Ellon by-election awards seat to Louise McAllister
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Following the by-election in the Ellon and District ward yesterday (Thursday) SNP candidate Louise McAllister has filled the councillor vacancy.
Through a combination of postal and in-person votes a total of 3972 valid ballot papers were submitted with a further 34 rejected ballots also collected - this represents 33.7 percent of the potential electorate.
It was a tight finish with a mere 25 votes separating Ms McAllister (1683 votes) from Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party candidate John Crawley (1658 votes).
The other candidates were John Bennett (114 votes), Peter Kennedy (112 votes) and Trevor Mason (405 votes), who all congratulated Ms McAllister on her success.
As it was the Green Party's first time standing in the ward, Mr Kennedy also took a moment to thank everybody who voted for them.
The result was announced shortly after 12pm, and upon hearing the result Ms McAllister said: "It's certainly been an interesting time from my perspective and I am absolutely delighted with the outcome, as you would expect."
She then proceeded to extend her thanks to everybody who supported her in her campaign, including her fellow SNP representatives, her election agent Duncan Gill and local SNP members.
Continuing she said: "I would also like to thank the different candidates.
"Some of us have gotten to know each other through the years and that has been an absolute pleasure, and to the councillors I now look forward to working with you and to taking Aberdeenshire Council forward in a mutually beneficial and successful way for everyone in the Aberdeenshire area."
Speaking to Grampian Online, Ms McAllister explained that contending for the role of councillor seemed like the next logical step as she has devoted much of her time to the Ellon community; as a resident, a community council member, a member of Formartine Rural Partnership and as part of a group trying to get community allotments in place in the town.
Describing her victory as "wonderful", she went on to say: "I wouldn't say that I was ever confident in a victory, but I was certainly hopeful.
"I look at it as taking it to the next level, and having more influence.
"Something which will be important to me now that I am a councillor is connecting the community.
"It would be great to connect the different areas of Ellon, as well as focus on promoting and improving our town centre for everyone - pedestrians, cyclists and cars.
"It's not just that, but also connecting the different districts within the ward, and helping the groups in outlying areas to make connections which are beneficial for all involved."
