Aberdeen Donside (Scottish Parliament constituency)

Aberdeen Donside is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood). It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the first past the post method of election. Also, however, it is one of ten constituencies in the North East Scotland electoral region, which elects seven additional members, in addition to ten constituency MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.

This article is about Aberdeen Donside (Scottish Parliament constituency). For other uses of Aberdeen, see Aberdeen (disambiguation).

Aberdeen Donside
burgh constituency for the Scottish Parliament
Aberdeen Donside shown within the North East Scotland electoral region and the region shown within Scotland
Current constituency
Created	2011
Party	Independent
MSP	Mark McDonald
Council area	Aberdeen City
Created from	Aberdeen Central, Aberdeen North

Electoral region

See also: North East Scotland (Scottish Parliament electoral region)

The other nine constituencies of the North East Scotland region are Aberdeen Central, Aberdeen South and North Kincardine, Aberdeenshire East, Aberdeenshire West, Angus North and Mearns, Angus South, Banffshire and Buchan Coast, Dundee City East and Dundee City West.

The region covers all of the Aberdeen City council area, the Aberdeenshire council area, the Angus council area, the Dundee City council area and part of the Moray council area.

Constituency boundaries and council area

The Holyrood constituency is within the Aberdeen City council area, which is divided between three constituencies: Aberdeen Central, Aberdeen Donside and Aberdeen South and North Kincardine. Central and Donside are entirely within the city area, while South and North Kincardine also takes in North Kincardine in the Aberdeenshire council area.

Following their First Periodic review of parliamentary constituencies to the Scottish Parliament, the Boundary Commission for Scotland created three newly shaped seats for the Aberdeen City council area.

In forming the new Aberdeen Donside, the electoral wards used are:

• In full: Dyce/Bucksburn/Danestone, Bridge of Don, Kingswells/Sheddocksley/Summerhill, Northfield/Mastrick North
• In part: Hilton/Woodside/Stockethill (shared with Aberdeen Central)

Member of the Scottish Parliament

As Aberdeen North

Election		Member	Party
	1999	Elaine Thomson	Scottish Labour Party
	2003	Brian Adam	Scottish National Party
	2007

As Aberdeen Donside

Election		Member	Party
	2011	Brian Adam	Scottish National Party
	2013 by	Mark McDonald	Scottish National Party
	2016
	2017[1]		Independent

Election results

2010s

2016 Scottish Parliament election: Aberdeen Donside

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	SNP	Mark McDonald	17,339	56.0	+0.6
	Conservative	Liam Kerr	5,709	18.4	+10.3
	Labour	Greg Williams	5,672	18.3	-10.2
	Liberal Democrats	Isobel Davidson	2,261	7.3	+1.3
Majority			11,630	37.6	+12.7
Turnout			30,981	50.6	+11.7
	SNP hold		Swing	-5.5

Aberdeen Donside By-Election, 20 June 2013

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	SNP	Mark McDonald	9,814	42.0	-13.4
	Labour	Willie Young	7,789	33.3	+4.8
	Liberal Democrats	Christine Jardine	1,940	8.3	+2.3
	Conservative	Ross Thomson	1,791	7.7	-0.4
	UKIP	Otto Inglis	1,128	4.8	New
	Scottish Green	Rhonda Reekie	410	1.8	New
	National Front	Dave MacDonald	249	1.1	+0.3
	Scottish Christian	Tom Morrow	222	0.9	New
	SDA	James Trolland	35	0.1	New
Majority			2,025	8.7	-18.2
Turnout			23,396	38.8	-8.5
	SNP hold		Swing

2011 Scottish Parliament election: Aberdeen Donside

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	SNP	Brian Adam	14,790	55.4	+ 10.6
	Labour	Barney Crockett	7,615	28.5	-3.2
	Conservative	Ross Thomson	2,166	8.1	+0.6
	Liberal Democrats	Millie McLeod	1,606	6.0	-10.0
	Independent	David Henderson	317	1.2	New
	National Front	Christopher Willett	213	0.8	New
Majority			7,175	26.9	+13.8
Turnout			26,707	47.3	-1.0
	SNP hold		Swing	+6.9

2000s

Scottish Parliament election, 2007 Notional Result: Aberdeen Donside

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	SNP		12,165	44.8
	Labour		8,614	31.7
	Liberal Democrats		4,340	16.0
	Conservative		2,027	7.5
Majority			3,551	13.1
	SNP hold		Swing

2007 Scottish Parliament election: Aberdeen North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	SNP	Brian Adam	11,406	45.8	+12.3
	Labour	Elaine Thomson	7,657	30.8	-0.9
	Liberal Democrats	Steve Delaney	3,836	15.4	-7.6
	Conservative	Carol Garvie	1,992	8.0	-1.2
Majority			3,749	15.0	+13.2
Turnout			24,891	48.3	+1.0
	SNP hold		Swing

2003 Scottish Parliament election: Aberdeen North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	SNP	Brian Adam	8,381	33.5	-2.2
	Labour	Elaine Thomson	7,924	31.7	-5.5
	Liberal Democrats	John Reynolds	5,767	23.0	+5.9
	Conservative	Jim Gifford	2,311	9.2	-0.8
	Scottish Socialist	Katrine Trolle	644	2.6	New
Majority			457	1.8	N/A
Turnout			25027	47.3
	SNP gain from Labour		Swing	+1.7

1990s

1999 Scottish Parliament election: Aberdeen North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Elaine Thomson	10,340	37.2	N/A
	SNP	Brian Adam	9,942	35.7	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	James Donaldson	4,767	17.1	N/A
	Conservative	Iain Haughie	2,772	10.0	N/A
Majority			398	1.5
Turnout			27,821
	Labour win (new seat)

Politics and history of the constituency

The area contains Aberdeen Airport (run by BAA),[2]

Prior to the 2011 election, the Liberal Democrat candidate (Cllr Gordon Leslie), stood down amid allegations related to prostitution.[3]

References

1. "SNP suspends former government minister". 16 November 2017 – via www.bbc.co.uk.
2. Passengers’ flight tax rise may cost country £80m, Press & Journal, 18 February 2011
3. Lib Dem candidate stands down over prostitute charges, BBC News, 22 February 2011

See also

• 2013 Aberdeen Donside by-election
• Aberdeen City Youth Council