2017 Moray Council election

←  2012 4 May 2017 (2017-05-04) 2022 →
All 26 seats to Moray Council 14 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party   Leader Graham Leadbitter & Shona Morrison Tim Eagle Party SNP Conservative Leader's seat Elgin South & Fochabers Lhanbryde Buckie Last election 10 seats, 39.4% 3 seats, 17.5% Seats before 11 10 Seats won 9 8 Seat change 1 5 Popular vote 10,518 12,010 Percentage 31.6% 36.1% Swing 7.9% 18.6%   Third party Fourth party   Leader George Alexander John Divers Party Independent Labour Leader's seat Forres Elgin City South Last election 10 seats, 28.8% 3 seats, 9.2% Seats before 3 2 Seats won 8 1 Seat change 2 2 Popular vote 8,022 1,483 Percentage 24.1% 4.3% Swing 4.8% 4.9%
The 8 multi-member wards
Council Leader before election Stewart Cree Independent Council Leader after election George Alexander Independent

The 2017 elections to Moray Council were held on Thursday 4 May 2017, on the same day as the 31 other local authorities in Scotland. It was the third successive Local Council election to run under the STV Electoral System. The election used the eight wards created under the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, with 26 Councillors being elected. Each ward elected either 3 or 4 members, using the STV electoral system - a form of proportional representation.

Following the election, a Conservative- Independent administration was formed. Independent councillor George Alexander was appointed Leader of the council, while Conservative councillor James Allan was appointed Convenor of the council.

In May 2018, all but one of the Conservative councillors left the administration, leaving the independents and Convenor James Allan in a minority administration. Following negotiations with other groups, the SNP formed a minority administration in June 2018, with Graham Leadbitter taking on the role of Council Leader and Shona Morrison being appointed Convenor, the first women to take on the role in Moray Council's history.

At the previous election in 2012, the Scottish National Party saw their seat count increase by 1, and became the largest grouping on the council by vote share. The Independent group lost 2 seats and the Conservatives held all of their seats. Labour increased their representation on the council by 1. Due to the SNP not having enough seats to form an administration, the previous coalition between the Conservatives and the Independents group stayed as the Council's administration.

Source: ^{[1] [2]}

There were 5 by-elections in the 2012-17 term. There were 2 by-elections in the Heldon & Laich ward ward: one resulted in an Independent gain from SNP, and the other was an Independent hold. There were 2 further by-elections in the Buckie ward: one resulted in an SNP gain from Independent, and the other resulted in an Independent hold. The other by-election was held in the Elgin City North ward, which resulted in an SNP gain from Labour.

Source: ^[2]

2017 Moray Council election result

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	SNP	9	0	1	1	34.6	31.6	10,518	7.8
	Conservative	8	5	0	5	30.8	36.1	12,010	18.6
	Independent	8	0	2	2	30.8	24.1	8,022	4.8
	Labour	1	0	2	2	3.8	4.3	1,438	4.9
	Scottish Green	0	0	0		0.0	2.6	853	0.2
	Liberal Democrats	0	0	0		0.0	1.2	410	0.6
Total		26						33,296

Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes. The net gain/loss and percentage changes relate to the result of the previous Scottish local elections in 2012. This may differ from other published sources showing gain/loss relative to seats held at dissolution of Scotland's councils.

Source: ^{[3] [4]}

• 2012: 2 X SNP & 1 X Independent
• 2017: 1 X SNP, 1 X Conservative & 1 X Independent
• 2012-2017: Conservative gain one seat from SNP

Source: ^{[5] [6]}

• 2012: 2 X Independent & 1 X SNP
• 2017: 1 X SNP, 1 X Conservative & 1 X Independent
• 2012-2017: Conservative gain one seat from Independent

Source: ^{[7] [8]}

• 2012: 2 X Independent & 1 X SNP
• 2017: 1 X SNP, 1 X Conservative & 1 X Independent
• 2012-2017: Conservative gain one seat from Independent

Source: ^{[9] [10]}

• 2012: 1 X SNP, 1 X Conservative & 1 X Labour
• 2017: 2 X SNP & 1 X Conservative
• 2012-2017: SNP gain one seat from Labour

Source: ^{[11] [12]}

• 2012: 2 X Independent, 1 X SNP & 1 X Conservative
• 2017: 2 X Independent, 1 X SNP & 1 X Conservative
• 2012-2017: No change

Source: ^{[13] [14]}

• 2012: 2 X SNP & 1 X Labour
• 2017: 1 X SNP, 1 X Conservative & 1 X Independent
• 2012-2017: Conservative & Independent each gain one seat from SNP & Labour

Source: ^{[15] [16]}

• 2012: 1 X SNP, 1 X Conservative & 1 X Labour
• 2017: 1 X SNP, 1 X Conservative & 1 X Labour
• 2012-2017: No change

Source: ^{[17] [18]}

• 2012: 3 X Independent & 1 X SNP
• 2017: 2 X Independent, 1 X SNP & 1 X Conservative
• 2012-2017: Conservative gain from Independent

Source: ^{[19] [20]}

As no single party was able to form an administration on its own, a coalition administration between the Conservatives and the Independent group was formed, which was a continuation of the coalition administration since 2007. An Independent councillor was appointed council leader and a Conservative councillor was appointed Convenor.

However, in May 2018, the Conservative-Independent administration collapsed. After negotiations with other groups, the SNP formed a minority administration in June 2018, with SNP co-leader Cllr. Graham Leadbitter taking on the role of Council Leader and SNP co-leader Cllr. Shona Morrison being appointed Convenor.

On 21 October 2017, Speyside Glenlivet Conservative Cllr Walter Wilson resigned from the party group following disagreements with colleagues in the party group. He sat as an Independent. ^[21]

On 10 May 2017, Elgin City North Independent Cllr Sandy Cooper resigned his seat less than a week after being elected in the 2017 elections. A by-election took place on 13 July 2017. ^[22] The seat was won by Conservative candidate, Maria Mclean.

Source: ^{[23] [24]}

On 24 October 2019 Keith and Cullen Independent Cllr Ron Shepherd retired due to ill-health. ^[25] A by-election was held on 21 November 2019 and it was won by the Conservative's Laura Powell.

Source: ^{[26] [27]}