Elections to Cumnock and Doon Valley District Council were held on 3 May 1977, on the same day as the other Scottish local government elections. This was the second election to the district council following the local government reforms in 1974. The election used the original 10 wards created by the Formation Electoral Arrangements in 1974. Each ward elected one councillor using

first-past-the-post voting In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast thei ...

. Despite losing two seats,

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

maintained control of the district council, winning six of the 10 seats. The 1977 local elections were the first test for the nationalist Scottish Labour Party (SLP) which had been formed as a breakaway from Labour by South Ayrshire MP

Jim Sillars James Sillars (born 4 October 1937) is a Scottish politician and campaigner for Scottish independence. Sillars served as a Labour Party MP for South Ayrshire from 1970 to 1976. He founded and led the pro- Scottish Home Rule Scottish Labour Par ...

alongside John Robertson and Alex Neil. The SLP achieved its best results in Cumnock and Doon Valley by winning two seats from Labour and taking more than 25% of the popular vote but the party ultimately fared poorly across the country. The

Conservatives Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

remained on one seat after losing their seat in Mauchline and gaining Catrine and Sorn. This was the last time the Conservatives would win a seat in the area until the 2017 local elections, 40 years later. The remaining seat was won by an independent candidate.

Results

Source:

Ward results

Cumnock Burgh

Lugar, Logan and Muirkirk

Old Cumnock Parish

Auchinleck

Catrine and Sorn

New Cumnock

Dalmellington

Patna and Dalrymple

Drongan, Ochiltree, Rankinston and Stair

Mauchline

References

{{1977 United Kingdom local elections 1977 Scottish local elections

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democrat ...