Election results

Mary Schmoller and Andrew Laing have been re-elected as directors of South Uist community estate, Stòras Uibhist.

A returning face is John Macmillan who served as director for a number of years including a stint as chairman.

Current vice-chairman Rory MacGillivray is standing down and did not seek re-election. He continues in the role until after the AGM on Friday 11th October.

Results

Andrew Laing 400

John MacMillan 344

Johan MacRury 168

Mary Schmoller 312

Donnie Steele 273

The present board required the votes to be counted locally. Previous counts took place in England without scrutiny by company members.

The ballot took place under a rolling process which sees all the elected directors stand down over any three year period.

Turnout - which is typically around half the membership - appears to have boosted by the current controversy engulfing the body. Director Angus Macmillan has lost the confidence of his colleagues and the majority of the board want him to quit saying he has “paralysed decision making and progress.”

Mr Macmillan says he does not know what he is being accused of. He urges the board to “forget their personal vendetta against me and get back to working for the islanders that elected them to run our community company.”

Some 588 people - 71.9% - of the membership cast their vote in this year’s poll.

Last year’s election had a 70.8% turnout following a summer when hundreds of unhappy islanders signed a petition airing a host of grievances against the management of Stòras Uibhist, including accusations of lacking openness, transparency and acting more like a private estate company.

In 2010, a turnout of nearly 85% coincided with Stòras hounding an elderly crofter over a tiny parcel of rough ground. Angus Macmillan, then the chief of the community landlord body, personally got involved in the dispute. Later, the Scottish Land Court ruled that Murdo Mackenzie was legally entitled to the ground surrounding the crumbling Snishival mill which he used for growing vegetables.

Curiously, Stòras Uibhist did not chase their own boss for expenses even though his involvement stretched out the case.

The court said Stòras was “evidently prepared to bear” the whole amount of legal expenses against them without getting Mr Macmillan to share the cost.

South Uist community landlord election results

19 September 2019

Stòras Uibhist

The three successful candidates