Elections to
Suffolk County Council
Suffolk County Council is the administrative authority for the county of Suffolk, England. It is run by 75 elected county councillors representing 63 divisions. It is a member of the East of England Local Government Association.
History
Establ ...
were held on 4 June 2009 as part of the
2009 United Kingdom local elections
The 2009 United Kingdom local elections were elections held to all 27 County Councils, three existing Unitary Authorities and five new Unitary Authorities, all in England, on 4 June 2009. The elections were due to be held on 7 May 2009, but were ...
on the same day as the
elections to the European Parliament
Elections to the European Parliament take place every five years by universal adult suffrage; with more than 400 million people eligible to vote, they are considered the second largest democratic elections in the world after India's.
Until ...
. 75 councillors were elected from 63 electoral divisions, which returned either one or two county councillors each by
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 their ...
for a four-year term of office. The electoral divisions were the same as those used at the previous election in 2005.
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 ...
and 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 ...
were the only parties with candidates standing in all sixty-three electoral divisions. The
Liberal Democrats and the
Green Party
A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence.
Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...
were the only other parties which fielded enough candidates to achieve a majority.
All locally registered electors (British, Irish, Commonwealth and European Union citizens) who were aged 18 or over on Thursday 4 June 2009 were entitled to vote in the local elections. Those who were temporarily away from their ordinary address (for example, away working, on holiday, in student accommodation or in hospital) were also entitled to vote in the local elections, although those who had moved abroad and registered as overseas electors cannot vote in the local elections. It is possible to register to vote at more than one address (such as a university student who had a term-time address and lives at home during holidays) at the discretion of the local Electoral Register Office, but it remains an offence to vote more than once in the same local government election.
Summary
The Conservatives won the election, being returned to power with 55 seats, a net gain of eleven, while the Liberal Democrats won eleven (a gain of two) and thus replaced Labour as the main opposition party, Labour losing seventeen seats overall and ending with only four. Two
Independents were elected, while the Green Party also won two seats and the
UK Independence Party
The UK Independence Party (UKIP; ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of Parliament and was the largest par ...
won one.
The Conservatives became more representative of the county's urban areas, particularly in Waveney and Ipswich, where they took seats from Labour. This contrasted with their performance in 2005 being mainly down to piling up votes in rural divisions. That said, the party lost seats in Bury St Edmunds and also in Mid Suffolk. Despite mounting strong challenges in the divisions lost to the Liberal Democrats in subsequent by-elections, they failed to regain them. The party was heartened by almost tripling their majority to thirty nine seats in comparison to the one of fifteen in 2005.
The Liberal Democrats had fought a strong campaign and held all of their divisions and added a further two Councillors to their tally.
The smaller parties benefited from the Expenses Scandal hitting the main parties, which saw the Greens and an Independent gain three divisions from the Conservatives, and the UK Independence party taking a seat from Labour.
Labour itself was left with a severely reduced tally, and returned to Endeavour House with just four Councillors, all from Ipswich. Of these, two were from the Co-Operative Party.
In 2005 the Conservatives had won 42 seats, Labour 22, the Liberal Democrats 7, and one
Independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s
* Independ ...
was elected. Subsequent by-elections after this saw the Conservatives gain a seat from Labour, but lose two to the Liberal Democrats.
Government Formation
Conservative group leader Jeremy Pembroke (
Cosford) remained as council leader until April 2011, when Mark Bee (Beccles) succeeded him.
Lib Dem leader Kathy Pollard (
Belstead Brook) became leader of opposition, and
Sandy Martin
Sandy Martin is an American actress, playwright, director, and producer. She is best known for her roles in the film ''Napoleon Dynamite'' and the TV series ''Big Love'', ''It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia'', and ''Ray Donovan''.
Career
Martin ...
(
St John's) became Labour group leader.
Results
Results by District
Babergh
District Summary
Division Results
Forest Heath
District Summary
Division Results
Ipswich
District Summary
Division results
Mid Suffolk
District Summary
Division results
Suffolk Coastal
District Summary
Division results
St. Edmundsbury
District Summary
Division results
Waveney
District Summary
Division results
References
External links
Results for Suffolk County Council Elections 2009
{{United Kingdom local elections, 2009
2009 English local elections
2009
File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...
2000s in Suffolk