2022 Dumfries and Galloway Council election

2022 Dumfries and Galloway Council election

5 May 2022 (2022-05-05)

All 43 seats to Dumfries and Galloway Council
22 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Ian Carruthers Rob Davidson Elaine Murray
Party Conservative SNP Labour
Leader's seat Annandale South Abbey
(stood down)
Nith
(stood down)
Last election 16 seats, 37.2% 11 seats, 20.7% 11 seats, 17.7%
Seats won 16 11 9
Seat change 2
Popular vote 21,462 15,602 9,169
Percentage 38.8% 28.2% 16.6%
Swing 1.6% 7.5% 1.1%

  Fourth party Fifth party
 
Ind
Leader Richard Brodie
Party Independent Liberal Democrats
Leader's seat Annandale South
Last election 4 seats, 20.0% 1 seat, 2.4%
Seats won 6 1
Seat change 2
Popular vote 4,762 1,810
Percentage 8.6% 3.3%
Swing 11.4% 0.9%

A map of Dumfries & Galloway showing the political parties with the most 1st preference votes in each ward.

A pie chart showing the share of 1st preference votes in Dumfries & Galloway.

Leader before election

Elaine Murray
(Labour)
No overall control

Co-leaders after election

Stephen Thompson (SNP) and
Linda Dorward (Labour)
No overall control

Elections to Dumfries and Galloway Council took place on 5 May 2022 on 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 second consecutive election, the Conservatives were returned as the largest party with 16 seats but remained shy of an overall majority. The Scottish National Party (SNP) increased their vote share by 7.5% but failed to make any gains and were again returned as the second-largest party with 11 seats. Labour lost two seats to return nine councillors while the Liberal Democrats retained their only seat. Six independent candidates were also elected – an increase of two.

The Labour–SNP coalition administration retained control of the council with support from two independents and Lib Dem councillor Richard Brodie. Cllrs Stephen Thompson and Linda Dorward were elected co-leaders of the council. However, the partnership collapsed less than a year after the election as the Conservatives took minority control of the council.