Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber (Scottish Parliament constituency)

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**Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber**
Scottish Parliament county constituency

Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber shown within the Highlands and Islands electoral region
Created:	1999
MSP:	Fergus Ewing
Party:	Scottish National Party
Council area:	Highland (part)

Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood). It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the first past the post method of election. Also, however, it is one of eight constituencies in the Highlands and Islands electoral region, which elects seven additional members, in addition to eight constituency MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.

Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber covers a southern portion of the Highland council area.

1 Electoral region
2 Constituency boundaries
- 2.1 Council area
3 Member of the Scottish Parliament
4 Election results
5 Notes and references
- 5.1 See also

[edit] Electoral region

The other seven constituencies of the Highlands and Islands electoral region are Argyll and Bute, Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, Moray, Orkney, Ross, Skye and Inverness West, Shetland and the Western Isles.

The region covers most of Argyll and Bute council area, all of the Highland council area, most of the Moray council area, all of the Orkney council area, all of the Shetland council area and all of Na h-Eileanan Siar.

[edit] Constituency boundaries

The Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber constituency was created at the same time as the Scottish Parliament, in 1999, with the name and boundaries of a pre-existing Westminster (House of Commons) constituency. In 2005, however, Scottish Westminster constituencies were generally replaced with new larger constituencies^[1]. For representation at Westminster, the area of the Holyrood constituency is now divided between two constituencies: the Ross, Skye and Lochaber Westminster constituency and the Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey Westminster constituency.

[edit] Council area

Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber is the most southerly of three Holyrood constituencies covering the Highland council area. The other two are Ross, Skye and Inverness West and Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross. Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber has Ross, Skye and Inverness West on its northern boundary. Inverness East, Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross is further north. All three constituencies are within the Highlands and Islands electoral region.

In terms of Highland Council committee areas established in 1999, the Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber constituency covers part of the Inverness committee area (generally southeast of Loch Ness and the River Ness), all of the Nairn committee area, all of the Lochaber committee area and all of the Badenoch and Strathspey committee area. New committee areas will be created in 2007, but this change will not affect constituency boundaries.

[edit] Member of the Scottish Parliament

1999 - present: Fergus Ewing, Scottish National Party

[edit] Election results

Scottish parliamentary election, 2003: Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Scottish National Party	Fergus Ewing	10764	30.9	-2.1
	Labour	Rhoda Grant	9718	27.9	-4.1
	Conservative	Mary Scanlon	6205	17.8	+3.2
	Liberal Democrats	Patsy Kenton	5622	16.2	-4.2
	Scottish Socialist	Steven Arnott	1661	4.8	+4.8
	Independent (politician)	Thomas Lamont	825	2.4	+2.4
Majority			1046	3.0	+1.9
Turnout			34795	52.5	-10.0
	Scottish National Party hold		Swing

Scottish parliamentary election, 1999: Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Scottish National Party	Fergus Ewing	13825	33.1	N/A
	Labour	Joan Aitken	13384	32.0	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	Donnie Fraser	8508	20.3	N/A
	Conservative	Mary Scanlon	6107	14.6	N/A
Majority			441	1.1
Turnout			41824	62.5