There are three by-elections taking place this week, including two caused by the death of one Councillor. This is in Gloucestershire where the Conservatives are defending a seat on the Stroud District Council as well for the County Council. The other by-election is for the Angus Council in Scotland which means we have an AV election to cover. Sadly, the seat is quite safe and so it's unlikely to be a good example of the voting system which could soon be used to elect our Westminster MPs.
We'll start in Scotland where a seat in the Carnoustie & District ward is vacant following the resignation of the Scottish Nationalist Councillor Ralph Palmer due to ill health. Palmer was the third candidate to win election in 2007 after his running mate comfortably topped the vote. He, naturally, won the majority of her transfers which pushed him from fifth to third. He managed to hold this position in the following rounds. The combined first preferences the two SNP candidates received amounted to over 45% of the vote and if they manage that tomorrow then they are unlikely to be overtaken in the subsequent reallocations. The swing in Scotland has been largely to Labour at the expense of the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats, so although we may see the reds get a bit closer than they managed last time around they will need to take a quite few votes directly off the SNP to make this close. Currently Angus Council is run by an anti-SNP coalition so a gain would just strengthen the current administration.
Angus Council | ||||||
CON | IG | LD | LAB | SNP | IND | VAC |
5 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 12 | 1 | 1 |
Carnoustie & District | ||||||
By-Election Candidate | 2007 | |||||
Ed Oswald (SNP) | 46.6% | |||||
Ron Thoms (LAB) | 21.8% | |||||
Eddie Wilmott (CON) | 16.3% | |||||
Charles Goodall (LD) | 14.1% | |||||
N/C (Solidarity) | 1.2% | |||||
Brian Boyd (IND) | - | |||||
In Gloucestershire, the death of the Conservative Councillor Stephen Glanfield has left vacancies for the Rodborough ward on the County Council and Amberley & Woodchester, Stroud DC. The larger County ward is the more competitive of the two as the Liberal Democrats ran Glandfield quite close in 2009. They have selected the same candidate to fight this by-election and Christine Headley will gain the seat for the Lib Dems on a 2% swing. Both Headley and her Conservative opponent Nigel Cooper represent the smaller Rodborough ward on the Stroud District Council so they are well known in the local area.
Glanfield won his District seat with ease in 2008, securing over 50% of the vote. The Greens won the race for second last time around but they have not put forward a candidate for the District ward, which covers the south west area of the County ward that they are contesting. The Tories have comfortable majorities on both Councils, although there are partial elections for Stroud taking place in May.
Rodborough (Gloucestershire) | Amberly & Woodchester (Stroud) | |||
By-Election Candidate | 2009 | By-Election Candidate | 2008 | |
Nigel Cooper (CON) | 35.3% | Rhiannon Wigzell (CON) | 54.3% | |
Christine Headley (LD) | 31.3% | N/C (GRN) | 18.1% | |
Phil Blomberg (GRN) | 21.1% | Jo Smith (LAB) | 15.7% | |
Brian Oosthuysen (LAB) | 12.2% | Adrian Walker-Smith (LD) | 11.8% | |
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