Lib Dems top Orkney poll, followed by SNP

The Liberal Democrats came out tops in Orkney at Thursday’s European Election, followed by the SNP.

The Lib Dems secured 1,825 votes and the SNP 872 in an election that saw a turnout of 31 per cent of voters in the county.

The turnout is up on the previous European election – 31 per cent compared with 2009’s percentage poll of 25.9 per cent.

The Conservative party came in third place, with 679, and there was just one vote between the Green Party (619) and UKIP (618).

Alistair Buchan, Orkney Islands Council’s returning officer, said: “This year’s election turnout is very pleasing.  Across Scotland, the turnouts are traditionally low, so it’s good to see an increase for us this year.

“Our use of postal votes across our outer isles is proving to be a success, illustrated by the number of isles voters continuing to engage in the process and cast their vote.

“We also worked hard to promote the election this year, including an increased social media presence and I feel that this has made a difference.

“A lot of work goes into running an election and I’d like to thank my team for their efforts over the last few months. We’ll now be hitting the ground running for putting in place arrangements for the Scottish Independence Referendum, which should be the biggest electoral event we have seen for some time in terms of turnout.”

The full list of results are available here.