Gordon (Scottish Parliament constituency)

Gordon was a constituency of the Scottish Parliament. It elected one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the first past the post method of election. It was one of nine constituencies in the North East Scotland electoral region, which elected seven additional members, in addition to nine constituency MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.

Gordon
Former county constituency
for the Scottish Parliament
Gordon shown within the North East Scotland electoral region and the region shown within Scotland
Former constituency
Created1999; 25 years ago (1999)
Abolished2011; 13 years ago (2011)
Council areaAberdeenshire (part)
Moray (part)
Replaced byAberdeenshire East,
Aberdeenshire West,
Moray

Electoral region

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At the time of this constituency the other eight constituencies of the North East Scotland region were; Aberdeen Central, Aberdeen North, Aberdeen South, Angus, Banff and Buchan, Dundee East, Dundee West and West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine

The electoral region covered Aberdeenshire, Aberdeen City, Dundee City; part of Angus; and small parts of Moray and Perth and Kinross.

Constituency boundaries

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The Gordon constituency was created at the same time as the Scottish Parliament, in 1999, with the name and boundaries of an existing Westminster constituency. In 2005, however, the boundaries of the Westminster (House of Commons) constituency were subject to some alteration.

Council areas

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The Scottish Parliament constituency of Gordon covered a central portion of the Aberdeenshire council area and a small eastern portion of the Moray council area. The rest of the Aberdeenshire area was covered by two other constituencies, both also in the North East Scotland electoral region: Banff and Buchan to the north of the Gordon constituency, and West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine to the south. The rest of the Moray area was covered by the Moray constituency, which is in the Highlands and Islands region.

Boundary Review

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Following their First Periodic review of constituencies to the Scottish Parliament, the Boundary Commission for Scotland replaced Gordon with the seat called Aberdeenshire East.[1]

Member of the Scottish Parliament

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The seat was represented since the 2007 election by Alex Salmond, the First Minister. He was previously MSP for Banff and Buchan from 1999 until resigning in 2001; he also represented the Westminster seat of Banff and Buchan from 1987 until retiring from the UK Parliament in 2010.

Election Member Party
1999 Nora Radcliffe Liberal Democrats
2007 Alex Salmond SNP
2011 constituency abolished: see Aberdeenshire East
Aberdeenshire West and Moray

Election results

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2007 Scottish Parliament election: Gordon
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
SNP Alex Salmond 14,650 41.4 +18.8
Liberal Democrats Nora Radcliffe 12,588 35.6 −2.5
Conservative Nanette Milne 5,348 15.1 −8.8
Labour Neil Cardwell 2,276 6.4 −3.9
Independent Donald Marr 199 0.6 New
Independent Dave Mathers 185 0.5 New
Scottish Enterprise Bob Ingram 117 0.3 New
Majority 2,062 5.8 N/A
Turnout 35,363 54.1 +6.6
SNP gain from Liberal Democrats Swing +10.7
2003 Scottish Parliament election: Gordon
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Nora Radcliffe 10,963 38.1 +1.4
Conservative Nanette Milne 6,892 24.0 +4.4
SNP Alasdair Allan 6,501 22.6 −1.7
Labour Ellis Thorpe 2,973 10.3 −1.4
Scottish Socialist John Sangster 730 2.5 New
Independent Steven Mathers 689 2.4 New
Majority 4071 14.1 +1.7
Turnout 28,748 47.5
Liberal Democrats hold Swing -1.5
1999 Scottish Parliament election: Gordon
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Nora Radcliffe 12,353 36.7 N/A
SNP Sandy Stronach 8,158 24.3 N/A
Conservative Alex Johnstone 6,602 19.6 N/A
Labour Gillian Carlin-Kulwicki 3,950 11.7 N/A
Independent Hamish Watt 2,559 7.6 N/A
Majority 4,195 12.4 N/A
Turnout 33,622 N/A
Liberal Democrats win (new seat)

References

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Preceded by Constituency represented by the First Minister
2007 – 2011
Succeeded by