Council. Retrieved 28 July 2024.
17. "Local Government By-Election Ward 2 - Keith and Cullen" (PDF). Moray Council. Retrieved 28 July 2024.
18. "Council By-Election Ward 3 - Buckie" (PDF). Moray Council. Retrieved 28 July 2024.
19. "STV Table - Ward 7 - Elgin South" (PDF). Moray Council. Retrieved 9 November 2024.