Friday November 28th 2014
Labour’s Kenny Young has won the Midlothian East by-election. He was elected at Stage 5 with 1,682 of the votes. The SNP candidate, Colin Cassidy, had 1,613. The by-election was held after Councillor Peter Boyes stepped down earlier this year due to ill health.
The turnout was 34.1%.
The candidates and the number of first preference votes each received were as follows:
Colin Cassidy – Scottish National Party – 1,260
Euan Davidson – Scottish Liberal Democrats – 68
Andrew Hardie – Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party – 331
Robert Hogg – Independent – 780
Bill Kerr-Smith – Scottish Green Party – 197
Kenny Young – Scottish Labour Party – 1,294
Total number of ballots received: 3970
Eligible electorate: 11,637
Percentage turnout: 34.1%
Total number of rejected votes: 40
Total number of valid votes: 3930
Quota: 1,966
The election on Thursday 28 November with the count held on the Friday, was by the Single Transferable Vote System, a form of proportional representation that uses preferential voting in multi-member constituencies.
Candidates don’t need a majority of votes to be elected, just a known ‘quota’ or share of the votes, determined by the size of the poll and the number of positions to be filled.
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