Aberdeenshire East (Scottish Parliament constituency)
Aberdeenshire East (Gaelic: Siorrachd Obar Dheathain an Ear) is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood) covering part of the council area of Aberdeenshire. It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the first past the post method of election. It is also 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.
The seat was created for the 2011 election, and largely consists of areas that were in the former constituency of Gordon. It has been held by Gillian Martin of the Scottish National Party since the 2016 Scottish Parliament election.
The other nine constituencies of the North East Scotland region are Aberdeen Central, Aberdeen Donside, Aberdeen South and North Kincardine, Aberdeenshire West, Angus North and Mearns, Angus South, Banffshire and Buchan Coast, Dundee City East and Dundee City West.
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.
Aberdeenshire is represented by four constituencies in the Scottish Parliament: Aberdeenshire East, Aberdeenshire West, Angus North and Mearns and Banffshire and Buchan Coast.
First contested in the 2011 election, the seat was won by Alex Salmond, who was then First Minister, and had previously held the Gordon seat, from which Aberdeenshire East was largely formed. Salmond had also previously been MSP for Banff and Buchan from 1999 until resigning in 2001, as well as representing the Westminster seat of Banff and Buchan from 1987 until retiring from the British Parliament in 2010.
