2012 South Ayrshire Council election

Elections to South Ayrshire Council took place on 3 May 2012 on the same day as the 31 other Scottish local government elections. As with other Scottish council elections, it was held using single transferable vote (STV) – a form of proportional representation – in which multiple candidates are elected in each ward and voters rank candidates in order of preference.

The election saw the Conservatives remain as the largest party on the council despite losing two seats. The Scottish National Party (SNP) gained one seat and were second on the popular vote as they tied with Labour as the second largest party. Labour retained their nine seats despite their vote share decreasing by 3.4% and after suffering three defections during the last term. The number of independent candidates elected doubled to two seats.

Following the election, the Conservatives formed a minority administration working in a partnership agreement with Labour and both independents. This replaced the previous Conservative minority administration.

Election result
Source:

Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes. The net gain/loss and percentage changes relate to the result of the previous Scottish local elections on 3 May 2007. This may differ from other published sources showing gain/loss relative to seats held at dissolution of Scotland's councils.

Summary by ward
!rowspan=2 align="left"|Ward ! % !Cllrs ! % !Cllrs ! % !Cllrs ! % !Cllrs ! % !Cllrs !rowspan=2|Total Cllrs !colspan=2|Conservative !colspan=2|SNP !colspan=2|Labour !colspan=2|Independents !colspan=2|Others !align="left"|Total !31.5 !10 !29.3 !9 !25.0 !9 !13.5 !2 !0.7 !0 !30
 * - class="unsortable" align="center"
 * - class="unsortable" align="center"
 * align="left"|Troon
 * bgcolor="lightblue"|39.6
 * bgcolor="lightblue"|2
 * 26.9
 * 1
 * 21.0
 * 1
 * 12.4
 * 0
 * colspan=2 N/A
 * 4
 * align="left"|Prestwick
 * bgcolor="lightblue"|38.9
 * bgcolor="lightblue"|2
 * 32.9
 * 1
 * 25.9
 * 1
 * colspan=2 N/A
 * 2.3
 * 0
 * 4
 * align="left"|Ayr North
 * 15.9
 * 1
 * 38.2
 * 1
 * bgcolor="#eea2ad"|45.9
 * bgcolor="#eea2ad"|2
 * colspan=2 N/A
 * colspan=2 N/A
 * 4
 * align="left"|Ayr East
 * bgcolor="lightblue"|33.0
 * bgcolor="lightblue"|1
 * 31.4
 * 2
 * 23.4
 * 1
 * 12.2
 * 0
 * colspan=2 N/A
 * 4
 * align="left"|Ayr West
 * bgcolor="lightblue"|48.2
 * bgcolor="lightblue"|2
 * 25.0
 * 1
 * 15.3
 * 1
 * 9.3
 * 0
 * 2.2
 * 0
 * 4
 * align="left"|Kyle
 * 23.5
 * 1
 * 28.7
 * 1
 * bgcolor="#eea2ad"|32.8
 * bgcolor="#eea2ad"|1
 * 15.1
 * 0
 * colspan=2 N/A
 * 3
 * align="left"|Maybole, North Carrick and Coylton
 * 21.3
 * 1
 * bgcolor="#efe146"|30.3
 * bgcolor="#efe146"|1
 * 22.9
 * 1
 * 25.6
 * 1
 * colspan=2 N/A
 * 4
 * align="left"|Girvan and South Carrick
 * 15.8
 * 0
 * 19.7
 * 1
 * 17.0
 * 1
 * bgcolor="#c0c0c0"|47.4
 * bgcolor="#c0c0c0"|1
 * colspan=2 N/A
 * 3
 * - class="unsortable"
 * 1
 * 17.0
 * 1
 * bgcolor="#c0c0c0"|47.4
 * bgcolor="#c0c0c0"|1
 * colspan=2 N/A
 * 3
 * - class="unsortable"
 * }

Troon
The Conservatives (2), Labour (1) and the SNP (1) retained the seats they had won at the previous election.

Prestwick
The Conservatives (2), Labour (1) and the SNP (1) retained the seats they had won at the previous election.

Ayr North
Labour (2), the SNP (1) and the Conservatives (1) retained the seats they had won at the previous election. In 2007, Cllr Campbell was elected as a Labour candidate but subsequently resigned from the party and later joined the SNP.

Ayr East
Labour and the SNP retained the seats they had won at the previous elections while the Conservatives retained one seat and lost one seat to the SNP.

Ayr West
The Conservatives (2), Labour (1) and the SNP (1) retained the seats they had won at the previous election.

Kyle
The SNP, Labour and the Conservatives retained the seats they had won at the previous election.

Maybole, North Carrick and Coylton
Labour, the SNP, the Conservatives and independent councillor Brian Connolly retained the seats they had won at the previous election.

Girvan and South Carrick
The SNP and Labour retained the seats they had won at the previous election while independent candidate Alec Clark gained a seat from the Conservatives.

By-election
Ayr East SNP councillor Corri Wilson was elected as MP for Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock on 7 May 2015. She resigned her council seat on 23 June 2015 and a by-election was held on 17 September 2015. The seat was held by the SNP's John Wallace.