Unitary Authority of South Lanarkshire elections from 1995 to 2003

Summary

A total of 141 Unitary Authority Wards held elections in South Lanarkshire between 1995 and 2003. The database holds elections for 3 separate years over the 9 year period. South Lanarkshire held whole council elections once every four years. This can create a situation where an unhappy electorate can replace an entire council in a single election. As a result, these councils can appear to be more volatile than those with partial council elections.

Participation

Average participation in South Lanarkshire over the 9 years was 51.81%. This was 9.00 percentage points higher than the average for all Unitary Authority Councils holding elections in the same year (42.81%). Turnout was higher than the average for Unitary Authority councils in 1999 when it was 15.21 percentage points higher. Turnout was never lower than the average for Unitary Authority councils over the period.

The Party System

This section examines the party system in South Lanarkshire that existed in terms of number of seats won by each group in each election. In the analysis below, a party is considered to have won an election for the authority if it wins more seats than any other group. The extent to which a single party group wins all of the elections during the period is a measure of the dominance of a single party.

In terms of candidates elected, the party system in South Lanarkshire between 1995 and 2003 was completely dominated by Labour candidates. These candidates won the most seats in all of the 3 elections held.