Galloway and Upper Nithsdale (Scottish Parliament constituency)

Not to be confused with Galloway and Upper Nithsdale (UK Parliament constituency).

Galloway and Upper Nithsdale
Former county constituency
for the Scottish Parliament
Galloway and Upper Nithsdale shown within the South of Scotland electoral region and the region shown within Scotland
Former constituency
Created1999
Abolished2011
Council areaDumfries and Galloway
Replaced byDumfriesshire,
Galloway and West Dumfries

Galloway and Upper Nithsdale was a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood). It elected one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the plurality (first past the post) method of election. This constituency was abolished for the 2011 election, with 78.4% of the constituency being incorporated into the new Galloway and West Dumfries (Scottish Parliament constituency), with the rest becoming part of the Dumfriesshire (Scottish Parliament constituency).[1]

Electoral region

See also: South of Scotland (Scottish Parliament electoral region)

Constituency boundaries and council area

The Galloway and Upper Nithsdale 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, Scottish Westminster (House of Commons) constituencies were mostly replaced with new constituencies.[2]

Member of the Scottish Parliament

Alex Fergusson represented the constituency from the 2003 election until its abolition in 2011, having previously been an additional MSP for the South of Scotland region from 1999 to 2003. Originally elected as a Conservative, he was the Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament from 2007 to 2011, a post which required him to relinquish party allegiance.

Election Member Party
1999 Alasdair Morgan Scottish National Party
2003 Alex Fergusson Conservative
2007 Presiding Officer
2011 constituency abolished: replaced by Dumfriesshire,
and Galloway and West Dumfries

Election results

2007 Scottish Parliament election: Galloway and Upper Nithsdale[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Alex Fergusson 13,387 44.2 +6.0
SNP Alasdair Morgan 10,054 33.2 −4.7
Labour Stephen Hodgson 4,935 16.3 +1.8
Liberal Democrats Alastair Cooper 1,631 5.4 −0.8
Independent Sandy Richardson 311 1.0 New
Majority 3,333 11.0 +10.7
Turnout 31,295
Conservative hold Swing
2003 Scottish Parliament election: Galloway and Upper Nithsdale
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Alex Fergusson 11,332 38.2 +8.0
SNP Alasdair Morgan 11,233 37.9 −1.4
Labour Norma Harte 4,299 14.5 −5.9
Liberal Democrats Neil Wallace 1,847 6.2 −3.9
Scottish Socialist Joy Cherkaoui 709 2.4 New
Majority 99 0.3 N/A
Turnout 29,420
Conservative gain from SNP Swing +4.6
1999 Scottish Parliament election: Galloway and Upper Nithsdale
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
SNP Alasdair Morgan 13,873 39.3 N/A
Conservative Alex Fergusson 10,672 30.2 N/A
Labour Jim Stevens 7,209 20.4 N/A
Liberal Democrats Joan Mitchell 3,562 10.1 N/A
Majority 3,201 9.1 N/A
Turnout 35,316 N/A
SNP win (new seat)
Preceded by Constituency or Region represented by the Presiding Officer
2007–2011 		Succeeded by

Footnotes

  1. ^ "The New Scottish Parliament Constituencies 2011" (PDF). BBC News.
  2. ^ See The 5th Periodical Report of the Boundary Commission for Scotland Archived 21 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ Sub-constituency election results for the 2007 Scottish Parliament elections - data Archived 6 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine- Scotland Office; 30 April 2008 (retrieved 5 April 2011)