The 2012 Scottish Local Elections, will be held on May 3, in all 32 Scottish Local Authorities. The election was due to be held on May 5, 2011, but Scottish Ministers heeded the advice of the Gould Report and split the Holyrood and Local Elections - in order to avoid a repeat of the 2007 fiasco. These local elections will be the second since the Single Transferable Vote

Single transferable vote

The single transferable vote is a voting system designed to achieve proportional representation through preferential voting. Under STV, an elector's vote is initially allocated to his or her most preferred candidate, and then, after candidates have been either elected or eliminated, any surplus or...

 (STV) was first introduced for the 2007 local government elections.

This election will be the first since the SNP

Scottish National Party

The Scottish National Party is a social-democratic political party in Scotland which campaigns for Scottish independence from the United Kingdom....

 won a majority in the Scottish Parliament. They will also be the first local elections in Scotland since 1995

Scottish local elections, 1995

Local elections were held in Scotland on 6 April 1995, as part of the Local Government etc. Act 1994. The elections were held for the 29 new mainland unitary authorities created under the act, which replaced the nine former regions established in 1975. The three island areas were retained from...

 not to take place at the same time as a Scottish parliamentary election.

New eCounting system

In October 2010 a new company - Logica was awarded the contract for the vote counting system for the 2012 council elections, and since January 2011 testing has been under way to sort out many issues. On the 5 August 2011, A Dummy election was set up in Perth to test out new "eCounting" system, as part of robust test, in which 160,000 ballot papers run through the machine. This forms third stage of rigorous testing of the system in partition of the these elections.

Results

Results to follow:
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Party		Councils - majority	Councils - in coalition/minority	Councillors
	Other
	No overall control		-	-

Councils

Council	2007 result United Kingdom local elections, 2007 The 2007 UK local government elections were held on 3 May 2007. These elections took place in most of England and all of Scotland. There were no local government elections in Wales though the Welsh Assembly had a general election on the same day. There were no local government elections in Northern...		Control before election (change in control since May 2007, if different)	2012 result		Details
Aberdeen City Aberdeen City Council Aberdeen City Council represents the Aberdeen City council area of Scotland.The council area was created in 1996, under the Local Government etc. Act 1994... (LD + SNP)	NOC (SNP + LD)			Details
Aberdeenshire Aberdeenshire Aberdeenshire is one of the 32 unitary council areas in Scotland and a lieutenancy area.The present day Aberdeenshire council area does not include the City of Aberdeen, now a separate council area, from which its name derives. Together, the modern council area and the city formed historic... (LD + Con)				Details
Angus Angus Angus is one of the 32 local government council areas of Scotland, a registration county and a lieutenancy area. The council area borders Aberdeenshire, Perth and Kinross and Dundee City... (Ind + Con + LD + Lab)				Details
Argyll and Bute Argyll and Bute Argyll and Bute is both one of 32 unitary council areas; and a Lieutenancy area in Scotland. The administrative centre for the council area is located in Lochgilphead.Argyll and Bute covers the second largest administrative area of any Scottish council... (Ind + SNP)				Details
Clackmannanshire Clackmannanshire Clackmannanshire, often abbreviated to Clacks is a local government council area in Scotland, and a lieutenancy area, bordering Perth and Kinross, Stirling and Fife.As Scotland's smallest historic county, it is often nicknamed 'The Wee County'.... (Lab minority)				Details
Dumfries and Galloway Dumfries and Galloway Dumfries and Galloway is one of 32 unitary council areas of Scotland. It was one of the nine administrative 'regions' of mainland Scotland created in 1975 by the Local Government etc. Act 1973... (Con + LD)				Details
Dundee City (Lab + LD)	NOC			Details
East Ayrshire East Ayrshire East Ayrshire is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders on to North Ayrshire, East Renfrewshire, South Lanarkshire, South Ayrshire and Dumfries and Galloway... (SNP minority)	Labour			Details
East Dunbartonshire East Dunbartonshire This article is about the East Dunbartonshire council area of Scotland. See also East Dunbartonshire .East Dunbartonshire is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders onto the north-west of the City of Glasgow. It contains many of the suburbs of Glasgow as well as containing many of... (Lab + Con)				Details
East Lothian East Lothian East Lothian is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, and a lieutenancy Area. It borders the City of Edinburgh, Scottish Borders and Midlothian. Its administrative centre is Haddington, although its largest town is Musselburgh.... (SNP + LD)				Details
East Renfrewshire East Renfrewshire East Renfrewshire is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. Until 1975 it formed part of the county of Renfrewshire for local government purposes along with the modern council areas of Renfrewshire and Inverclyde... (Lab + LD + Ind + Con)				Details
City of Edinburgh (LD + SNP)				Details
Falkirk Falkirk (council area) Falkirk is one of the 32 unitary authority council areas in Scotland. It borders onto North Lanarkshire to the south west, Stirling to the north west, West Lothian to the south east and, across the Firth of Forth to the north east, Fife and Clackmannanshire... (Lab + Ind + Con)				Details
Fife Fife Fife is a council area and former county of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries to Perth and Kinross and Clackmannanshire... (LD + SNP)				Details
Glasgow City				Details
Highland Politics of the Highland council area Politics of the Highland council area in Scotland are evident in the deliberations and decisions of the Highland Council, in elections to the council, and in elections to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and the Scottish Parliament... (Ind + SNP)}				Details
Inverclyde Inverclyde Inverclyde is one of 32 council areas used for local government in Scotland. Together with the Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire council areas, Inverclyde forms part of the historic county of Renfrewshire - which current exists as a registration county and lieutenancy area - located in the west... (Lab minority)				Details
Midlothian Midlothian Midlothian is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, and a lieutenancy area. It borders the Scottish Borders, East Lothian and the City of Edinburgh council areas.... (Lab minority)				Details
Moray Moray Moray is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It lies in the north-east of the country, with coastline on the Moray Firth, and borders the council areas of Aberdeenshire and Highland.- History :... (Ind + Con)				Details
Na h-Eileanan Siar Comhairle nan Eilean Siar Comhairle nan Eilean Siar is the local government council for Na h-Eileanan Siar council area of Scotland.It is the only local council in Scotland to have a Gaelic-only name...	Independent			Details
North Ayrshire North Ayrshire North Ayrshire is one of 32 council areas in Scotland with a population of roughly 136,000 people. It is located in the south-west region of Scotland, and borders the areas of Inverclyde to the north, Renfrewshire to the north-east and East Ayrshire and South Ayrshire to the East and South... (Lab minority)				Details
North Lanarkshire North Lanarkshire North Lanarkshire is one of 32 council areas in Scotland. It borders onto the northeast of the City of Glasgow and contains much of Glasgow's suburbs and commuter towns and villages. It also borders Stirling, Falkirk, East Dunbartonshire, West Lothian and South Lanarkshire...	Labour			Details
Orkney Orkney Islands Orkney also known as the Orkney Islands , is an archipelago in northern Scotland, situated north of the coast of Caithness...	Independent			Details
Perth and Kinross Perth and Kinross Council Perth and Kinross Council is the local government council for the Perth and Kinross council area of Scotland. It employs nearly 5000 employees.The council was created in 1996, under the Local Government etc... (SNP + LD)				Details
Renfrewshire Renfrewshire Renfrewshire is one of 32 council areas used for local government in Scotland. Located in the west central Lowlands, it is one of three council areas contained within the boundaries of the historic county of Renfrewshire, the others being Inverclyde to the west and East Renfrewshire to the east... (SNP + LD)				Details
Scottish Borders Scottish Borders The Scottish Borders is one of 32 local government council areas of Scotland. It is bordered by Dumfries and Galloway in the west, South Lanarkshire and West Lothian in the north west, City of Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian to the north; and the non-metropolitan counties of Northumberland... (Ind + Con + LD)				Details
Shetland Shetland Islands Shetland is a subarctic archipelago of Scotland that lies north and east of mainland Great Britain. The islands lie some to the northeast of Orkney and southeast of the Faroe Islands and form part of the division between the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the North Sea to the east. The total...	Independent			Details
South Ayrshire South Ayrshire South Ayrshire is one of 32 council areas of Scotland, covering the southern part of Ayrshire. It borders onto East Ayrshire, North Ayrshire and Dumfries and Galloway.... (Con minority)				Details
South Lanarkshire South Lanarkshire South Lanarkshire is one of 32 unitary council areas of Scotland, covering the southern part of the former county of Lanarkshire. It borders the south-east of the city of Glasgow and contains many of Glasgow's suburbs, commuter towns and smaller villages.... (Lab minority)				Details
Stirling Stirling (council area) Stirling is one of the 32 unitary local government council areas of Scotland, and has a population of about 87,000 . It was created under the Local Government etc Act 1994 with the boundaries of the Stirling district of the former Central local government region, and it covers most of the former... (Lab minority)				Details
West Dunbartonshire West Dunbartonshire West Dunbartonshire is one of the 32 local government council areas of Scotland. Bordering onto the west of the City of Glasgow, containing many of Glasgow's commuter towns and villages as well as the city's suburbs, West Dunbartonshire also borders onto Argyll and Bute, Stirling, East... (SNP + Ind)	Labour			Details
West Lothian West Lothian West Lothian is one of the 32 unitary council areas in Scotland, and a Lieutenancy area. It borders the City of Edinburgh, Falkirk, North Lanarkshire, the Scottish Borders and South Lanarkshire.... (SNP + Ind)				Details