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The 2008 Scottish Liberal Democrats leadership election was an election to choose a new leader of the Liberal Democrats in Scotland, triggered following the resignation of Nicol Stephen for personal reasons. Deputy leader Michael Moore ( MP for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk) took over as interim party leader, and the timetable for the election was agreed on 5 July 2008: Nominations closed on 24 July 2008, the return of the ballot papers was set for 26 August 2008 and the declaration of results occurred on the same date. [1] The last leadership election was held in 2005 after the resignation of Jim Wallace, when Stephen defeated Mike Rumbles.
The following MSPs gained the required one nomination from a fellow MSP, and were therefore candidates for the leadership:
The result of the leadership election was announced on 26 August 2008; turnout was 61%.
Candidate | Votes | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Votes | % | |||
Tavish Scott | 1,450 | 59.0% | ||
Ross Finnie | 568 | 21.3% | ||
Mike Rumbles | 439 | 17.9% | ||
Turnout | 2,457 | 61.0% | ||
Tavish Scott elected leader Source: BBC News |