Moray by-election, 2006
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A by-election in the Moray constituency of the Scottish Parliament was held on 27 April 2006 following the death of the Scottish National Party (SNP) MSP Margaret Ewing on 21 March 2006, from breast cancer.[1] The seat was successfully defended by the SNP's Richard Lochhead, increasing the majority over the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party by 1073 votes.
Margaret Ewing had held the Holyrood seat since its creation in 1999, having previously represented the Moray constituency as a Westminster MP since the United Kingdom general election, 1987. She had already announced that she would not be contesting the seat in the Scottish Parliament general election, 2007.[2]
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[edit] Result
| Moray By-election 2006[3] | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Scottish National Party | Richard Lochhead | 12,653 | 46.15 | +3.95 | |
| Conservative | Mary Scanlon | 6,268 | 22.86 | +0.35 | |
| Liberal Democrats | Linda Gorn | 5,310 | 19.37 | +7.20 | |
| Labour | Sandy Keith | 2,696 | 9.83 | -9.28 | |
| NHSFirst Party | Melville Brown | 493 | 1.80 | N/A | |
| Majority | 6385 | 23.3 | +3.6 | ||
| Turnout | 27,420 | 45.7 | -0.6 | ||
| Scottish National Party hold | Swing | +1.8 | |||
[edit] Notes on candidates
Richard Lochhead defended the seat for the Scottish National Party.[4] An additional-member MSP for the North East Scotland electoral region since 1999, he had already been selected to contest the seat for the SNP at the Scottish Parliament general election, 2007, beating the incumbent's sister-in-law, former MP Annabelle Ewing.[5] He resigned his list seat to stand in the by-election.
Mary Scanlon, a Conservative MSP for the Highlands and Islands region (which includes Moray), resigned from her list seat to fight as the Conservatives and Unionist candidate.[6] Any sitting MSP intending to fight the by-election must first resign their current seat under section 9 of the Scotland Act.
The Labour candidate was Elgin councillor Sandy Keith. He saw his party's vote share fall in the by-election, resulting in increases for all the other parties.
The Liberal Democrat candidate was Linda Gorn, came fourth when she fought the seat in 2003 but improved her performance substantially in the by-election, moving to third place not far behind the Conservative candidate and increasing her share of the vote more than any other candidate.
The Scottish Socialist Party announced that they would not be entering a candidate.[7] They decided that they, in common with the Scottish Green Party, will concentrate on campaigning for regional list votes (Additional member system) at the next Scottish Parliament general election, 2007.
Melville Brown, a former Conservative and Unionist candidate for Edinburgh East, stood for the NHSFirst Party, the first time the party has contested an election. Brown is the party chairman.[8]
[edit] 2003 election result
| Scottish parliamentary election, 2003: Moray [9] | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Scottish National Party | Margaret Ewing | 11,384 | 42.2 | +3.4 | |
| Conservative | Tim Wood | 6,072 | 22.5 | −3.1 | |
| Labour | Peter Peacock | 5,157 | 19.1 | −7.4 | |
| Liberal Democrats | Linda Gorn | 3,283 | 12.2 | +3.1 | |
| Scottish Socialist | Norma Anderson | 1,085 | 4.0 | +4.0 | |
| Majority | 5,312 | 19.7 | |||
| Turnout | 26,981 | 46.3 | |||
| Scottish National Party hold | Swing | +3.3 | |||
[edit] Campaign controversies
The Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party became embroiled in a row with local two local independent councillors. Handwritten notes were sent out in their wards allegedly from the councillors, but the councillors subsequently denied having given permission for the letters to be used.[10]. It was later revealed that they had given permission but withdrew their support as a result of pressure by the SNP, this was barely covered in the local media.[citation needed]
The following week, a local newspaper, the Northern Scot, reported the Liberal Democrats to the Electoral Commission for attributing quotes in leaflets to the newspaper itself rather than to the specific Liberal Democrats whom the paper had been quoting.[11]
It should be noted that both of the above were given widespread coverage in the Nothern Scot Newspaper.
In the final week of the by-election, Robbie Rowantree, the Conservative and Unionist candidate for the neighbouring UK Parliament constituency of Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey in the 2005 general election, announced he was joining the Liberal Democrats.[12]
[edit] References
- ^ "Reid names day for Holyrood by-election in Moray seat", The Scotsman, 2006-03-30. Retrieved on 2006-03-30.
- ^ "SNP veteran Margaret Ewing dies", BBC News, 2006-03-21. Retrieved on 2006-03-21.
- ^ Election of Member to serve in the Scottish Parliament for the Moray constituency (PDF) (2006-04-28). Retrieved on 2006-05-12.
- ^ SNP Select Lochhead for Moray By-Election. Retrieved on 2006-04-06.
- ^ "Salmond closer to Holyrood return", BBC News, 2006-01-04. Retrieved on 2006-03-22.
- ^ "Tory MSP steps down to fight seat", BBC News, 2006-03-28. Retrieved on 2006-03-28.
- ^ Louise Gray. "Four-way Moray by-election battle begins", The Scotsman, 2006-04-05. Retrieved on 2006-04-06.
- ^ "Five candidates to contest Moray", 2006-04-10. Retrieved on 2006-04-11.
- ^ BBC NEWS - VOTE 2003. Retrieved on 2006-03-21.
- ^ Frank Urquhart. "Police urged to investigate 'dishonest and deceitful' Tory election tactics", The Scotsman, 2006-04-15. Retrieved on 2006-04-15.
- ^ "Lib-Dems draw 'Scot' into by-election deceit", The Northern Scot, 2006-04-21. Retrieved on 2006-04-20.
- ^ "Tory defector hits out at party", icDunbartonshire, 2006-04-24. Retrieved on 2006-04-24.
