The 2012 Scottish local elections were held on 3 May 2012 in all 32 local authorities. 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 ...

(SNP) overtook

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 ...

to win the highest share of the vote, and retained and strengthened its position as the party with most councillors. Labour also made gains, while the Liberal Democrats experienced meltdown, losing over half their seats and falling behind the Conservatives. For the first time since the introduction of the Single Transferable Vote system, the SNP won majority control of 2 councils, from no overall control. Labour also won majority control of 2 councils from no overall control, while retaining majority control over 2 councils.

Independent councillor An independent or non-partisan politician is a politician not affiliated with any political party or bureaucratic association. There are numerous reasons why someone may stand for office as an independent. Some politicians have political views th ...

s retained majority control over the 3 island councils. The 23 other councils remained under no overall control.

Background

The election was due to be held on 5 May 2011, but Scottish Ministers heeded the advice of the Gould Report and split the Holyrood and local elections - in order to avoid a repeat of the 2007 fiasco. These local elections were the second since the Single Transferable Vote (STV) was first introduced for the 2007 local government elections. This election was the first since the SNP won a majority in the Scottish Parliament. They were also the first local elections in Scotland since

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

not to take place at the same time as a Scottish parliamentary election.

New eCounting system

In October 2010 a new company - Logica was awarded the contract for the vote counting system for the 2012 council elections, and since January 2011 testing has been under way to sort out many issues. On the 5 August 2011, A Dummy election was set up in Perth to test out new "eCounting" system, as part of robust test, in which 160,000 ballot papers run through the machine. This forms third stage of rigorous testing of the system in partition of these elections.

Party performance

Both the SNP and

performed well, increasing both share of the vote and their numbers of councillors. The SNP gained control of two councils from No Overall Control:

Angus Angus may refer to: Media * ''Angus'' (film), a 1995 film * ''Angus Og'' (comics), in the ''Daily Record'' Places Australia * Angus, New South Wales Canada * Angus, Ontario, a community in Essa, Ontario * East Angus, Quebec Scotland * An ...

and

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

. Labour gained majority control over two councils, Renfrewshire and West Dunbartonshire, also from No Overall Control, and held on to their overall majority in both Glasgow and North Lanarkshire councils. The Conservative & Unionist Party lost significant ground, but did gain a seat in

Argyll & Bute Argyll and Bute ( sco, Argyll an Buit; gd, Earra-Ghàidheal agus Bòd, ) is one of 32 unitary authority council areas in Scotland and a lieutenancy area. The current lord-lieutenant for Argyll and Bute is Jane Margaret MacLeod (14 July 2020). ...

and managed to come third. The Liberal Democrats continued to experience a political meltdown following on from the previous year's

Scottish elections Scotland has elections to several bodies: the Scottish Parliament, the United Kingdom Parliament, local councils and community councils. Before the United Kingdom left the European Union, Scotland elected members to the European Parliament. S ...

, losing 57% of their councillors. In one Edinburgh ward, Pentland Hills, Mike 'Professor Pongoo' Ferrigan who intended to dressed as a penguin to council meetings received 444 first-preference votes, 74 more than the Liberal Democrat candidate, Stuart Bridges, and 122 more than the Green Party candidate. In Edinburgh, where the Liberal Democrats had previously been in a ruling coalition with the SNP, they lost 13 of their 16 seats. In the Fife Council ward of 'Buckhaven, Methil and Wemyss Villages', the party's candidate, Lois Lothian, received just 21 votes. The Scottish Greens boosted their councillor numbers from 8 to 14, including doubling their representation in Edinburgh (where they topped the poll in two wards for the first time) and electing councillors for the first time to Stirling,

Midlothian Midlothian (; gd, Meadhan Lodainn) is a historic county, registration county, lieutenancy area and one of 32 council areas of Scotland used for local government. Midlothian lies in the east-central Lowlands, bordering the City of Edinburgh, ...

and

Aberdeenshire Aberdeenshire ( sco, Aiberdeenshire; gd, Siorrachd Obar Dheathain) is one of the 32 Subdivisions of Scotland#council areas of Scotland, council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the County of Aberdeen which has substantially differe ...

local authorities (note: Cllr Martin Ford, re-elected in 2012 as a Green, won in 2007 as a Liberal Democrat). The Scottish Socialist Party held its sole seat, that of

Jim Bollan Jim Bollan (born c. 1950) is a councillor in West Dunbartonshire, representing the West Dunbartonshire Community Party. Until 2016 he was a member of the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP), having been the only elected representative from that party ...

in West Dunbartonshire. Meanwhile, the UK Independence Party lost its sole councillor in Scotland on Fife Council.

s retained majority control over the three island councils (

Na h-Eileanan Siar The Outer Hebrides () or Western Isles ( gd, Na h-Eileanan Siar or or ("islands of the strangers"); sco, Waster Isles), sometimes known as the Long Isle/Long Island ( gd, An t-Eilean Fada, links=no), is an island chain off the west coast ...

Orkney Orkney (; sco, Orkney; on, Orkneyjar; nrn, Orknøjar), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) north ...

and

Shetland Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is a subarctic archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands and Norway. It is the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the no ...

Aftermath

Talks took place to decide who would control of the 23 remaining councils This resulted in Labour taking control of Fife, East and West Lothian, Inverclyde and South Lanarkshire and forming a grand coalition with the SNP in the City of Edinburgh and an anti-Conservative alliance in East Renfrewshire. The SNP took control of Clackmannanshire, North Ayrshire and Perth and Kinross and became the largest party in controlling coalitions in Argyll and Bute, Highland, Midlothian, Scottish Borders and East Ayrshire. They also joined the Scottish Conservatives in a coalition arrangement in Dumfries and Galloway.

Results

Results to follow: , -style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:center;" !colspan="2" rowspan="2" width="175", Party !colspan="3", First-preference votes !colspan="3", Seats won , -style="background-color:#E9E9E9" !width="75", # !% !Swing ( pp) !width="35", # !Net Gain !% , - style="text-align:right;" , style="background-color:", , style="text-align:left;" ,

, 503,233 , 32.33 , style="background-color:#dfd" , +4.48 , 425 , style="background-color:#dfd" , +62 , 34.75 , - style="text-align:right;" , style="background-color:", , style="text-align:left;" ,

, 488,703 , 31.39 , style="background-color:#dfd" , +3.26 , 394 , style="background-color:#dfd" , +46 , 32.22 , - style="text-align:right;" , style="background-color:", , style="text-align:left;" , Conservative , 206,599 , 13.27 , style="background-color:#ffe8e8;" , −2.35 , 115 , style="background-color:#ffe8e8;" , −28 , 9.40 , - style="text-align:right;" , style="background-color:", , style="text-align:left;" , Independents , 183,329 , 11.78 , style="background-color:#dfd" , +1.27 , 196 , style="background-color:#dfd" , +12 , 16.03 , - style="text-align:right;" , style="background-color:", , style="text-align:left;" , Liberal Democrats , 103,087 , 6.62 , style="background-color:#ffe8e8;" , −6.05 , 71 , style="background-color:#ffe8e8;" , −95 , 5.81 , - style="text-align:right;" , style="background-color:", , style="text-align:left;" , Green , 36,000 , 2.31 , style="background-color:#dfd" , +0.11 , 14 , style="background-color:#dfd" , +6 , 1.14 , - style="text-align:right;" , style="background-color:", , style="text-align:left;" , UKIP , 4,289 , 0.28 , style="background-color:#dfd" , +0.22 , 0 , ±0 , 0.00 , - style="text-align:right;" , style="background-color:", , style="text-align:left;" , Scottish Socialist Party , 4,183 , 0.27 , style="background-color:#ffe8e8;" , −0.61 , 1 , ±0 , 0.08 , - style="text-align:right;" , style="background-color:", , style="text-align:left;" ,

Borders Party The Borders Party was a political party involved in local government in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland. The party returned two councillors to the Scottish Borders Council in 2007 and again in 2012. History In April 2006, Save Scott's Cou ...

, 3,755 , 0.24 , style="background-color:#dfd" , +0.12 , 2 , ±0 , 0.16 , - style="text-align:right;" , , style="text-align:left;" , Action to Save St John's Hospital , 3,474 , 0.22 , style="background-color:#dfd" , +0.03 , 0 , style="background-color:#ffe8e8;" , −3 , 0.00 , - style="text-align:right;" , , style="text-align:left;" , East Dunbartonshire Independent Alliance , 2,973 , 0.19 , style="background-color:#ffe8e8;" , −0.09 , 2 , ±0 , 0.16 , - style="text-align:right;" , style="background-color:", , style="text-align:left;" ,

Glasgow First Glasgow First was a political party based in Glasgow, Scotland. It was formed in March 2012 after a series of Labour members of Glasgow City Council, said to be a fifth of their number, either resigned or lost the whip. The immediate cause was ...

, 2,547 , 0.16 , style="background-color:#dfd" , +0.16 , 1 , style="background-color:#dfd" , +1 , 0.08 , - style="text-align:right;" , style="background-color:", , style="text-align:left;" ,

Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) is a socialist electoral alliance launched in Britain for the 2010 general election. TUSC's co-founder was the RMT union general secretary Bob Crow. Members of the PCS, NUT, FBU and POA unio ...

, 2,485 , 0.16 , style="background-color:#dfd" , +0.16 , 0 , ±0 , 0.00 , - style="text-align:right;" , style="background-color:", , style="text-align:left;" ,

Christian Party Christian Party may refer to: *Christian Party of Austria * Christian Party (Lithuania) * Christian Party (Samoa) * Christian Party (St. Maarten) * Christian Party (UK), includes the Scottish Christian Party and the Welsh Christian Party *Christian ...

, 2,344 , 0.15 , style="background-color:#dfd" , +0.12 , 0 , ±0 , 0.00 , - style="text-align:right;" , style="background-color:", , style="text-align:left;" , All Scotland Pensioners Party , 2,328 , 0.15 , style="background-color:#dfd" , +0.08 , 0 , ±0 , 0.00 , - style="text-align:right;" , , style="text-align:left;" , Cumbernauld Independent Alliance , 1,894 , 0.12 , style="background-color:#dfd" , +0.02 , 1 , ±0 , 0.08 , - style="text-align:right;" , style="background-color:", , style="text-align:left;" , Unionist , 864 , 0.06 , style="background-color:#ffe8e8;" , −0.09 , 0 , ±0 , 0.00 , - style="text-align:right;" , , style="text-align:left;" , Perth Independent Candidates , 805 , 0.05 , style="background-color:#dfd" , +0.05 , 1 , style="background-color:#dfd" , +1 , 0.08 , - style="text-align:right;" , style="background-color:", , style="text-align:left;" ,

Solidarity ''Solidarity'' is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. It is based on class collaboration.''Merriam Webster'', http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictio ...

, 787 , 0.05 , style="background-color:#ffe8e8;" , −0.81 , 0 , style="background-color:#ffe8e8;" , −1 , 0.00 , - style="text-align:right;" , style="background-color:", , style="text-align:left;" , Socialist Labour Party , 714 , 0.05 , style="background-color:#dfd" , +0.03 , 0 , ±0 , 0.00 , - style="text-align:right;" , , style="text-align:left;" , East Kilbride Alliance , 681 , 0.04 , style="background-color:#ffe8e8;" , −0.03 , 0 , ±0 , 0.00 , - style="text-align:right;" , style="background-color:", , style="text-align:left;" , Liberal , 595 , 0.04 , style="background-color:#ffe8e8;" , −0.02 , 0 , ±0 , 0.00 , - style="text-align:right;" , style="background-color:", , style="text-align:left;" , National Front , 369 , 0.02 , style="background-color:#dfd" , +0.02 , 0 , ±0 , 0.00 , - style="text-align:right;" , style="background-color:", , style="text-align:left;" ,

Pirate Party Pirate Party is a label adopted by Political party, political parties around the world. Pirate parties support Civil and political rights, civil rights, direct democracy (including e-democracy) or alternatively Participatory democracy, partici ...

, 292 , 0.02 , style="background-color:#dfd" , +0.02 , 0 , ±0 , 0.00 , - style="text-align:right;" , style="background-color:", , style="text-align:left;" , Christian Peoples Alliance , 209 , 0.01 , style="background-color:#dfd" , +0.01 , 0 , ±0 , 0.00 , - style="text-align:right;" , style="background-color:", , style="text-align:left;" , Communist Party of Britain , 94 , <0.01 , style="background-color:#dfd" , +0.01 , 0 , ±0 , 0.00 , - style="text-align:right;" , , style="text-align:left;" , Britannica , 73 , <0.01 , , 0 , ±0 , 0.00 , - style="text-align:right;" , style="background-color:", , style="text-align:left;" , Official Monster Raving Loony Party , 67 , <0.01 , , 0 , ±0 , 0.00 , -style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" ! colspan="2" style="text-align:left;" , Total !1,556,773 !100.00 ! ±0.00 !1,223 ! +1 ! 100.00 Note: The net gain/loss and percentage change in number of votes relates to the result of the previous Scottish local elections on 3 May 2007. This differs from the table in the reference above which shows gain/loss relative to seats held at dissolution of Scotland's councils.

Analysis

Councils

, NOC (Ind + LD + Lab) , (SNP + LD + Lab) ,

Details Detail(s) or The Detail(s) may refer to: Film and television * ''Details'' (film), a 2003 Swedish film * ''The Details'' (film), a 2011 American film * ''The Detail'', a Canadian television series * "The Detail" (''The Wire''), a television epis ...

, - ! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" , Inverclyde , (Lab minority) , , (Lab minority) ,