Here’s when to expect the Scottish council election results in the north and north-east

By Justin Bowie

May 5 2022, 11:01 am

The election results will be declared tomorrow.

Votes in the local elections are not counted overnight in Scotland, so the full picture across the UK will only be clear by Friday evening.

All 32 councils in Scotland begin counting on Friday morning and will declare through the day at different times.

The final timing will depend on turnout and any technical difficulties with the counting process.

With that in mind, here’s when you can expect to know the new set of councillors in your local authority.

Aberdeen

The results in Aberdeen are scheduled to be declared at 3pm on Friday.

In 2017 the SNP were the biggest party following the vote, but Labour formed a controversial coalition with the Tories.

Locals in Aberdeenshire can also expect to know who their new councillors are by 3pm.

The council is one of Scotland’s biggest by area and population, and is likely to be a key battleground for the SNP and Tories.

Five years ago the Conservatives became Aberdeenshire’s biggest party locally, but the SNP will be hoping to leapfrog them.

This council area is spread over mainland and islands but still aims to declare by 2.30pm, according to estimates.

A total of 80 people have thrown their hats in the ring to campaign for 36 seats which represent the area’s 11 council wards.

Highland will be one of the later council areas to announce their final results at 3.45pm.

The local authority is the largest across the whole of Britain by size.

It is currently run by independent councillors, with support from Labour and the Lib Dems.

Moray will be the first local authority in Scotland to declare their new councillors at an estimated time of 12.30pm.

The SNP and Conservatives will both be battling it out here to be the area’s biggest party.

Orkney residents can expect to know who has been elected to serve them by around 1pm.

The island council is almost exclusively represented by independent councillors.

Shetland council is expected to declare their final results tomorrow at around 1pm.

The local authority is another that is mostly filled with independent councillors.

The Western Isles is another estimated to declare by 1pm.

Some wards in the area already know who’s won because of a lack of candidates in the run-up to the vote.

It means costly by-elections will have to be held in the months following the election.