An election to

Essex County Council Essex County Council is the county council that governs the non-metropolitan county of Essex in England. It has 75 councillors, elected from 70 divisions, and is currently controlled by the Conservative Party. The council meets at County Hall ...

took place on 2 May 2013 as part of the 2013 United Kingdom local elections. 75 councillors were elected from 70 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 2009. No elections were held in

Thurrock Thurrock () is a unitary authority area with borough status and unparished area in the ceremonial county of Essex, England. It is part of the London commuter belt and an area of regeneration within the Thames Gateway redevelopment zone. The l ...

Southend-on-Sea Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authority area with borough status in southeastern Essex, England. It lies on the north side of the Thames Estuary, east of central London. It is bordered ...

, which are

unitary authorities A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governmen ...

outside the area covered by the County Council. All locally registered electors (

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...

and

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

citizens) who were aged 18 or over on Thursday 2 May 2013 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.

Previous composition

2009 election

Composition of council seats before election

Changes between elections

In between the 2009 election and the 2013 election, the following council seats changed hands:

Summary

The election saw the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

retain overall control of the council, but their majority fell from twenty-two to four councillors.

UKIP 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 p ...

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 Liberal Democrats all won nine seats. Of the three second-placed parties who won nine seats, UKIP gained the largest share of the county-wide vote, more than 10% ahead of the Labour party. The Liberal Democrats remain as the official Opposition (entitling them to certain expenses and rights to additional speeches) due to

incumbency The incumbent is the current holder of an office or position, usually in relation to an election. In an election for president, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the office of president before the election, whether seeking re-ele ...

, despite winning fewer votes. 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 ...

gained two seats on the council, despite its overall share of the vote falling. The Independent Loughton Residents Association and the Canvey Island Independent Party both returned one member and an

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 ...

candidate was also elected.

Results Summary

, -bgcolor=#F6F6F6 , colspan=2 style="text-align: right; margin-right: 1em" , Total , style="text-align: right;" , 75 , colspan=5 , , style="text-align: right;" , 328,435 , style="text-align: right;" , , -

Election of Group Leaders

David Finch (Hedingham) was elected leader of the Conservative Group, with Kevin Bentley (Stanway and Pyefleet) as his deputy. Michael Mackrory (Springfield) was re elected leader of the Liberal Democratic Group, with Theresa Higgins (Parsons Heath and East Gates) as his deputy. Julie Young (Wivenhoe St. Andrew) was re elected leader of the Labour Group, with Ivan Henderson (Harwich) as her deputy.

Roger Lord Roger Lord is a Canadian performing classical pianist and professor of piano at l' Université de Moncton in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada. Lord studied at Université de Moncton, McGill University, Université de Montréal, and the Moscow ...

(Brightlingsea) was elected leader of the UKIP group, with Jamie Huntman (Thundersley) as his deputy. James Abbott (Witham Northern) was elected leader of the Green group, with Michael Hoy (Rochford West) as his deputy.

Chris Pond Christopher Richard Pond (born 25 September 1952) is a former Labour Party politician in the United Kingdom. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Gravesham in Kent, from 1997 to 2005. Early life He went to the Minchenden School (became compr ...

(Loughton Central) was elected leader of the Non-Aligned Group with John Lodge (Saffron Walden) as his deputy.

Mid term changes

On 3 September 2014 Lord resigned both as UKIP group leader and from the council after being replaced as that party's candidate for Clacton by Tory defector

Douglas Carswell John Douglas Wilson Carswell (born 3 May 1971) is a British former politician who served as a Member of Parliament from 2005 to 2017, co-founded Vote Leave and currently serves as president and CEO of the Mississippi Center for Public Policy. ...

, Huntman succeeded him. Nigel Le Gresley (Wickford Crouch) would in turn replace Huntman, with Andrew Erskine (Tendring Rural East) as his deputy before he resigned from the party in March 2016 with Huntman again replacing him. In mid 2016 deputy Labour leader Ivan Henderson (Harwich) replaced Young as leader with Michael Danvers (Harlow North) as his deputy.

Election of Leader of the Council

David Finch the leader of the

conservative 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 i ...

group was duly elected leader of the council and formed a conservative administration.

Results by District