Galloway and Upper Nithsdale (Scottish Parliament constituency)

Galloway and Upper Nithsdale was a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood). It elected one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the plurality (first past the post) method of election. This constituency was abolished for the 2011 election, with 78.4% of the constituency being incorporated into the new Galloway and West Dumfries (Scottish Parliament constituency), with the rest becoming part of the Dumfriesshire (Scottish Parliament constituency).[1]

Galloway and Upper Nithsdale
Former county constituency for the Scottish Parliament
Galloway and Upper Nithsdale shown within the South of Scotland electoral region and the region shown within Scotland
Former constituency
Created	1999
Abolished	2011
Council area	Dumfries and Galloway
Replaced by	Dumfriesshire, Galloway and West Dumfries

Electoral region

Constituency boundaries and council area

The Galloway and Upper Nithsdale constituency was created at the same time as the Scottish Parliament, in 1999, with the name and boundaries of an existing Westminster constituency. In 2005, however, Scottish Westminster (House of Commons) constituencies were mostly replaced with new constituencies.[2]

Member of the Scottish Parliament

Alex Fergusson represented the constituency from the 2003 election until its abolition in 2011, having previously been an MSP for the South of Scotland regional list from 1999 to 2003. Originally elected as a Conservative, he was the Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament from 2007–2011, a post which required him to relinquish party allegiance.

Election		Member	Party
	1999	Alasdair Morgan	Scottish National Party
	2003	Alex Fergusson	Conservative
	2007		Presiding Officer
	2011	constituency abolished: replaced by Dumfriesshire, and Galloway and West Dumfries

Election results

2007 Scottish Parliament election: Galloway and Upper Nithsdale[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Alex Fergusson	13,387	44.2	+5.6
	SNP	Alasdair Morgan	10,054	33.2	-5.0
	Labour	Stephen Hodgson	4,935	16.3	+1.7
	Liberal Democrats	Alastair Cooper	1,631	5.4	-0.9
	Independent	Sandy Richardson	311	1.0	N/A
Majority			3,333	11.0	+10.7
Turnout			31,295
	Conservative hold		Swing

2003 Scottish Parliament election: Galloway and Upper Nithsdale

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Alex Fergusson	11,332	38.2	+ 8.0
	SNP	Alasdair Morgan	11,233	37.9	−1.4
	Labour	Norma Harte	4,299	14.5	−5.9
	Liberal Democrats	Neil Wallace	1,847	6.2	−3.9
	Scottish Socialist	Joy Cherkaoui	709	2.4	+ 2.3
Majority			99	0.3	N/A
Turnout			29,420
	Conservative gain from SNP		Swing	+4.6

1999 Scottish Parliament election: Galloway and Upper Nithsdale

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Alasdair Morgan	13,873	39.3	N/A
	Conservative	Alex Fergusson	10,672	30.2	N/A
	Labour	Jim Stevens	7,209	20.4	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	Joan Mitchell	3,562	10.1	N/A
Majority			3,201	9.1	N/A
Turnout			35,316		N/A
	SNP win (new seat)

Footnotes

1. "The New Scottish Parliament Constituencies 2011" (PDF). BBC News.
2. See The 5th Periodical Report of the Boundary Commission for Scotland Archived 21 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
3. Sub-constituency election results for the 2007 Scottish Parliament elections - data Archived 6 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine- Scotland Office; 30 April 2008 (retrieved 5 April 2011)