2017 East Dunbartonshire Council election

Elections to East Dunbartonshire Council were held on Thursday 4 May, the same day as the 31 other local authorities in Scotland. The election used seven wards created under the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, a reduction of one from 2012, with 22 Councillors being elected, 2 fewer overall. Each ward elected either 3 or 4 members, using the STV electoral system.

2017 East Dunbartonshire Council election

4 May 2017
All 22 seats to East Dunbartonshire Council 12 seats needed for a majority
Leader Ian Mackay Andrew Polson Vaughan Moody Party SNP Conservative Liberal Democrats Leader's seat Bearsden North (lost re-election) Bearsden South Bearsden South Last election 8 seats, 33.3% 2 seats, 8.3% 3 seats, 12.5% Seats before 8 2 3 Seats won 7 6 6 Seat change 1 4 3   Leader Rhondda Geekie Duncan Cumming Party Labour Independent Leader's seat Lenzie & Kirkintilloch South (lost re-election) Bearsden North Last election 8 seats, 33.3% 1 seat, 4.2% Seats before 8 1 Seats won 2 1 Seat change 6 -
Council Leader before election Rhondda Geekie Labour Council Leader after election Gordan Low SNP

The election saw the Scottish National Party elected as the largest group to replace Labour, which lost all but 2 seats to form the fourth largest group. The Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party gained 4 seats to achieve their highest ever number of councillors, and topped the poll in 5 out of the 7 Wards, while the Scottish Liberal Democrats gained 3 seats. The Independent councillor Duncan Cumming retained his seat.

Former leader of the council and Labour councillor Rhondda Geekie lost her seat as did the former leader of the SNP Group Ian Mackay.

Following the election the SNP formed a minority Administration, although the position of Provost was filled by Conservative Councillor Alan Brown. The Minority Administration was however short lived as on 21 December 2017 Cllr Gordan Low resigned his position as Leader of the Council as did all SNP Councillors from their Administration posts. In an unexpected turn, only weeks later SNP Councillor Jim Gibbons usurped his SNP colleague's position as Convenor of the Licensing Board after Councillor John Jamieson had resigned.

On 20 March 2018 Conservative Leader Councillor Andrew Polson and Lib Dem Leader Vaughan Moody were elected as Co-Leaders of the new Joint Administration, a first in East Dunbartonshire

Election Result

East Dunbartonshire Local Election Result 2017[1]

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	SNP	7	0	1	-1	31.8	28.77%	13,540	+0.47%
	Conservative	6	4	0	+4	27.3	26.45%	12,445	+11.05%
	Liberal Democrats	6	3	0	+3	27.3	15.04%	7,076	+0.14%
	Labour	2	0	6	-6	9.1	13.09%	6,159	-15.21%
	Independent	1	-	-	-	4.5	12.00%	5,649	+5.9%
	Scottish Green	0	-	-	-	-	4.65%	2,187	+3.95%

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 2012. This may differ from other published sources showing gain/loss relative to seats held at dissolution of Scotland's councils.

Ward results

Milngavie

• 2012: 1 x Liberal Democrat, 1 x SNP, 1 x Labour
• 2017: 1 x Liberal Democrat, 1 x SNP, 1 x Conservative
• 2012-2017 Change: 1 x Conservative gain from Labour

Milngavie - 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	Conservative	Graeme McGinigle	27.69%	1,701
	Liberal Democrats	Jim Goodall	27.64%	1,698
	SNP	Jim Gibbons (incumbent)	22.38%	1,375	1,381	1,393	1,486	1,957
	Labour	Maureen Henry (incumbent)	9.29%	571	624	684	796	838
	SNP	Kate Waddell	7.68%	472	473	478	560
	Scottish Green	Gordon Masterton	5.32%	327	342	372
Electorate: TBC   Valid: 6,144   Spoilt: 98   Quota: 1,537   Turnout: 58.7%

Bearsden North

• 2012: 1 x Independent, 1 x Lib Dem, 1 x SNP
• 2017: 1 x Independent, 1 x Lib Dem, 1 x Conservative
• 2012-2017 Change: 1 x Conservative gain from SNP

Bearsden North - 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	Independent	Duncan Cumming (incumbent)	33.23%	2,338
	Conservative	Sheila Mechan	20.78%	1,462	1,635	1,650	1,693	1,780
	Liberal Democrats	Rosie O'Neil	17.97%	1,264	1,449	1,538	1,716	2,415
	SNP	Ian Mackay (incumbent)	18.15%	1,277	1,343	1,496	1,588
	Labour	Eunis Jassemi-Zargani	5.39%	379	411	469
	Scottish Green	Erin Crawley	4.48%	315	355
Electorate: TBC   Valid: 7,035   Spoilt: 69   Quota: 1,759   Turnout: 62.1%

Bearsden South

• 2012: 1 x Liberal Democrat, 1 x SNP, 1 x Labour
• 2017: 1 x Liberal Democrat, 1 x SNP, 1 x Conservative
• 2012-2017: Con gain one seat from Lab

Bearsden South - 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	Conservative	Andrew Polson	27.96%	1,859
	Liberal Democrats	Vaughan Moody (incumbent)	21.62%	1,437	1,519	1,660	2,019
	SNP	Denis Johnston	18.13%	1,205	1,207	1,420	1,547	1,597	1,973
	Independent	Alan Oliver	13.19%	877	919	995	1,123	1,250
	Labour	Manjinder Shergill (incumbent)	10.38%	690	711	815
	Scottish Green	Scott Ferguson	8.72%	580	585
Electorate: TBC   Valid: 6,648   Spoilt: 50   Quota: 1,663   Turnout: 61.7%

Bishopbriggs North and Campsie

• 2017: 2 x SNP, 1 x Liberal Democrat, 1 x Conservative
• 2012-2017 Change: New Ward

Bishopbriggs North and Campsie - 4 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	Conservative	Billy Hendry (incumbent)	30.27%	2,541
	SNP	Paul Ferretti	21.79%	1,829
	SNP	Mohrag Fischer	14.32%	1,202	1,228	1,356	1,498	1,587	1,793
	Liberal Democrats	Gary Pews	11.40%	957	1,301	1,303	1,366	1,502	2,091
	Labour	Gemma Welsh (incumbent)	14.18%	1,191	1,308	1,313	1,364	1,451
	Independent	Brian Reid	4.25%	357	451	454	499
	Scottish Green	Christopher Cotton	3.79%	318	341	348
Electorate: TBC   Valid: 8,395   Spoilt: 127   Quota: 1,680   Turnout: 54.7%

Bishopbriggs South

• 2012: 2 x Labour, 1 x SNP
• 2017: 1 x Labour, 1 x SNP, 1 x Conservative
• 2007-2012 Change: 1 x Conservative gain from Labour

Bishopbriggs South - 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	Conservative	Alan Brown	26.74%	1,631
	SNP	Gordan Low (incumbent)	24.05%	1,467	1,470	1,536
	Labour	Alan Moir (incumbent)	16.27%	992	1,011	1,062	1,062	1,303	2,280
	Labour	Ian Elrick	14.72%	898	926	996	996	1,194
	SNP	Irene Mackay	13.76	839	840	883	892
	Scottish Green	Connor Boyd	4.46%	272	281
Electorate: TBS   Valid: 6,099   Spoilt: 166   Quota: 1,525   Turnout: 50.3%

Lenzie & Kirkintilloch South

• 2012: 1 x Labour, 1 x SNP, 1 x Conservative
• 2017: 1 x Liberal Democrat, 1 x SNP, 1 x Conservative
• 2012-2017 Change: 1 x Liberal Democrat gain from Labour

Lenzie & Kirkintilloch South - 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	Conservative	Sandra Thornton	24.55%	1,634	1,641	1,716
	SNP	Gillian Renwick (incumbent)	22.52%	1,499	1,576	1,611	1,612	2,093
	Liberal Democrats	Rod Ackland	12.09%	805	847	896	914	928	989	1,342	1,825
	Independent	Sandy Taylor	12.19%	811	841	1,037	1,049	1,070	1,180	1,298
	Labour	Rhondda Geekie (incumbent)	10.94%	728	758	777	783	797	859
	SNP	Martin Robertson	7.59%	505	543	552	552
	Independent	Alisdair Sinclair	6.23%	415	431
	Scottish Green	Carolynn Scrimgeour	3.89%	259
Electorate: TBC   Valid: 6,656   Spoilt: 103   Quota: 1,665   Turnout: 56.1%

Kirkintilloch East & North & Twechar

• 2012: 1 x Labour, 1 x EDIA, 1 x SNP
• 2017: 1 x Labour, 1 x SNP, 1 x Liberal Democrat
• 2012-2017 Change: 1 x Liberal Democrat gain from EDIA

Kirkintilloch East & North & Twechar - 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	SNP	John Jamieson (incumbent)	19.80%	1,115	1,132	1,144	1,872
	Labour	Stewart MacDonald (incumbent)	19.33%	1,089	1,101	1,241	1,269	1,366	1,645
	Liberal Democrats	Susan Murray	16.25%	915	931	1,183	1,215	1,281	1,678
	Independent	Willie Paterson	15.11%	851	871	1,028	1,053	1,185
	SNP	Pamela Marshall	14.29%	805	849	858
	Conservative	Alison Lothian	13.16%	741	741
	Scottish Green	Emma Sheppard	2.06%	116
Electorate: TBC   Valid: 5,632   Spoilt: 119   Quota: 1,409   Turnout: 47.9%

References

1. "East Dunbartonshire Election Results". East Dunbartonshire Council. Retrieved 5 May 2017.