# Kilmarnock South (ward)

Kilmarnock South is one of the nine electoral wards of East Ayrshire Council. Created in 2007, the ward elects three councillors using the single transferable vote electoral system and covers an area with a population of 10,866 people.
The area is a Scottish National Party (SNP) stronghold with the party holding two of the three seats at every election.

## Boundaries

The ward was created following the Fourth Statutory Reviews of Electoral Arrangements ahead of the 2007 Scottish local elections. As a result of the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, local elections in Scotland would use the single transferable vote electoral system from 2007 onwards so Kilmarnock South was formed from an amalgamation of several previous first-past-the-post wards.
It contains all of the former Shortlees and Bellfield wards as well as most of the former Riccarton ward. The only minor alteration to the previous ward boundaries was along the former Riccarton boundary which was brought south to run along the A71 rather than along the River Irvine to the north of the road. Kilmarnock South includes the southernmost part of Kilmarnock including the neighbourhoods of Shortlees, Bellfield and Riccarton as well as an area between Kilmarnock and the council's boundary with South Ayrshire. Following the Fifth Statutory Reviews of Electoral Arrangements ahead of the 2017 Scottish local elections, the ward's boundaries were not changed.

## Councillors

| Election | Councillors | Councillors | Councillors | Councillors |
| 2007 | | Hugh Ross (SNP) | Jim Todd (SNP) | John Knapp (Labour) |
| 2012 | | Hugh Ross (SNP) | Jim Todd (SNP) | John Knapp (Labour) |
| 2017 | Clare Maitland (SNP) | | Jim Todd (SNP) | John Knapp (Labour) |
| 2022 | Clare Maitland (SNP) | Peter Mabon (Labour) | Jim Todd (SNP) |

## Election results
### 2022 election

Kilmarnock South - 3 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 |
| | SNP | Jim Todd (incumbent) | 32.6 | 990 |
| | Labour | Peter Mabon | 31.4 | 954 | |
| | SNP | Claire Maitland (incumbent) | 20.7 | 627 | 828 |
| | Conservative | Robin Bawa | 12.2 | 370 | 374 |
| | Alba | Stewart John McLintock | 1.9 | 57 | 62 |
| | Scottish Libertarian | Keyrin James Von-Döring | 1.3 | 38 | 40 |
| Electorate: 8,186 Valid: 3,036 Spoilt: 67 Quota: 760 Turnout: 37.9% ||||||
Source:

### 2017 election

Kilmarnock South - 3 members :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 |
| | SNP | Jim Todd (incumbent) | 36.5 | 1,190 | |
| | Labour | John Knapp (incumbent) | 32.9 | 1,073 | |
| | SNP | Clare Maitland | 18.2 | 593 | 914 |
| | Conservative | Billy McClure | 11.7 | 382 | 387 |
| | Scottish Libertarian | Caitlin O'Brien | 0.7 | 24 | 29 |
| Electorate: 8,028 Valid: 3,262 Spoilt: 62 Quota: 816 Turnout: 41.4% ||||||
Source:

### 2012 election

Kilmarnock South – 3 members :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| | Labour | John Knapp (incumbent) | 37.6 | 1,250 | | | |
| | SNP | Jim Todd (incumbent) | 23.8 | 791 | 814 | 822 | 949 |
| | SNP | Hugh Ross (incumbent) | 22.1 | 735 | 759 | 789 | 924 |
| | Labour | Ronnie Scott | 12.5 | 417 | 743 | 785 | |
| | Conservative | Alyson Holden | 4.1 | 135 | 138 | | |
| Electorate: 8,288 Valid: 3,328 Spoilt: 93 Quota: 833 Turnout: 40.2% ||||||||
Source:

### 2007 election

Kilmarnock South - 3 members :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| | Labour | John Knapp | 38.7 | 1,708 | | | | | |
| | SNP | Hugh Ross | 25.0 | 1,104 | 1,144 | | | | |
| | SNP | Jim Todd | 19.7 | 870 | 894 | 926 | 954 | 1,018 | 1,272 |
| | Labour | Ray Murray | 9.0 | 398 | 800 | 801 | 825 | 901 | |
| | Conservative | Tamzin Hobday | 5.9 | 262 | 276 | 277 | 289 | | |
| | Scottish Socialist | Kevin McGregor | 1.7 | 77 | 91 | 91 | | | |
| Electorate: 8,328 Valid: 4,419 Spoilt: 131 Quota: 1,105 Turnout: 53.1% ||||||||||
Source: