2012 Scottish local elections

2012 Scottish local elections

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All 1,223 seats to 32 Scottish councils
Turnout	39.6% (13.2%)[1]
First party Second party   Leader Alex Salmond Johann Lamont Party SNP Labour Leader since 3 September 2004 17 December 2011 Last election 363 seats, 27.9% 348 seats, 28.1% Seats won 425 394 Seat change 62 46 First preferences 503,233 488,703 First preferences (%) 32.33% 31.39% Swing (pp) 4.48% 3.26%   Third party Fourth party   Leader Ruth Davidson Willie Rennie Party Conservative Liberal Democrats Leader since 4 November 2011 17 May 2011 Last election 143 seats, 15.6% 166 seats, 12.7% Seats won 115 71 Seat change 28 95 First preferences 206,599 103,087 First preferences (%) 13.27% 6.62% Swing (pp) 2.35% 6.05%
Popular vote by council areas. Council controls post elections
Colours denote the party with the most seats
Colours denote the party with largest share of first preference votes by ward

The 2012 Scottish local elections were held on 3 May 2012 in all 32 local authorities. The Scottish National Party (SNP) overtook Labour to win the highest share of the vote, and retained and strengthened its position as the party with most councillors. Labour also made gains, while the Liberal Democrats experienced meltdown, losing over half their seats and falling behind the Conservatives. For the first time since the introduction of the Single Transferable Vote system, the SNP won majority control of 2 councils, from no overall control. Labour also won majority control of 2 councils from no overall control, while retaining majority control over 2 councils.

Independent councillors retained majority control over the 3 island councils. The 23 other councils remained under no overall control.