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2026 parish elections - a small crop of farmers

A relatively small crop of parish and town council elections are happening in 2026, with 376 parishes being elected across 33 districts and boroughs. In total 3233 candidates are standing for 3401 seats. 23% of the candidates are standing for a registered political party, with Labour standing the most with 164. Local parties include Poole People (6) and Rainhill Independents (14), there are two candidates for the Animal Welfare Party, and one each for UKIP and the Official Monster Raving Loony Party. As usual, the majority of seats will be uncontested - only 134 of the 555 parish wards up this year will have a ballot on 7th May. 2281 candidates (72% of the total) have already been elected without a vote. There are 632 seats left vacant, most of which will be filled by co-option. 17 wards attracted no nominations at all. There are a few new town and parish councils this year. Councils have been created for Bournemouth, Poole and Broadstone covering the whole unparished area of BCP Coun...
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Parish council elections 2024 - an exhausted look

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This is a light year for parish council elections - just 33 local authorities are running scheduled parish elections in 2024. As usual, most elections will be uncontested: Of 795 parish wards, 136 will have a contested poll on 2nd May (17%) Of 3709 candidates, 2746 have been declared elected without a poll (74%) Out of a total of 4207 seats, there are only enough candidates to fill 3369 of them, with most of the remainder to be filled by co-option 9 parish councils have so few nominations that they will not meet the quorum of 3 councillors, and will require fresh elections before they can sit. Over a third of the seats to be filled this year are in Dorset, which due to reorganisation has elections at 5-year intervals in 2019, 2024 and 2029, before reverting to the usual 4-year cycle along with the other county councils. The most hotly-contested election is for Kidderminster Town Council, where 64 candidates are standing to fill 18 seats. The outgoing council is made up of 11 Conserva...
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