2003 Moray Council election

The 2003 Moray Council election was held on 1 May 2003, the same day as the other Scottish local government elections and the Scottish Parliament general election. This was the last election to use the first-past-the-post voting system across 26 single member wards.

Background

The 1999 election to the Moray Council saw the Independent group on the council expand by 13 seats, with the SNP losing 11. It is of note that the number of seats grew from 18 in 1995 to 26 in 1999.

1999 Moray Council election results
Party	Seats	Vote share
Independent	15	36.9%
Labour	6	20.5%
SNP	2	30.4%
Liberal Democrat	2	8.3%
Conservative	1	3.8%

Source:^[1]

Results

2003 Moray Council election result
Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Independent	16	2	1	1	61.5	49.3	14,084	12.4
	Labour	5	0	1	1	19.2	12.7	3,622	7.8
	SNP	3	2	1	1	11.5	25.2	7,194	5.2
	Liberal Democrats	1	0	1	1	3.8	7.9	2,250	0.4
	Conservative	1	0	0		3.8	4.3	1,229	0.5
	Scottish Socialist	0	0	0		0.0	0.6	175	New
Total		26						28,554

Source:^[2]^[3]

Ward results

Buckie Central


Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	John Leslie (Incumbent)	406	41.2
	Independent	Joe Mackay	316	32.0
	SNP	Gordon McDonald	264	26.8
Majority			90	9.2
Turnout			986	40.9
	Labour hold

Buckie East & Findochty


Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Sinclair Longmore (Incumbent)	406	36.5
	SNP	Linda McDonald	355	31.9
	Conservative	David Anderson	263	23.7
	Liberal Democrats	Gordon Holm	88	7.9
Majority			51	4.6
Turnout			1,112	44.3
	Independent hold

Buckie West


Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	William Jappy (Incumbent)	682	67.7
	SNP	Ian Hamilton	326	32.3
Majority			356	35.4
Turnout			1,008	41.3
	Independent hold

Burghsea


Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Eric McGillivray	636	43.4
	Independent	Alastair MacKenzie	353	24.1
	Independent	Cath Millar	204	13.9
	SNP	Angus Munro	170	11.6
	Liberal Democrats	Allison Bullock	103	7.0
Majority			283	19.3
Turnout			1,466	54.4
	Independent gain from Liberal Democrats

Cathedral


Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Ronald Sim	391	46.4
	SNP	Hamish McDonald	259	30.8
	Conservative	Alexander Thomson	136	16.2
	Scottish Socialist	Norma Anderson	56	6.7
Majority			132	15.6
Turnout			842	36.7
	Labour hold

Central West


Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Alastair Bisset (Incumbent)	919	70.2
	SNP	Caroline Dunn	391	29.8
Majority			528	40.4
Turnout			1,310	50.1
	Independent hold

Elgin-Bishopmill East


Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Alexander Keith (Incumbent)	794	67.5
	SNP	Donald Morrison	282	24.0
	Liberal Democrats	Mary McLintock	101	8.6
Majority			512	43.5
Turnout			1,167	43.5
	Labour hold

Elgin-Bishopmill West


Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Alan Burgess (Incumbent)	431	35.1
	Independent	Norman McKay	330	26.9
	SNP	Elaine Cooper	203	16.5
	Conservative	David Terron	187	15.2
	Liberal Democrats	Peter Horton	78	6.3
Majority			101	8.2
Turnout			1,229	46.1
	Labour hold

Fife-Keith & Strathisla


Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Percy Watt (Incumbent)	838	75.0
	SNP	Keith Alderson	279	25.0
Majority			559	50.0
Turnout			1,117	45.8
	Independent hold

Finderne


Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Geoffrey Hamilton	Unopposed
	Independent hold

Forres Central


Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Rex McIntosh (Incumbent)	943	78.4
	Liberal Democrats	Angela Cameron	260	21.6
Majority			683	56.8
Turnout			1,203	44.3
	Independent hold

Forres East


Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Iain Young (Incumbent)	643	47.8
	Independent	Lorna Creswell	400	29.8
	SNP	Jimmy Dingwall	206	15.3
	Liberal Democrats	Sheila Cameron	95	7.1
Majority			243	18.0
Turnout			1,344	54.4
	Conservative hold

Forres West & Altyre


Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Alastair Urquhart (Incumbent)	673	77.7
	Liberal Democrats	Elizabeth Main	193	22.3
Majority			480	55.4
Turnout			866	40.1
	Independent hold

Glenlivet


Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Bob Wilson (Incumbent)	607	59.0
	SNP	Michael McConachie	421	41.0
Majority			186	18.0
Turnout			1,028	43.8
	Independent hold

Heldon & Laich


Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	John Hogg (Incumbent)	810	66.4
	Liberal Democrats	Peter Bullock	207	17.0
	SNP	Alastair Main	203	16.6
Majority			603	49.4
Turnout			1,220	53.0
	Independent hold

Innes


Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Eddie Coutts (Incumbent)	637	48.6
	SNP	Graeme McDonald	365	27.8
	Liberal Democrats	Peter Cromar	263	20.1
	Independent	Kenneth Stuart	46	3.5
Majority			272	20.8
Turnout			1,311	50.5
	Independent hold

Keith


Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal Democrats	Linda Gorn (Incumbent)	477	45.5
	SNP	Rhona Paterson	273	26.0
	Independent	Edwin Henderson	171	16.3
	Labour	Mary McGregor	128	12.2
Majority			204	19.5
Turnout			1,049	44.2
	Liberal Democrats hold

Lennox


Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	George McIntyre	506	40.7
	SNP	Mike Watt	336	27.0
	Independent	Robert Innes	213	17.1
	Liberal Democrats	Michael Reid	120	9.7
	Independent	William Graham	68	5.5
Majority			170	13.7
Turnout			1,243	52.1
	Independent gain from SNP

Lhanbryde & Birnie


Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Roma Hossack	687	61.4
	Labour	Stephen McBean	267	23.9
	Liberal Democrats	Donald Cameron	165	14.7
Majority			420	37.5
Turnout			1,119	48.2
	Independent hold

Lossiemouth East


Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Tom Bothwell	802	68.7
	SNP	Iain Allan	366	31.3
Majority			436	37.4
Turnout			1,168	49.1
	Independent hold

Lossiemouth West


Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	SNP	Joyce Stewart	522	52.8
	Independent	Ian Frame	466	47.2
Majority			56	5.6
Turnout			988	38.2
	SNP gain from Independent

New Elgin East


Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	John Divers	579	55.1
	SNP	Graham Leadbitter	353	33.6
	Scottish Socialist	Alexander MacGillivary	119	11.3
Majority			226	21.5
Turnout			1,051	42.9
	Labour hold

New Elgin West


Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	SNP	Robert Burns	535	52.1
	Labour	Muriel Ettles (Incumbent)	491	47.9
Majority			44	4.2
Turnout			1,025	42.2
	SNP gain from Labour

Rathford


Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Ron Shepherd (Incumbent)	607	47.4
	Independent	Daniel Cook	530	41.4
	SNP	Margaret Hamilton	144	11.2
Majority			77	6.0
Turnout			1,281	55.4
	Independent hold

Rural Keith & Rothes


Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	SNP	Pearl Paul (Incumbent)	581	54.4
	Independent	Gordon Henderson	252	23.6
	Labour	Shuna Dicks	135	12.6
	Liberal Democrats	James Milton	100	9.4
Majority			329	30.8
Turnout			1,068	47.7
	SNP hold

Speyside


Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Edward Aldridge (Incumbent)	982	73.2
	SNP	Peter Farquharson	360	26.8
Majority			682	46.4
Turnout			1,342	51.6
	Independent hold

Aftermath

Buckie West by-election

On 1 July 2004 a by-election was held in the Buckie West ward after the death of independent councillor Bill Jappy.^[4] It was won by independent candidate Joseph Mackay.^[4]


Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Joseph Mackay	552	63.6
	SNP	Gordon McDonald	196	22.6
	Conservative	Ian Moir	89	10.3
	Liberal Democrats	Gordon Holms	31	3.6
Majority			356	41.0
	Independent hold

Source:^[5]

August 2004 Speyside by-election

On 12 August 2004 a by-election was held in the Speyside ward.^[6]


Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	SNP	-	286	30.8
	Independent	-	244	26.3
	Independent	-	187	20.1
	Conservative	-	121	13.0
	Independent	-	91	9.8
Majority			42	4.5
	SNP gain from Independent

November 2004 Speyside by-election

On 11 November 2004 a by-election was held in the Speyside ward.^[6]


Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	-	383	37.6
	Conservative	-	242	23.8
	Independent	-	232	22.8
	Independent	-	99	9.7
	Liberal Democrats	-	62	6.1
Majority			141	13.8
	Independent gain from SNP

References

^ "Scottish Council Elections 1999" (PDF). Elections Centre. Retrieved 24 July 2024.
^ Teale, Andrew. "Local Election Results 2003". Local Elections Archive Project. Retrieved 24 July 2024.
^ "Scottish Council Elections 2003" (PDF). Elections Centre. Retrieved 24 July 2024.
^ ^a ^b "2004" (PDF). Buckie Heritage. April 13, May 18, June 15, July 6. Retrieved 30 July 2024.
^ Teale, Andrew. "Buckie West Ward - Moray". Local Elections Archive Project. Retrieved 28 July 2024.
^ ^a ^b Teale, Andrew. "Speyside Ward - Moray". Local Elections Archive Project. Retrieved 28 July 2024.

[1] "Scottish Council Elections 1999" (PDF). Elections Centre. Retrieved 24 July 2024.

[2] Teale, Andrew. "Local Election Results 2003". Local Elections Archive Project. Retrieved 24 July 2024.

[3] "Scottish Council Elections 2003" (PDF). Elections Centre. Retrieved 24 July 2024.

[:1-4] "2004" (PDF). Buckie Heritage. April 13, May 18, June 15, July 6. Retrieved 30 July 2024.

[5] Teale, Andrew. "Buckie West Ward - Moray". Local Elections Archive Project. Retrieved 28 July 2024.

[:0-6] Teale, Andrew. "Speyside Ward - Moray". Local Elections Archive Project. Retrieved 28 July 2024.

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