Elections to South Lanarkshire Council were held on 3 May 2012 on the same day as the 31 other local authorities in Scotland. The election used the twenty wards created under the Local Governance Act 2004, with 67 Councillors being elected. Each ward elected either 3 or 4 members, using the STV electoral system. The election saw Labour retain their traditional position as the largest party on the Council as they gained 3 seat from 2007 to be just 1 seat short of an overall majority. The Scottish National Party also increased their representation and remained in second place on the authority with 4 net gains. The Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party were the biggest losers, falling from 8 seats to just 3. Independents lost a seat to return to the Council with 2 seats. The Scottish Liberal Democrats lost 1 seat to be reduced to a solitary member. Following the election the Labour Party again formed an administration. In February 2013, Labour gained overall control of South Lanarkshire Council after winning aRutherglen South by-election from the SNP.
Election result
Note: "Votes" are the sum of first preference votes across all council wards. The net gain/loss and percentage changes relate to the result of the previous Scottish local elections on 3 May 2007. This is because STV has an element of proportionality which is not present unless multiple seats are being elected. This may differ from other published sources showing gain/loss relative to seats held at dissolution of Scotland's councils.
By-election changes prior to 2012 dissolution
Between 2007 and 2012 the following changes took place:
† Rutherglen South SNP Cllr Anne Higgins died on 20 November 2012. A by-election was held on 14 February 2013 and was won by Labour's Gerard Killen which gave the party an overall majority on the Council.
†† Hamilton South SNP Cllr Bobby Lawson died on 13 August 2013. A by-election was held on 24 October 2013 and was won by the Labour Party's Stuart Gallacher.
††† Clydesdale East SNP Cllr Reverend Bev Gauld resigned from the party and became an Independent after the party legalised same-sex marriage
†††† Larkhall SNP Cllr Lesley McDonald defected from the SNP and joined the Labour Party on 2 May 2014.
††††† Blantyre SNP Cllr Bert Thomson defected from the SNP and joined the Labour Party in 2014.
†††††† Clydesdale South SNP Cllr Archie Manson resigned on 14 March 2014 on health grounds. The by-election was won by the Labour Party's Gordon Muir on 5 June 2014.
††††††† Hamilton South SNP Cllr Angela Crawley was elected as an MP for Lanark and Hamilton East on 7 May 2015. She resigned her Council seat on 22 May 2015. A by-election was held to fill the vacancy on 6 August 2015 and it was won by the SNP's John Ross.
†††††††† Clydesdale West SNP Cllr Pat Lee defected from the SNP and joined Solidarity on 27 May 2015.
††††††††† Blantyre Labour Party Cllr Jim Handibode died on 19 September 2015. A by-election was held to fill the vacancy on 10 December 2015 and was won by Labour's Mo Razzaq.
†††††††††† Hamilton North and East SNP Cllr Lynn Adams died on 21 September 2015. A by-election was held on 21 January 2016 to fill the vacancy and it was won by the party's Stephanie Callaghan.
