1980 Cumnock and Doon Valley District Council election

1980 Cumnock and Doon Valley District Council election

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All 10 seats to Cumnock and Doon Valley District Council 6 seats needed for a majority
Registered	33,658
Turnout	50.6%
First party   Lab Party Labour Last election 6 seats, 40.1% Seats won 8 Seat change 2 Popular vote 3,828 Percentage 48.2% Swing 8.1
Council Leader before election Labour Council Leader after election Labour

Elections to Cumnock and Doon Valley District Council were held on 1 May 1980, on the same day as the other Scottish local government elections. This was the third election to the district council following the local government reforms in the 1970s.

The election was the last to use the original 10 wards created by the Formation Electoral Arrangements in 1974. Each ward elected one councillor using first-past-the-post voting.^[1] Following the Initial Statutory Reviews of Electoral Arrangements in 1981, several wards were changed or abolished.^[2]

Labour maintained control of the district council after winning eight of the 10 seats as the party increased their vote share by more than 8% and took nearly half of the popular vote. The other two seats were won by independent candidates. Both the nationalist Scottish Labour Party (SLP) and unionist Conservatives lost all of their seats. For the SLP, which had won two seats in the prior district election, one of their councillors in Patna and Dalrymple resigned the party whip and instead contested the election as an independent while the other councillor, in Old Cumnock Parish, lost to the Labour candidate. The former Conservative seat of Catrine and Sorn was also won by Labour.

1980 Cumnock and Doon Valley District Council election result

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Labour	8	2	0	2	80.0	48.2	3,828	8.1
	Independent	2	1	0	1	20.0	24.8	1,791	18.4
	SLP	0	0	2	2	0.0	16.3	1,290	8.3
	Conservative	0	0	1	1	0.0	8.3	659
	SNP	0	0	0		0.0	2.4	188	14.9
Total		10						7,936

Source:^[3][4]

Cumnock Burgh

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	J. King	1,285	61.4	21.1
	SLP	A. Welsh	793	37.9	0.6
Majority			492	23.5	20.5
Turnout			2,078	43.1	5.2
Registered electors			4,854
	Labour hold		Swing	10.8

Source:^[3][4]

Source:^[3][4]

Old Cumnock Parish

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	A. Lennox	598	46.6	1.9
	SLP	W. Pender	497	38.7	13.1
	SNP	W. Milligan	188	14.7	New
Majority			101	7.9	N/A
Turnout			1,283	54.4	10.4
Registered electors			2,357
	Labour gain from SLP		Swing	5.6

Source:^[3][4]

Source:^[3][4]

Catrine and Sorn

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	R. Stevenson	820	55.4	30.5
	Conservative	J. McInnes	659	44.5	7.6
Majority			161	10.9	N/A
Turnout			1,479	64.0	5.5
Registered electors			2,311
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	11.4

Source:^[3][4]

Source:^[3][4]

Dalmellington

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	A. Johnstone	942	64.8	23.9
	Labour	A. Gormanley	503	34.6	13.6
Majority			439	30.2	24.4
Turnout			1,445	46.4	4.0
Registered electors			3,134
	Independent hold		Swing	29.5

Source:^[3][4]

Patna and Dalrymple

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	T. Hainey	1,029	62.3	New
	Labour	M. Rooney	622	37.6	3.5
Majority			407	24.7	N/A
Turnout			1,651	53.5	5.5
Registered electors			3,089
	Independent gain from SLP		Swing	50.8

Source:^[3][4]

Source:^[3][4]

Source:^[3][4]