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Dorset County Council was anon-metropolitan county inEngland. Elections were first held on 23 January 1889, thereafter elections were held every three years, with all members being elected by thefirst past the post system of election on the same day. Later, the cycle was changed to one election in every four years, and the last such election was in 2017. There were also occasional by-elections, the last of which took place in December 2016.
Under theLocal Government Act 1972 thenon-metropolitan county of Dorset was created from the merger of theadministrative county ofDorset and thecounty borough ofBournemouth. The first elections to the new authority were inApril 1973, and the council took office on 1 April 1974. From its creation until 1997, the county council administered the entire area of theceremonial county of Dorset.Bournemouth andPoole becameunitary authorities in 1997, but continued to form part of the county forceremonial purposes.
The council was abolished on 31 March 2019 as part ofstructural changes to local government in Dorset.
| Election | Conservative | Liberal Democrat[1] | Labour | UKIP | Green | Other | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1973[2] | 59 | 14 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 91 |
| 1977[3] | 80 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 91 |
| 1981[4] | 53 | 16 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 91 |
| 1985[5] | 42 | 26 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 77 |
| 1989[6] | 43 | 22 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 77 |
| 1993[7] | 28 | 38 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 77 |
| 1997[8] | 15 | 21 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 42 |
| 2001[9] | 23 | 14 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 42 |
| 2005[10] | 24 | 16 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 45 |
| 2009[11] | 28 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 45 |
| 2013[12] | 27 | 12 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 45 |
| 2017[13] | 32 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 46 |
By-elections occur when seats become vacant between council elections. Below is a summary of recent by-elections;[14] full by-election results can be found by clicking on the by-election name.
| By-election | Date | Incumbent party | Winning party | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ferndown by-election | 6 May 1999 | Conservative | Conservative | ||
| Corfe Mullen by-election | 10 June 2004 | Liberal Democrats | Liberal Democrats | ||
| Rodwell by-election | 12 November 2015 | Labour | Green | ||
| Sherborne Rural by-election | 2 June 2016 | Conservative | Liberal Democrats | ||
| Ferndown by-election | 1 September 2016 | Conservative | Conservative | ||
| Ferndown by-election | 1 December 2016 | UKIP | Conservative | ||
| Bridport by-election | 22 February 2018 | Liberal Democrats | Conservative | ||
| Ferndown by-election | 22 February 2018 | Conservative | Conservative | ||
 English non-metropolitancounty council elections | |
|---|---|
| Current | |
| Former | |
aUnitary authorities referred to as county councils | |
