Cowdenbeath (Scottish Parliament constituency)

Cowdenbeath is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood). It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the plurality (first past the post) method of election. Also, it is one of nine constituencies in the Mid Scotland and Fife electoral region, which elects seven additional members, in addition to the nine constituency MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.

Cowdenbeath
burgh constituency for the Scottish Parliament
Cowdenbeath shown within the Mid Scotland and Fife electoral region and the region shown within Scotland
Current constituency
Created	2011
Party	Scottish National Party
MSP	Annabelle Ewing
Council area	Fife

Cowdenbeath was formerly part of the Dunfermline East constituency which was abolished in 2011.

The current Member is Annabelle Ewing of the Scottish National Party, elected in 2016, following her defeat of Alex Rowley.

Electoral region

The other eight constituencies of the Mid Scotland and Fife region are Clackmannanshire and Dunblane, Dunfermline, Kirkcaldy, Mid Fife and Glenrothes, North East Fife, Perthshire North, Perthshire South and Kinross-shire and Stirling.

The region covers all of the Clackmannanshire council area, all of the Fife council area, all of the Perth and Kinross council area and all of the Stirling council area.

Constituency boundaries and council area

Fife is represented in the Scottish Parliament by five constituencies, Cowdenbeath, Dunfermline, Kirkcaldy, Mid Fife and Glenrothes and North East Fife.

The constituency of Cowdenbeath is formed from the following electoral wards:

• In full: Rosyth, Inverkeithing and Dalgety Bay, Cowdenbeath, Lochgelly, Cardenden and Crossgates
• In part: The Lochs (shared with Dunfermline)

Member of the Scottish Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	2011	Helen Eadie	Scottish Labour Party
	2014	Alex Rowley	Scottish Labour Party
	2016	Annabelle Ewing	Scottish National Party

Election results

2010s

2016 Scottish Parliament election: Cowdenbeath

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Annabelle Ewing	13,715	46.1	+4.5
	Labour	Alex Rowley	10,674	35.7	-10.8
	Conservative	Dave Dempsey	4,251	14.2	+7.2
	Liberal Democrats	Bryn Jones	1,094	3.7	-0.2
Majority			3,041	10.4	N/A
Turnout			29,857	54.7	+7.8
	SNP gain from Labour		Swing

2014 Cowdenbeath by-election[1][2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Alex Rowley	11,192	55.78	+9.28
	SNP	Natalie McGarry	5,704	28.43	-13.17
	Conservative	Dave Dempsey	1,893	9.44	+2.44
	UKIP	Denise Baykal	610	3.04	New
	Liberal Democrats	Jade Holden	425	2.12	-1.78
	The Victims Final Right	Stuart Graham	187	0.93	New
	SDA	James Trolland	51	0.25	New
Majority			5,488	27.35	+22.45
Turnout			20,062	38.41	-8.49
	Labour hold		Swing

2011 Scottish Parliament election: Cowdenbeath

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Helen Eadie	11,926	46.5	N/A
	SNP	Ian Chisholm	10,679	41.6	N/A
	Conservative	Belinda Don	1,792	7.0	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	Keith Legg	997	3.9	N/A
	Land Party	Mick Heenan	276	1.1	N/A
Majority			1,247	4.9	N/A
Turnout			25,670	46.9	N/A
	Labour win (new seat)

Footnotes

1. Candidates Fife News Online - Facebook
2. Seven candidates will fight Cowdenbeath By-election Archived 24 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine CentralFifeTimes