Teenager Ben Williams (19) elected to Fochabers Lhanbryde ward for Labour, Marc Macrae (Conservatives) and Shona Morrison (SNP) also elected
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A TEENAGER has been elected to serve as a councillor for Moray Council.
Ben Williams (Labour), who is just 19 years old, will serve as a councillor for Fochabers Lhanbryde after receiving 404 first preference votes.
Williams was elected at stage five of the voting process.
He will be joined in the ward by the re-elected duo of Marc Macrae (Conservative) and council convener Shona Morrison (SNP).
Marc Macrae (Tory) received 1590 first preference votes, Shona Morrison (SNP) received 940, with Dave Bremner (SNP) receiving 778.
Donald Cameron (Lib Dems) got 284.
The result is something of a shock after Williams, who is thought to be the youngest councillor ever elected to Moray Council, edged out Bremner for the final seat.
"I think that it's great to have young people involved in politics and I'm hoping to inject a bit of energy into Moray Council," Williams said.
"I'm hopeful other young people follow in my footsteps but that doesn't mean running for office.
"Maybe there will be three or four 19 year old councillors on Moray Council in the future.
"I wasn't too surprised because I think that people want an alternative but I'm just really looking forward to starting."
Marc Macrae (Conservative) said: "I'm obviously very pleased. I hope that people have seen what I've done in the previous five years and voted for me based on that.
"I'm blown away by the level of votes and I'm extremely grateful for that.
"I'll do all I can to help the people of Fochabers and Lhanbrdye."
Shona Morrsion (SNP) was delighted to be reelected but expressed sympathy for David Bremner (SNP ) after he lost his seat.
"It's great to be back and I'm grateful that people have voted for me.
"Obviously Dave losing out is really disappointing as he's been a fantastic councillor for the area over the past five years.
"I'm looking forward to getting started again with a focus on the cost of living crisis.
"Households in Moray are feeling the strain so we will try and make people's lives a little bit better."
The turnout in the ward was 49.2 per cent, with 4064 of 8253 eligible voters turning out. There were 68 spoiled ballots.
