2012 Dumfries and Galloway Council election
The 2012 Dumfries and Galloway Council election took place on 3 May 2012 to elect members of Dumfries and Galloway Council. The election used the thirteen wards created as a result of the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, with each ward electing three or four councillors using the single transferable vote system form of proportional representation, with 47 councillors being elected. The election saw Labour replace the Scottish Conservative Party as the largest party on the Council as they gained 1 seat while the Tories lost 4 seats. The Scottish National Party retained their  third place on the authority but did not gain any additional seats. Independents proved to be the biggest winners as they returned to the Council with 7 seats and 5 net gains which included 2 former members of the Labour party. The Scottish Liberal Democrats proved to be the worst performers of the election, being reduced to just a single seat. Following the election the Conservative Party formed a coalition with the support of the SNP. This replaced the previous Conservative-Lib Dem coalition which existed from 2007-2012.