2017 Essex County Council election 2017 Essex County Council election Elections to Essex County Council took place on 4 May 2017 as part of the 2017 local elections. All 75 councillors were elected from 70 electoral divisions, which each returned either one or two councillors by first-past-the-post voting for a four-year term of office. The electoral divisions were the same as those used at the previous elections in 2009 and 2014. No elections were held in Thurrock or Southend-on-Sea, which are unitary authorities outside the area covered by the County Council. Brightlingsea Bocking Laindon Park and Fryerns Clacton East District Summary Division Results Between 2013
2014 Clacton by-election 2014 Clacton by-election The Clacton by-election was held on 9 October 2014 for the United Kingdom House of Commons constituency of Clacton. The by-election was triggered by the Conservative MP for Clacton, Douglas Carswell, defecting to the UK Independence Party (UKIP) and subsequently resigning his seat to seek re-election as its candidate. Standing for UKIP, Carswell retained the seat with 59.7% of the vote, becoming UKIP's first elected MP. The Conservatives came second, and Labour third. According to John Curtice, professor of politics at Strathclyde University, the result was the biggest increase in the share of a vote for any