Moray Council 2017 Election

← 2012 4 May 2017 (2017-05-04) 2022 →
All 26 seats to Moray Council 14 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Leader Graham Leadbitter & Shona Morrison Tim Eagle George Alexander Party SNP Conservative Independent Leader's seat Elgin South & Fochabers Lhanbryde Buckie Forres Last election 10 seats, 34.62% 3 seats, 11.54% 10 seats, 46.2% Seats after 9 seats, 31.6% 8 seats, 36.1% 8 seats, 24.1% Seat change 1 5 2   Fourth party   Leader John Divers Party Labour Leader's seat Elgin South Last election 3 seats, 7.7% Seats after 1 seats, 4.3% Seat change 2
The 8 multi-member wards
Council Leader before election Stewart Cree Independent Council Leader after election George Alexander Independent

The elections to Moray Council were held on Thursday 4 May 2017, on the same day as the 31 other local authorities in Scotland. It was the third successive Local Council election to run under the STV Electoral System. The election used the eight wards created under the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, with 26 Councillors being elected. Each ward elected either 3 or 4 members, using the STV electoral system.

Following the 2017 election, a Conservative-Independent administration was formed. George Alexander (Independent) was appointed Leader of the council, while James Allan (Conservative) was appointed Convenor of the council.

In May 2018, all but one of the Conservative councillors left the administration, leaving the independents and Convenor James Allan in a minority administration. Following negotiations with other groups, the SNP formed a minority administration in June 2018, with Graham Leadbitter taking on the role of Council Leader and Shona Morrison being appointed Convenor, the first women to take on the role in Moray Council's history.

Summary of results

The Moray Council Elections 2017

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	SNP	9	0	1	1	34.6	31.6	10,518	7.8
	Conservative	8	5	0	5	30.8	36.1	12,010	18.6
	Independent	8	0	2	2	30.8	24.1	8,022	4.8
	Labour	1	0	2	2	3.8	4.3	1,438	4.9
	Scottish Green	0	0	0	0	0.0	2.6	853	0.2
	Liberal Democrats	0	0	0	0	0.0	1.2	410	0.6

Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes. The net gain/loss and percentage changes relate to the result of the previous Scottish local elections in 2012. This may differ from other published sources showing gain/loss relative to seats held at dissolution of Scotland's councils.

Ward results

Speyside Glenlivet

• 2012: 2 X SNP & 1 X Independent
• 2017: 1 X SNP, 1 X Conservative & 1 X Independent^[1]
• 2012-2017: Conservative gain one seat from SNP

Keith & Cullen

• 2012: 2 X Independent & 1 X SNP
• 2017: 1 X SNP, 1 X Conservative & 1 X Independent^[1]
• 2012-2017: Conservative gain one seat from Independent

Buckie

• 2012: 2 X Independent & 1 X SNP
• 2017: 1 X SNP, 1 X Conservative & 1 X Independent^[1]
• 2012-2017: Conservative gain one seat from Independent

Fochabers Lhanbryde

• 2012: 1 X SNP, 1 X Conservative & 1 X Labour
• 2017: 2 X SNP & 1 X Conservative^[1]
• 2012-2017: SNP gain one seat from Labour

Heldon & Laich

• 2012: 2 X Independent, 1 X SNP & 1 X Conservative
• 2017: 2 X Independent, 1 X SNP & 1 X Conservative^[1]
• 2012-2017: No change

Elgin City North

• 2012: 2 X SNP & 1 X Labour
• 2017: 1 X SNP, 1 X Conservative & 1 X Independent^[1]
• 2012-2017: Conservative & Independent each gain one seat from SNP & Labour

Elgin City South

• 2012: 1 X SNP, 1 X Conservative & 1 X Labour
• 2017: 1 X SNP, 1 X Conservative & 1 X Labour
• 2012-2017: No change

Forres

• 2012: 3 X Independent & 1 X SNP
• 2017: 2 X Independent, 1 X SNP & 1 X Conservative^[1]
• 2012-2017: Conservative gain from Independent

Changes since 2017

• † On 10 May 2017, Elgin City North Independent Cllr Sandy Cooper resigned his seat less than a week after being elected in the 2017 elections. A by-election took place on 13 July 2017.^[2] The seat was won by Conservative candidate, Maria Mclean.
• †† On 21 October 2017, Speyside Glenlivet Conservative Cllr Walter Wilson resigned from the party group following disagreements with colleagues in the party group. He now sits as an Independent.^[3]
• ††† On 24 October 2019 Keith and Cullen Independent Cllr Ron Shepherd retired due to ill-health.^[4] A by-election was held on 21 November 2019 and it was won by the Conservative's Laura Powell.

By-elections since 2017