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All 18 seats to Clackmannanshire Council 10 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Registered | 40,241 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Turnout | 43.8% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Elections to Clackmannanshire Council took place on 5 May 2022, the same day as the 31 other Scottish local government elections. As with other Scottish council elections, it was held using single transferable vote (STV)—a form of proportional representation—in which multiple candidates are elected in each ward and voters rank candidates in order of preference.
For the third consecutive election, the Scottish National Party (SNP) were returned as the largest party with nine seats, but remained shy of an overall majority. Labour gained back some of the ground they had lost at the previous election and were again returned as the second-largest party with five seats. The Conservatives lost 40 per cent of their seats to return three councillors, while the Greens their first seat in a Clackmannanshire election.
The minority SNP administration retained control of the council with incumbent council leader Cllr Ellen Forson re-elected to the post. Cllr Donald Balsillie was elected Provost and Cllr Phil Fairlie was selected as the council's first convener.
Background
Previous election
At the previous election in 2017, the Scottish National Party (SNP) again won the most seats and governed with a minority administration, having returned eight councillors. Labour experienced heavy losses as their number fell from eight to five; they became the second largest party. The Conservatives made a net gain of four to hold five seats.[1][2]
| Party | Seats | Vote share | |
|---|---|---|---|
| SNP | 8 | 37.1% | |
| Labour | 5 | 27.8% | |
| Conservatives | 5 | 24.9% |
Electoral system
The election used the five wards created under the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, with 18 councillors being elected. Each ward elected either 3 or 4 members, using the single transferable vote (STV)—a form of proportional representation—electoral system where candidates are ranked in order of preference.[3]
Composition
The only change to the composition of the council came in March 2018 when Conservative councillor Chris Dixon resigned from the party and sat as an independent.[2][4] Three by-elections were held and resulted in two SNP holds[5][6] and a Conservative hold.[7]
| Party | 2017 election | Dissolution | |
|---|---|---|---|
| SNP | 8 | 8 | |
| Labour | 5 | 5 | |
| Conservative | 5 | 4 | |
| Independent | 0 | 1 |
Retiring councillors
| Ward | Party | Retiring councillor | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clackmannanshire West | Labour | George Matchett | |
| SNP | Tina Murphy | ||
| Les Sharp | |||
| Clackmannanshire North | Labour | Dave Clark | |
| SNP | Helen Lewis | ||
| Clackmannanshire Central | Labour | Derek Stewart | |
| Conservative | Mike Watson | ||
| Clackmannanshire South | Independent | Chris Dixon | |
| Clackmannanshire East | SNP | Graham Lindsay | |
Candidates
The total number of candidates increased from 35 in 2017 to 36. The SNP again stood the most candidates at nine. However, this was two less than they had fielded in 2017. Similarly, the number of Labour candidates was less than 2017, with eight candidates standing across the five wards—one fewer than 2017. The Conservatives stood six candidates—up one from 2017—while the Greens also contested every ward, standing five candidates—the same number as they had in 2017. The number of Liberal Democrats standing (three) was one fewer than in 2017 and the number of independent candidates (three) increased by two. For the first time, the Alba Party contested an election in Clackmannanshire, standing two candidates.[2][8]