Aberdeen Donside
Constituency of the Scottish Parliament
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Aberdeen Donside (Gaelic: Obar Dheathain Oir Dheathain) is a burgh constituency of the Scottish Parliament covering part of the Aberdeen City council area.[2] Under the additional-member electoral system used for elections to the Scottish Parliament, it elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the first past the post method of election. It is one of ten constituencies in the North East Scotland electoral region, which elects seven additional members, in addition to the ten constituency MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.[3]
| Aberdeen Donside | |
|---|---|
| Burgh constituency for the Scottish Parliament | |
Aberdeen Donside shown within the North East Scotland electoral region and the region shown within Scotland | |
| Electorate | 62,531 (2022)[1] |
| Current constituency | |
| Created | 2011 |
| Party | SNP |
| MSP | Jackie Dunbar |
| Council area | Aberdeen City |
| Created from | Aberdeen Central, Aberdeen North |
The seat has been held by Jackie Dunbar of the Scottish National Party since the 2021 Scottish Parliament election.
Electoral region
The other nine constituencies of the North East Scotland region are: Aberdeen Central, Aberdeen Deeside and North Kincardine, Aberdeenshire East, Aberdeenshire West, Angus North and Mearns, Angus South, Banffshire and Buchan Coast, Dundee City East and Dundee City West.[3] The region covers all of the Aberdeen City council area, the Aberdeenshire council area, the Angus council area, the Dundee City council area and part of the Moray council area.[4]
Constituency boundaries and council area
Following the first periodic review of Scottish Parliament boundaries, the Boundary Commission for Scotland created three new seats for the Aberdeen City council area. The council area is now divided between three constituencies: Aberdeen Central, Aberdeen Donside and Aberdeen South and North Kincardine. Central and Donside are entirely within the Aberdeen City council area, while South and North Kincardine also takes in North Kincardine in the Aberdeenshire council area. For the 2026 Scottish Parliament election Aberdeen South and North Kincardine will be renamed as Aberdeen Deeside and North Kincardine, whilst retaining its current boundaries; the change of name was implemented at the second periodic review of Scottish Parliament boundaries to maintain consistency with the naming of the Aberdeen Donside seat.[5]
Aberdeen Donside covers the northern part of the city council area, and comprises the following wards of Aberdeen City Council:[2]
- In full:
- In part:
- Hilton/Woodside/Stockethill (shared with Aberdeen Central)
At the second periodic review of Scottish Parliament boundaries in 2025 the seat boundaries were left unchanged,[6][7] and the seat continues to be formed of the same wards as at the first periodic review.[2]
Member of the Scottish Parliament
| Election | Member | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Brian Adam[a] | Scottish National Party | |
| 2013 by-election | Mark McDonald | ||
| 2017[8] | Independent | ||
| 2021 | Jackie Dunbar | Scottish National Party | |
- Incumbent for Aberdeen North constituency since 2003.
Election results

2020s
2026
| Party | Candidate | Constituency | Regional | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | ±% | Votes | % | ±% | |||
| SNP | Jackie Dunbar | |||||||
| Conservative | Hannah Powell | |||||||
| Labour | Lynn Thomson | |||||||
| Liberal Democrats | Michael Turvey | |||||||
| Sovereignty | Kelly Wilson | |||||||
| Majority | ||||||||
| Valid Votes | ||||||||
| Invalid Votes | ||||||||
| Turnout | ||||||||
2021
| Party | Candidate | Constituency | Regional | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | ±% | Votes | % | ±% | |||
| SNP | Jackie Dunbar | 18,514 | 51.6 | 16,233 | 45.2 | |||
| Conservative | Harriet Cross | 9,488 | 26.4 | 8,849 | 24.6 | |||
| Labour | Heather Herbert | 5,505 | 15.3 | 5,283 | 14.7 | |||
| Green | 1,764 | 4.9 | ||||||
| Liberal Democrats | Isobel Davidson | 2,162 | 6.0 | 1,728 | 4.8 | |||
| Alba | 743 | 2.1 | New | |||||
| Scottish Family | 269 | 0.8 | New | |||||
| All for Unity | 255 | 0.7 | New | |||||
| TUSC | Lucas Grant | 240 | 0.7 | New | ||||
| Independent Green Voice | 177 | 0.5 | New | |||||
| Abolish the Scottish Parliament | 134 | 0.4 | New | |||||
| Reform UK | 126 | 0.4 | New | |||||
| Freedom Alliance (UK) | 109 | 0.3 | New | |||||
| Restore Scotland | 85 | 0.2 | New | |||||
| UKIP | 71 | 0.2 | ||||||
| Scottish Libertarian | 64 | 0.2 | ||||||
| Independent | Laura Marshall | 39 | 0.1 | New | ||||
| Independent | Geoffrey Farquharson | 15 | 0.0 | New | ||||
| Renew | 7 | 0.0 | New | |||||
| Majority | 9,026 | 25.2 | ||||||
| Valid Votes | 35,909 | 35,951 | ||||||
| Invalid Votes | 118 | 80 | ||||||
| Turnout | 36,027 | 58.0 | 36,031 | 58.0 | ||||
| SNP hold | Swing | |||||||
2010s
| Party | Candidate | Constituency | Regional | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | ±% | Votes | % | ±% | |||
| SNP | Mark McDonald[b] | 17,339 | 56.0 | 16,080 | 51.8 | |||
| Conservative | Liam Kerr | 5,709 | 18.4 | 5,825 | 18.8 | |||
| Labour | Greg Williams | 5,672 | 18.3 | 5,208 | 16.8 | |||
| Liberal Democrats | Isobel Davidson | 2,261 | 7.5 | 1,653 | 5.3 | |||
| Green | 1,046 | 3.4 | ||||||
| UKIP | 675 | 2.2 | ||||||
| Scottish Christian | 226 | 0.7 | ||||||
| National Front | 106 | 0.3 | ||||||
| Solidarity | 72 | 0.2 | ||||||
| Scottish Libertarian | 57 | 0.2 | New | |||||
| RISE | 55 | 0.2 | New | |||||
| Communist | 37 | 0.1 | New | |||||
| Majority | 11,630 | 37.6 | ||||||
| Valid Votes | 30,981 | 31,040 | ||||||
| Invalid Votes | 117 | 52 | ||||||
| Turnout | 31,098 | 50.8 | 31,092 | 50.8 | ||||
| SNP hold | Swing | |||||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SNP | Mark McDonald | 9,814 | 42.0 | ||
| Labour | Willie Young | 7,789 | 33.3 | ||
| Liberal Democrats | Christine Jardine | 1,940 | 8.3 | ||
| Conservative | Ross Thomson | 1,791 | 7.7 | ||
| UKIP | Otto Inglis | 1,128 | 4.8 | New | |
| Green | Rhonda Reekie | 410 | 1.8 | New | |
| National Front | Dave MacDonald | 249 | 1.1 | ||
| Scottish Christian | Tom Morrow | 222 | 0.9 | New | |
| SDA | James Trolland | 35 | 0.1 | New | |
| Majority | 2,025 | 8.7 | |||
| Turnout | 23,396 | 38.8 | −8.5 | ||
| SNP hold | Swing | ||||
| Party | Candidate | Constituency | Region | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | ±% | Votes | % | ±% | |||
| SNP | Brian Adam[b] | 14,790 | 55.3 | 14,526 | 54.2 | N/A | ||
| Labour | Barney Crockett | 7,615 | 28.5 | 6,237 | 23.3 | N/A | ||
| Conservative | Ross Thomson | 2,166 | 8.1 | 2,076 | 7.7 | N/A | ||
| Liberal Democrats | Millie McLeod | 1,606 | 6.0 | 1,390 | 5.2 | N/A | ||
| Green | 683 | 2.5 | N/A | |||||
| All-Scotland Pensioners Party | 544 | 2.0 | N/A | |||||
| Independent | David Henderson | 371 | 1.4 | New | TBC[c] | N/A | ||
| Socialist Labour | 231 | 0.9 | N/A | |||||
| Scottish Socialist | 220 | 0.8 | N/A | |||||
| UKIP | 217 | 0.8 | N/A | |||||
| Scottish Christian | 210 | 0.8 | N/A | |||||
| BNP | 177 | 0.7 | N/A | |||||
| National Front | Christopher Willett | 213 | 0.8 | New | 135 | 0.5 | N/A | |
| Solidarity | 17 | 0.1 | N/A | |||||
| Angus Independents | 6 | 0.0 | N/A | |||||
| Others | 123 | 0.5 | N/A | |||||
| Majority | 7,175 | 26.8 | ||||||
| Valid Votes | 26,761 | 26,792 | ||||||
| Invalid Votes | 84 | 96 | ||||||
| Turnout | 26,845 | 47.8 | N/A | 26,888 | 47.9 | N/A | ||
| SNP win (new seat) | ||||||||
Notes
| ||||||||
2000s
The following is the notional result for the 2007 Scottish Parliament election, as calculated by the BBC.[18]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SNP | 12,165 | 44.8 | |||
| Labour | 8,614 | 31.7 | |||
| Liberal Democrats | 4,340 | 16.0 | |||
| Conservative | 2,027 | 7.5 | |||
| Majority | 3,551 | 13.1 | |||
| SNP hold | Swing | ||||
Politics and history of the constituency
The area contains Aberdeen Airport (run by BAA),[19]
Prior to the 2011 election, the Liberal Democrat candidate (Cllr Gordon Leslie), stood down amid allegations related to prostitution.[20]
