The 2012 Orkney Council election took place on 3 May 2012 to elect members of

Orkney Council The Orkney Islands Council ( gd, Comhairle Eileanan Arcaibh), is the local authority for Orkney, Scotland. It was established in 1975 by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 and was largely unaffected by the Scottish local government changes ...

. The election used the six

wards Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a priso ...

created as a result of the

Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004 The Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004 (asp 9) 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 Commissi ...

, with each ward electing three or four Councillors using the

single transferable vote Single transferable vote (STV) is a multi-winner electoral system in which voters cast a single vote in the form of a ranked-choice ballot. Voters have the option to rank candidates, and their vote may be transferred according to alternate p ...

system form of

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...

, with 21 Councillors being elected. As in 2007 Independents took all of the 21 seats on the Council. The

Scottish National Party The Scottish National Party (SNP; sco, Scots National Pairty, gd, Pàrtaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic political party in Scotland. The SNP supports and campaigns for Scottish independence from ...

contested 4 wards in Orkney for the first time in 2012 but only secured 3% of the vote. The Council is again administered solely by Independents.

Election result

Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes. The net gain/loss and percentage changes relate to the result of the previous Scottish local elections on 3 May 2007. This may differ from other published sources showing gain/loss relative to seats held at dissolution of Scotland's councils.

Ward results

Kirkwall East

*2007: 4xIndependent *2012: 4xIndependent *2007-2012 Change: No change

Kirkwall West & Orphir

*2007: 4xIndependent *2012: 4xIndependent *2007-2012 Change: No change

Stromness and South Isles

*2007: 3xIndependent *2012: 3xIndependent *2007-2012 Change: No change

West Mainland

*2007: 4xIndependent *2012: 4xIndependent *2007-2012 Change: No change

East Mainland, South Ronaldsay and Burray

*2007: 3xIndependent *2012: 3xIndependent *2007-2012 Change: No change

North Isles

*2007: 3xIndependent *2012: 3xIndependent *2007-2012 Change: No Change

Post-Election Changes

*† Kirkwall West and Orphir Independent Cllr Jack Moodie resigned his seat for personal reasons on 9 September 201

A by-election was held on 27 November 2014 and was won by the Independent Leslie Manso

*†† West Mainland Independent Cllr Alistair Gordon died on 19 May 201

A by-election was held on 18 August 2015 to fill the vacancy and it was won by the Independent Rachael Kin

By-elections

References

https://web.archive.org/web/20120608070718/http://www.orkney.gov.uk/Council/C/results-by-ward.htm {{United Kingdom local elections, 2012 2012 Scottish local elections

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

21st century in Orkney