Congratulations to Cllr YiPei Chou Turvey!

After 9 months of campaign across my big ward (400km2) I was elected as Councillor for Banchory and Mid-Deeside in a close race with the Scottish Nationalists and Conservatives. There are 3 seats to represent the ward in Aberdeenshire Council which covers 6000km2 with 70 councillors. The Conservatives tried to take over the council seats by appointing 2 candidates per wards after their success with one candidate in 2017. They were disappointed indeed… their first candidate was elected in Stage 1 with 1,211 votes but their second candidate was eliminated along with Labour and the Scottish Family Party. The Scottish local election use the Single Transferable Vote and I was elected at Stage 4 with 1340 votes, ahead of the SNP candidate who collected 1,264 votes.

When I see the preference votes I received, I can say that truly only the Liberal Democrats can bring people together in Aberdeenshire and in Scotland and overcoming the divisions in Scottish society.

Speaking to as many as possible on the doorstep during the long campaign I could feel how disconnected the other parties are to their residents. People were delighted to have finally someone who came and listen to them.

Aberdeenshire and the country are facing a worrying time, we are still going through the struggle of the pandemic and poor management of long-covid situation and now the cost-of-living crisis is impacting every family. The aftermath of the storms this winter are also still works in progress, and communities are preparing their resilience plans. During the campaign I was able to give my residents information that will help them with covid, storms issues and cost-of-living crisis and now as a Councillor I will work hard to stay connected to the residents of my ward and helps with all the matters they need. The partnership again this term with the Conservatives and Independent councillors will hopefully give the council a stability with a strong team of 14 Liberal Democrats Councillors to helm the ship through differences.

Campaigning for a large ward is not easy and I am forever grateful for the help of the Chinese Liberal Democrats group for their logistic support and friendly mentorship.

To understand the Single transferrable vote: ballotbox.scot/councils/stv-explained