The election took place yesterday (Thursday, March 11) using the Single Transferable Vote system. Under STV rules, voters are asked to rank the candidates in order of preference. After ballots were counted in Galashiels today, Conservative representative Jenny Linehan was announced as the winner. She received 1,380 first-preference votes. How many first-preference votes did each candidate receive?
Jenny Linehan (Scottish Conservative and Unionist) – 1,380
John PatonDay (Scottish National Party (SNP)) – 1,042
Jonny Adamson (Scottish Liberal Democrats) – 538
Mary Douglas (independent) – 159
Scott Redpath (Scottish Labour Party) – 115
Karen Wilks (independent) – 69 Ms Linehan, a lawyer by trade, said she was overwhelmed by the support she received. She added: “First of all, I would like to pay tribute to the work and public service of Kevin Drum, who represented Leaderdale and Melrose since 2017.