SB 14-09 Cowdenbeath By-Election

The Scottish Parliament and Scottish Parliament Infor mation C entre l ogos.

SPICe Briefing Cowdenbeath by-election 24 January 2014 14/09 Andrew Aiton and Ross Burnside

This briefing summarises the results of the Cowdenbeath by-election held on Thursday 23 January 2014.

INTRODUCTION This briefing summarises the result of the Cowdenbeath by-election to the Scottish Parliament held on 23 January 2014. The by-election was held after the death of Helen Eadie MSP who died on 9 November 2013.

Seven candidates stood in the Cowdenbeath by-election. Table 1 below presents the full list of candidates.

Table 1: List of candidates at the Cowdenbeath by-election

Candidate Political Party Denise Baykal UK Independence Party Dave Dempsey Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party Stuart Graham The Victims Final Right Party Jade Holden Scottish Liberal Democrats Natalie McGarry Scottish National Party (SNP) Alex Rowley Scottish Labour James Trolland Scottish Democratic Alliance

COWDENBEATH BY-ELECTON RESULT Table 2 presents the Cowdenbeath by-election result and compares it to the 2011 Scottish Parliament General Election result. Alex Rowley won the by-election for the Scottish Labour Party with 11,192 votes (55.8%) of the votes polled. The Labour Party increased its majority from 1,247 votes in 2011 to 5,488 votes, and their share of vote increased by 9.3%. The SNP remained in 2nd place with 5,704 votes, a fall of 4,975 votes on the 2011 election and a 13.2% fall in the share of the vote. The Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party were 3rd with 1,893 votes or 9.4% of the vote. UKIP were 4th with 610 votes or 3% of votes polled and the Liberal Democrats dropped to 5th (from 4th in 2011) with 425 votes or 2.1% of the vote.

The total number of votes cast fell from 2011 by 5,608. The size of the electorate increased from 54,284 in 2011 to 57,687 in 2014. The combination of the reduction in the number of votes cast and the increased electorate resulted in a fall in turnout of 12.6 percentage points (from 47.4% in 2011 to 34.8% in the 2014 by-election).

2 Table 2: Cowdenbeath by-election result, compared with 2011 General Election

2011 Election January 2014 by- Change since (candidates differ election 2011 Election Candidate Party from 2011) Votes % share Votes % share* Votes % share* +/- +/- Denise UK N/A N/A 610 3.0% N/A N/A BAYKAL Independence Party (UKIP) Dave Scottish 1,792 7.0% 1,893 9.4% 101 2.5%** DEMPSEY Conservative and Unionist Stuart The Victims N/A N/A 187 0.9% 187 0.9% GRAHAM Final Right Party Jade Scottish Liberal 997 3.9% 425 2.1% -572 -1.8% HOLDEN Democrats Natalie Scottish 10,679 41.6% 5,704 28.4% -4,975 -13.2% McGARRY National Party (SNP) Alex Scottish Labour 11,926 46.5% 11,192 55.8% -734 9.3% ROWLEY Party James Scottish 51 0.3% N/A N/A TROLLAND Democratic Alliance Total valid votes 25,670 20,062 -5,608 Rejected votes 80 21 -51 Total votes (incl. rejected) 25,750 20,083 -5,667 Turnout (%) 47.4% 34.8% -12.6 * % share may not add to 100% due to rounding.** 2.5% due to rounding.

SHARE OF THE VOTE The share of the vote by party is presented in figure 1 below – parties who won less the 5% of the vote are included in “other” in this and subsequent figures.

Figure 1: Percentage share of the vote

The change in the number of votes received by each party in Cowdenbeath between the Scottish Parliament General Election of 2011 and the by-election is presented in figure 2. As mentioned above, the total number of votes cast fell from 2011. Of the parties polling above 5% of the vote share, only the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party increased their number of votes. The two other parties to poll over 5% of the vote in 2011 (Scottish Labour and the SNP) saw their number of votes fall, although this is partly explained by the fall in turnout.

Figure 2: Change in number of votes

As figure 3 shows, the Scottish Labour Party obtained the largest increase of any single political party in the percentage share of the vote compared with their 2011 result.

Figure 3: Change in share of the vote (change in percentage points)

As already mentioned, turnout was down by 12.6% on the 2011 Scottish Parliamentary General election (see figure 4).

Figure 4: Voter turn-out

SOURCES Fife Council. (2014) Election results for the Scottish Parliament by-election for the Cowdenbeath Constituency. Available at: http://www.fifedirect.org.uk/news/index.cfm?fuseaction=news.display&objectid=B9E8CFDC- D7B5-5F27-B9CF11F62A3CE1B9

RELATED BRIEFINGS SB 11-29 Election 2011 briefing

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