2005 Devon County Council election

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All 62 seats to Devon County Council[1] 32 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   LD Con Lab Party Liberal Democrats Conservative Labour Last election 22 seats, 35.8% 22 seats, 37.4% 4 seats, 16.7% Seats won 33 23 4 Seat change 12[note 1] 1[note 1] 1 Popular vote 142,414 142,732 44,813 Percentage 38.0% 38.0% 11.9% Swing 2.1% 0.6% 4.6% Reference [2][3] [2][3] [2][3]   Fourth party Fifth party   Ind Lib Party Independent Liberal Last election 3 seats, 6.1% 3 seats, 2.0% Seats won 2 0 Seat change 1 3 Popular vote 16,692 4,300 Percentage 4.4% 1.1% Swing 1.7% 0.9% Reference [2][3] [2][3]
Council control before election No overall control Council control after election Liberal Democrat

The 2005 Devon County Council election was an election to Devon County Council which took place on 5 May 2005 as part of the 2005 United Kingdom local elections. 62 councillors were elected from various electoral divisions, which returned either one or two county councillors each by first-past-the-post voting for a four-year term of office. The electoral divisions had been redrawn since the last election in 2001. No elections were held in Plymouth and Torbay, which are unitary authorities outside the area covered by the County Council.

All locally registered electors (British, Irish, Commonwealth and European Union citizens) who were aged 18 or over on election day were entitled to vote in the local elections.

Summary

The election saw the Liberal Democrats regained control of the council, which had last been under Liberal Democrat control after the 1997 election, but had been under no overall control since the 2001 election.^[1] The Conservative Party gained only one seat, despite the increase in the number of seats from 54 to 62 after redistricting, becoming the second-largest party on the council and therefore the official opposition party. The Liberal Party lost all three of its seats in the election, while the Independent grouping lost one seat. The Gallagher index for the election, which measures the disproportionality of seat allocation, was 11.94.^{[note 3]}

Results

Devon County Council election, 2005[3][5]
Party		Seats	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Liberal Democrats	33	12	53.2	38.0	142,414
	Conservative	23	1	37.1	38.0	142,732
	Labour	4	1	6.5	11.9	44,813
	Independent	2	2	3.2	4.4	16,692
	UKIP	0		0.0	3.9	14,643
	Green	0		0.0	2.5	9,539
	Liberal	0	2	0.0	1.1	4,300

Electoral division results