The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Aberdeenshire voters’ guide to the elections
Tomorrow we will find out which hopefuls have been picked to represent Aberdeenshire Council’s 19 wards for the next five years.
But as voters head to the polls today, we have put together this guide to answer some of the lastminute questions they are bound to have on their minds including...
Who the major local party figures are up against
What the most competitive ward is
Who might be most worried about losing their seat and
Who is standing in the council elections?
Just over half of the 135 people standing in the election will become an Aberdeenshire councillor, with 70 seats available.
Of the 70 people currently on the council, 49 are seeking re-election.
There are 55 women among the 135 candidates, and in three wards – Banff and District, Troup, and Peterhead South and Cruden – the ballots are all-male.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said the sexism present on social media puts women off running for election, adding that the SNP had trouble recruiting female candidates for that reason.
A number of big names in Aberdeenshire Council are not running for reelection, including both the current provost and leader.
Liberal Democrat Bill Howatson has served in the former role since 2017, but has had a seat on the council for the past 23 years.
Andy Kille, the group Conservative leader who took over as council leader in 2020, also decided not to run again this year.
Charles Buchan, a former science teacher at Fraserburgh Academy, and Martin Ford, best known for becoming Donald Trump’s top adversary in the battle over his Balmedie golf course, will also depart.
Sadly, a technology snafu meant most of the leavers were unable to say goodbye to their colleagues in person last week.
You’ll find local SNP leader Gwyneth Petrie running in Huntly, Strathbogie and Howe of Alford.
Peter Argyle, who leads the Lib Dem group, is up for election in Aboyne, Upper Deeside and Donside.
With Mr Kille stepping down, a new Tory leader is destined to be crowned after the vote.
The most competitive ward is Mearns, with 11 people aiming to win four seats.
Among the candidates are Labour’s Yvonne Allan, who is swapping local authorities after representing Torry and Ferryhill at Aberdeen Council for the last five years.
And Leigh Wilson, who defected to Alba from the SNP after Alex Salmond launched his party last year, is also standing.
Will he hold onto the seat, or will independence-supporting voters prefer the SNP pick Kevin Stelfox?
Alison Evison, the former Labour group leader who is also the president of Cosla, is also running in Mearns as an independent after leaving the party.
This is also the seat currently held by Lib Dem mainstay and keen angler Bill Howatson – so it will be interesting to see if the party’s new candidate Shona Ewen picks up his votes.
Peterhead South and Cruden ward has the fewest candidates.
There are just four candidates standing for election there – two from the Tories, one from the Lib Dems and one from the SNP – with three of them guaranteed to take a seat on Aberdeenshire Council.
There are a few current councillors who are looking to get re-elected under a different party allegiance – or even no party at all.
Like the aforementioned Leigh Wilson, Brian Topping was elected under the SNP banner in 2017 and later switched to Alba. He is standing again in Fraserburgh and District.
Among those now running as independents are Geva Blackett, who quit the SNP last year, and Dianne Beagrie, who left the Tories in January but wouldn’t tell us why.
Former council leader Jim Gifford, who was elected to represent MidFormartine as a Conservative, is now an independent and is standing in East Garioch in order to fight plans for an enormous quarry at Beauty Hill near Newmachar.
Friday’s results will reveal if voters are more keen on them as individuals or the parties they originally represented.
One current councillor who might be concerned for their position is Robbie Withey.
The Huntly, Strathbogie and Howe of Alford candidate was suspended from the Conservatives and charged by police last month following a disturbance in Alford.
A video that was shared online allegedly shows him threatening another man and holding him by the shirt collar.
Since then, he’s shared a number of contrite posts on his campaign Facebook page, and received a large number of supportive comments in response.
On a broader note, many political analysts have raised the possibility of a Conservative collapse at the UK local elections after a seemingly constant series of damaging scandals in Boris Johnson’s government.
The extent to which that’s reflected up in Aberdeenshire remains to be seen.