2007 Moray Council election

Elections to The Moray Council were held on 3 May 2007, the same day as the Scottish Parliament election. The election was the first using the eight new wards created under the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004. 26 councillors were elected. Each ward elected either 3 or 4 members, using the STV electoral system. Previously there were single-member wards which used the first past the post electoral system.

The election resulted in a previously Independent council becoming an Independent/Conservative coalition, with a majority of four. The use of STV electoral system benefited the SNP and the Conservatives, with them gaining 6 and 2 seats respectively. It did not benefit Labour at all, which fell from second place in terms of seats to last. In addition, the Scottish Liberal Democrats lost their sole representative on the council

Future SNP Member of Parliament Graham Leadbitter was first elected at this election.

Previous election
The previous election in 2003 were the last to use the first-past-the-post voting system. At that election, the Independent group received 16 seats and were able to form a majority administration. Source:

Composition
There were 3 by-elections in the 2003-07 term. One by-election was held in the Buckie West ward and was an Independent hold. The other two by-elections were held in the Speyside ward, one resulted in a SNP gain from Independent, and the other resulted in an Independent gain from SNP. As such the composition of the council did not change between 2003 and 2007. Source:

Aftermath
As no single political grouping on the council had enough seats to form a majority administration, the Independent and Conservative groupings together formed a coalition.

Elgin City South by-election
On 14 February 2008, a by-election was held for the Elgin City South ward, after the death of Cllr A G K Bisset (Independent).

Forres by-election
On 11 November 2010, a by-election was held for the Forres ward, after the retirement of Cllr Iain Young (Conservative).