Unitary Authority of Central Bedfordshire elections from 2009 to 2015

Summary

A total of 59 Unitary Authority Wards held elections in Central Bedfordshire between 2009 and 2015. The database holds elections for 3 separate years over the 7 year period. Central Bedfordshire 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 Central Bedfordshire over the 7 years was 49.24%. This was 1.11 percentage points higher than the average for all Unitary Authority Councils holding elections in the same year (48.13%). Turnout was higher than the average for Unitary Authority councils in 2015 when it was 3.69 percentage points higher. Turnout was lower than the average for Unitary Authority councils in 2009 when it was 1.32 percentage points lower.

The Party System

This section examines the party system in Central Bedfordshire 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 Central Bedfordshire between 2009 and 2015 was completely dominated by Conservative candidates. These candidates won the most seats in all of the 3 elections held.