# 2017 Shetland Islands Council election

Elections to Shetland Islands Council were held on 4 May 2017 on the same day as the other Scottish local government elections. The election was the third using seven wards created as a result of the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, each ward electing three or four Councillors using the single transferable vote system form of proportional representation, with 22 Councillors elected.
With the Shetland South ward going uncontested, the SNP elected its first councillor in Shetland.
Several members of the pro-Shetland Autonomy Wir Shetland group stood in the election; Ian Tinkler in Shetland West, and Alec Priest and Duncan Simpson in North Isles. Former Wir Shetland member Ryan Thomson also stood in North Isles. Whilst having left the group, it was claimed by the Wir Shetland Chairman that Thomson still supported the group's core aims. Other candidates with political positions of note included socialist Ian Scott and former Yes Scotland and Scottish Leave Left campaigner Brian Nugent in central ward. Nugent is an SNP member and claimed to be standing as an independent solely due to having applied too late to use the SNP party name in the election. Two paper candidates for the Conservatives also stood.

## Election results

Shetland Islands Local Election Result 2017 :
| Party | Seats | Gains | Losses | Net gain/loss | Seats % | Votes % | Votes | +/− |
| Independent | 21 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 95.5 | 97.8 | 7,132 | 0.9 |
| SNP | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4.5 | 0.0 | 0 | 1.9 |
| Independent Nationalist | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1.2 | 84 | New |
| Conservative | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 74 | New |
Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes. The net gain/loss and percentage changes relate to the result of the previous Scottish local elections on 3 May 2012. This may differ from other published sources showing gain/loss relative to seats held at dissolution of Scotland's councils.

## Ward results
### North Isles

* 2012: 3xIndependent
* 2017: 3xIndependent
* 2012-2017 Change: no change
North Isles - 3 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 |
| | Independent | Duncan Simpson | 31.2 | 453 | |
| | Independent | Ryan Thomson | 26.3 | 372 | |
| | Independent | Alec Priest | 23.1 | 327 | 375.08 |
| | Independent | Cecil Hughson | 13.1 | 185 | 210.57 |
| | Independent | Lynsay Cunningham | 5.4 | 76 | 81.68 |
| Valid: 1413 Spoilt: 16 Quota: 354 Turnout: 63.7% ||||||

### Shetland North

* 2012: 3xIndependent
* 2017: 3xIndependent
* 2012-2017 Change: no change
Shetland North - 3 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 |
| | Independent | Andrea Manson (incumbent) | 42.7 | 509 | |
| | Independent | Alastair Cooper (incumbent) | 33.1 | 395 | |
| | Independent | Emma Macdonald | 20.1 | 240 | 379.04 |
| | Conservative | Isobel Johnson | 4.0 | 48 | 70.28 |
| Quota: ||||

### Shetland West

* 2012: 3xIndependent
* 2017: 3xIndependent
* 2012-2017 Change: no change
Shetland West - 3 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| | Independent | Theo Smith (incumbent) | 42.5 | 521 | | | |
| | Independent | Catherine Hughson | 15.8 | 194 | 255.61 | 274.72 | 320.47 |
| | Independent | Gary Robinson (incumbent) | 14.6 | 179 | 204.47 | 209.29 | 217.57 |
| | Independent | Steven Coutts (incumbent) | 14.3 | 175 | 251.40 | 275.92 | 325.47 |
| | Independent | Debra Nicolson | 6.6 | 81 | 107.29 | 132.81 | |
| | Independent | Ian Tinkler | 6.1 | 75 | 90.61 | | |
| Quota: ||||

### Shetland Central

* 2012: 3xIndependent
* 2017: 3xIndependent
* 2012-2017 Change: no change
Shetland Central - 3 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| | Independent | Davie Sandison (incumbent) | 32.9 | 320 | | | |
| | Independent | Mark Burgess (incumbent) | 26.7 | 260 | | | |
| | Independent | Ian Scott | 19.6 | 191 | 214.04 | 217.18 | 263.52 |
| | Independent | Julie Buchan | 12.1 | 118 | 139.61 | 146.87 | 169.40 |
| | Independent Nationalist | Brian Nugent | 8.6 | 84 | 93.26 | 95.79 | |
| Quota: ||||

### Shetland South

* 2012: 3xIndependent
* 2017: 2xIndependent, 1xScottish National Party
* 2012-2017 Change: SNP gain one seat from Independent
Shetland South - 3 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 |
| | Independent | Allison Duncan (incumbent) | uncontested | uncontested |
| | SNP | Robbie McGregor | uncontested | uncontested |
| | Independent | George Smith (incumbent) | uncontested | uncontested |
| Quota: ||||

### Lerwick North

* 2012: 3xIndependent
* 2017: 3xIndependent
* 2012-2017 Change: 3xIndependent
Lerwick North - 3 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| | Independent | Malcolm Bell (incumbent) | 71.9 | 715 | | |
| | Independent | Stephen Leask | 13.2 | 130 | 337.25 | |
| | Independent | John Fraser | 12.4 | 124 | 243.92 | 287.73 |
| | Conservative | Thomas Williamson | 2.6 | 26 | 54.68 | 68.93 |
| Quota: ||||

### Lerwick South

* 2012: 4xIndependent
* 2017: 4xIndependent
* 2012-2017: no change
Lerwick South - 4 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| | Independent | Cecil Smith (incumbent) | 28.8 | 429 | | | |
| | Independent | Beatrice Wishart† | 26.4 | 394 | | | |
| | Independent | Peter Campbell (incumbent) | 20.0 | 299 | | | |
| | Independent | Amanda Westlake (incumbent) | 12.7 | 190 | 242.42 | 271.12 | 408.83 |
| | Independent | Frances Valente | 12.1 | 180 | 220.61 | 268.35 | |
| Quota: ||||

## Retiring Councillors

| Council Ward | Departing Councillor | Party |
| Shetland North | Gary Cleaver | Independent |
| Shetland South | Billy Fox | Independent |
| North Isles | Robert Henderson | Independent |
| Shetland North | Drew Ratter | Independent |
| Shetland West | Frank Robertson | Independent |
| Lerwick North | Michael Stout | Independent |
| Shetland Central | Vaila Wishart | Independent |
| Lerwick North | Allan Wishart | Independent |
| Lerwick South | Jonathan Wills | Independent |

## Changes Since 2017

* † Lerwick South Independent Beatrice Wishart was subsequently elected as Member of the Scottish Parliament for Shetland at the 2019 Shetland by-election as a Liberal Democrat. A by-election was held on 7 November 2019. It was held by Independent Stephen Flaws.
* †† Shetland Central Independent Mark Burgess resigned his seat on 20 September 2019 for personal reasons. A by-election was held on 7 November 2019. The seat was retained by another Independent Moraig Lyall.

### By-elections since 2017

Shetland Central By-election (7 November 2019) :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| | Independent | Moraig Lyall | 47.0 | 344 | 366 | 379 |
| | Independent | Julie Buchan | 15.8 | 116 | 131 | 170 |
| | SNP | Stewart Douglas | 15.2 | 111 | 119 | 125 |
| | Independent | Gordon Laverie | 11.5 | 84 | 93 | |
| | Independent | Johan Adamson | 10.5 | 77 | | |
| Quota: Turnout: 732 (31.0%) |||||||
Lerwick South By-election (7 November 2019) :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| | Independent | Gary Robinson | 35.1 | 374 | 385 | 407 | 451 |
| | Independent | Stephen Flaws | 32.8 | 350 | 368 | 403 | 498 |
| | Independent | Frances Valente | 14.4 | 154 | 172 | 204 | |
| | Independent | Arwed Wenger | 10.9 | 116 | 126 | | |
| | Independent | Caroline Henderson | 6.8 | 73 | | | |
| Quota: Turnout: 732 (31.2%) ||||||||

## Footnotes

* 1 2 "Candidate Tinkler steps down from Wir Shetland committee". The Shetland Times. 9 December 2016.
* ↑ "Two more candidates declare". Shetland News.
* ↑ Riddell, Neil (29 March 2017). "Names of 32 SIC election candidates unveiled". Shetland News.
* ↑ Nugent, Brian (4 April 2017). "Brian Nugent". Shetland News. Archived from the original on 27 April 2017.
* ↑ Murray, Keegan (21 April 2017). "'Don't back me,' says Tory SIC 'paper candidate' for Lerwick North". The Shetland Times. Archived from the original on 22 April 2017.
* ↑ Cope, Craig (20 September 2019). "Council / Second council by-election after Burgess steps down". Shetland News. Archived from the original on 13 October 2021.