2022 East Ayrshire Council election

2022 East Ayrshire Council election
← 2017 5 May 2022 (2022-05-05) 2027 →
All 32 seats to East Ayrshire Council
17 seats needed for a majority
Registered97,147
Turnout43.7%
  First party Second party Third party
 
SNP
Lab
Con
Leader Douglas Reid Maureen McKay Tom Cook
Party SNP Labour Conservative
Leader's seat Kilmarnock West and Crosshouse Kilmarnock North Kilmarnock West and Crosshouse (stood down)
Last election 14 seats, 38.5% 9 seats, 25.2% 6 seats, 24.2%
Seats before 13 9 5
Seats won 14 10 4
Seat change Steady Increase 1 Decrease 2
Popular vote 15,968 12,786 7,560
Percentage 37.9% 29.5% 17.7%
Swing Decrease 0.6% Increase 4.3% Decrease 6.5%
  Fourth party Fifth party
 
Ind
Rbsh
Leader N/A Sally Cogley
Party Independent Rubbish
Leader's seat N/A Irvine Valley
Last election 2 seats, 8.1% 1 seat, 1.9%
Seats before 4 1
Seats won 3 1
Seat change Increase 1 Steady
Popular vote 4,730 787
Percentage 11.4% 1.9%
Swing Increase 3.3% Steady
Leader before election

Douglas Reid
(SNP)
No overall control

Leader after election

Douglas Reid
(SNP)
No overall control

Elections to East Ayrshire Council took place on 5 May 2022 on the same day as the 31 other Scottish local government elections. As with other Scottish council elections, it was held using single transferable vote (STV) – a form of proportional representation – in which multiple candidates are elected in each ward and voters rank candidates in order of preference.

For the third consecutive election, the Scottish National Party (SNP) were returned as the largest party with 14 seats but remained shy of an overall majority. Labour gained back some of the ground they had lost at the previous election and were again returned as the second-largest party with 10 seats. The Conservatives lost one-third of their seats to return four councillors while The Rubbish Party retained their only seat. Three independent candidates were also elected.

The minority SNP administration retained control of the council with incumbent council leader Cllr Douglas Reid re-elected to the post unopposed. Former SNP Provost Jim Todd and Depute Provost Claire Leitch were also reinstated less than a year after being voted out of the roles.