The 2006 Southampton Council election took place on 4 May 2006 to elect members of Southampton Unitary Council in Hampshire, England. One third of the council was up for election and the council stayed under no overall control.^[1]

After the election, the composition of the council was:

• Liberal Democrat 16
• Labour 16
• Conservative 16^[2]

Before the election the Liberal Democrats formed the administration of the council with 17 seats, compared to 16 for the Conservatives and 15 for Labour.^[3]

Issues in the election included refuse collection, the condition of the pavements and anti-social behaviour.^[3] The Labour and Liberal Democrat parties clashed over anti-social behaviour, with the parties disagreeing over whether the Liberal Democrat led council was doing enough to tackle such behaviour.^[3][4] The campaign saw national politicians joining in, such as Labour's Hazel Blears and Liberal Democrat Simon Hughes.^[3]

The election also had two independents standing on a platform calling for the chairman of Southampton F.C. Rupert Lowe to resign.^[5]

The results saw all 3 main parties end the election with 16 seats,^[6] after Labour gained 1 seat from the Liberal Democrats.^[7] Meanwhile, the independents calling for Rupert Lowe to resign as chairman of Southampton F.C. received 200 and 63 votes each.^[5] Overall turnout in the election was 31.3%.^[7]

Following the election the 3 parties were unable to reach agreement on who should become leader of the council, with a five-hour council meeting on 18 May failing to reach a conclusion.^[8] Finally Liberal Democrat Adrian Vinson continued as council leader for another year.^[9]

More information Party, Seats ...

Southampton Local Election Result 2006^[10][11]

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Liberal Democrats	7	0	1	1	41.2	28.8	15,686	1.6
	Labour	6	1	0	1	35.3	29.8	16,256	0.9
	Conservative	4	0	0		23.5	32.5	17,733	1.9
	Green	0	0	0		0	4.3	2,334	2.8
	UKIP	0	0	0		0	1.6	887	4.9
	Independent	0	0	0		0	1.4	740	1.4
	BNP	0	0	0		0	0.9	466	0.8
	Socialist Alternative	0	0	0		0	0.3	157	0.1
	Respect	0	0	0		0	0.3	144	0.3
	Alliance for Green Socialism	0	0	0		0	0.2	95	0.2

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