In between the 2009 election and the 2013 election, the following council seats changed hands:
Summary of Results
Gains and Losses
The Conservative Party suffered net a net loss of 20 seats ; Liberal Democrats a net loss of 3 seats ; the Green Party lost 3 seats, finishing with four in total. UKIP made 14 gains to become the official opposition, while Labour gained 11 seats, and 1 seat was gained by an independent. The Conservatives lost one seat to the Liberal Democrats in Broadland, one to an Independent candidate in King's Lynn and West Norfolk, 7 seats to Labour, as well as losing 13 seats to UKIP. The Liberal Democrats lost two seats to the Conservatives, one seat to UKIP in Breckland and one to Labour covering several city wards in the Norwich district. The Green Party lost three seats to Labour in Norwich.
Incumbent councillors
A total of 55 incumbent councillors were defending their seats for the same party they had stood for in 2009. 41 were successful in retaining their seats, while 14 were not. 41 incumbent Conservative County Councillors were defending their seats at this election, including Judy Leggett, Judith Virgo and Barry Stone who had won their seats in by-elections. Of these 41, 28 were re-elected while the other 13 lost their seats. All 5 Liberal Democrat incumbents held their seats. The Green Party had 3 incumbents defending seats; two were retained, while one was lost to Labour. Labour incumbents successfully defended all 5 of their seats. UKIP's single councillor retained his seat. Incumbents who stood for other parties or as independents are not counted in these figures.
Group leaders
Bill Borrett was re-elected unopposed as the Conservative group leader, George Nobbs was re-elected unopposed as the leader of the Labour Group. The Liberal Democrats elected Dr Marie Strong as their new group leader, replacing Mike Brindle who did not stand in this election. Richard Bearman continued as the leader of the Green Party group. Richard Toby Coke was selected as the UKIP group leader.
Turnout
The overall turnout at the election was 32.14%. The turnout in each division ranged form 18.09% in King's Lynn North & Central to 50.75% in Holt.
With the council now being in no overall control it was unclear who would be elected Leader. In the event, at the initial election for Council Leader on 13 May 2013, the Conservatives lost by 40 votes to 43. After the initial vote, a "rainbow" alliance was formed between Labour, UKIP, The Liberal Democrats with support from the Green Party. Under the agreement, the existing cabinet system would be abolished and replaced by a new committee system with Labour councillor George Nobbs to be nominated to be Leader. On 27 May he was elected by a vote of 42 to 38.
Aftermath
The 'Rainbow Alliance' of UKIP, Labour, and the Liberal Democrats with support from the Greens ran the Council until May 2016, with George Nobbs being re-elected by 43 votes to 40 in 2014, and by 42 to 39 in 2015. However, on 9 May 2016 the Alliance collapsed when the Green Party withdrew its support and abstained in the election for Leader, and Conservative Cliff Jordan won by 41 votes to 37. This enabled the Conservatives to run the Council through a minority administration until the local elections in May 2017.
Candidates by party
There were a total of 364 candidates standing across the whole of the county - an average of 4⅓ in each division. Both the Conservatives and Labour fielded a full slate of 84 candidates, UKIP stood 70 candidates, the Liberal Democrats stood 62, the Green Party stood 43, and there were 21 other candidates. Compared to 2009, UKIP had 52 more candidates, there were 6 more independent candidates than 2009, the Conservatives and Labour had the same number, the Liberal Democrats had 7 fewer candidates and the Green Party had 8 fewer candidates. The British National Party did not stand any candidates, compared to the 7 they stood in the previous election. In total, there were 44 more candidates than in 2009.
Candidates and results by division
Below are the results of the election, separated into the 7 districts and 84 divisions.
