Glasgow City Council by-elections will be held on 20 March 2025. Read on to find out who can vote, how the counting works, who is standing for election in Govanhill and the Southside Central ward.

Find out more about your election candidates…

We will send 8 questions written by our readers to all 8 candidates standing to represent Southside Central in the 2025 by-elections, and will be sharing their answers as we receive them.

To submit your questions, or just to tell us what issues that you care about, which candidates should be discussing, do so by filling out this survey.

Why are elections happening in March?

Local government elections are held every five years in Scotland – it was increased from four years as part of the Scottish Elections (Reform) Bill in 2020 – but in exceptional circumstances, a by-election can be triggered during those five years.

In this case, the by-election follows the passing of long-serving Labour councillor James Scanlon in December 2024. The current sitting councillors still seated are: Councillor Alexander Belic, Bailie Elaine Gallagher and Councillor Dr Soryia Siddique.

Registered eligible voters get to vote for the councillors they want to represent their ward in the local authority, in this case Glasgow City Council. Residents of Govanhill live in the Southside Central ward, which elects four representatives.

According to the Scottish Government website, local authorities have a number of powers and duties which are set out in legislation:

mandatory duties – such as providing schooling and social work services
permissive powers – such as economic development and recreation services
regulatory powers – such as trading standards, environmental health as well as licensing for taxis and public houses

Find out more about what powers the council holds, and who wields the power in this factsheet.

The vote will take place on the 20 March. Polling stations are open from 7am until 10pm. You don’t need your poll card or any form of ID. You just need to provide your name and address - and to have registered before the 4 March deadline.

You can find your nearest polling station by clicking on this link. You can also register for a postal or proxy (when someone else votes on your behalf) voting. The deadline to apply for a postal vote for this election is 5pm Wednesday 5 March 2025.

The deadline for new applications to vote by proxy is 5pm Wednesday 12 March 2025.

Who can vote in Glasgow council elections?

You can vote in this election if you are registered to vote in Scotland and can only vote in the ward in which you are registered (read on if you are unsure of your ward).

You must be aged 16 or over on Thursday 20 March 2025. You must also be:

a British or Irish citizen, or
a Commonwealth, European Union citizen or any other foreign national who has permission to enter or remain in the UK, or who does not need such permission

If you are still not sure whether or not you are eligible, you can check your eligibility using this link.

You must register to vote again, every time you move house. If you are not sure if you are already registered to vote, you can find this out by phoning 0141 287 4444 or emailing voters.roll@fs.glasgow.gov.uk.

Which Glasgow City Council ward do I live in?

Southside Central ward includes the Gorbals, Hutchesontown, Govanhill, Queen’s Park, Crosshill and Oatlands. If you’re not sure which ward you are in, you can check by entering your address using the button below.

Which ward am I in?

How are the votes counted?

The votes will be counted on 6 May, when an electronic counting system will be used and dedicated Count Centres will be in place in Glasgow. However, the specific date for counting the votes has not been publicly disclosed. Typically, in local elections, votes are counted on the same day as the election, but this is not always the case.

Members are elected as councillors using the Single Transferable Vote (STV) system. The quota for each ward is worked out by dividing the number of valid ballot papers (total votes cast minus any rejected papers) by one more than the number of vacancies plus one.

So in the case of the Southside Central ward, if 7000 valid votes were cast, and there are four seats to be filled, the quota is (7000/4+1)+1, which would make a total of 1401. So in this instance, if a candidate reached or exceeded 1401 seats they would be elected. The value of the surplus votes (above this number) for elected candidates would be transferred to the next valid candidate in order of preference on each individual ballot paper.

For more information, see this guide, or the table below from the last elections.

Who currently holds the Glasgow Southside Central council seats?

In 2022, the electorate consisted of 20,537. There were 7,717 valid votes casts, meaning the turnout was 39 percent.

The current four seats allocated to the Southside Central ward are held by the following incumbents. The percentages shown are for the amount of first preference votes the candidates received in 2022.

Alexander Belic - SNP (18.9%)
Elaine Gallagher- Greens (18.1%)
Soryia Siddique - Labour (16.5%)
James Scanlon - Labour (15.0%)

In gaining her seat, Elaine Gallagher became the first trans woman to be elected to Glasgow City Council.

*From Wikipedia - electoral results from 2022 Glasgow council elections*

*The current make up of Glasgow City Council following the 2022 elections*

Who can I vote for in Glasgow Southside Central in 2022?

There are 8 candidates standing in total representing a total of eight parties.

Nicholas Allan Budgen – Liberal Democrats
Mhairi Hunter – SNP
Olivia Murphy – Scottish Socialist
Travis Power – UKIP
Danny Raja – Reform UK
Kyle Park – Conservative
Samina Rashid – Labour
Laura Vroomen – Scottish Green Party

We caught up with Laura Vroomen and Mhairi Hunter when their candidacy was announced. As well as this, Greater Govanhill will be putting questions to each of the candidates based on what our readers have told us are the most important issues to them. We’ll be sharing their answers on our website. Have your say by filling in our short form.