2002 Merton London Borough Council election

Between the last election and the polling day, an unusual number of seat changes had occurred. At a by-election in West Barnes on 9 November 2000, the Conservatives gained a seat from the Liberal Democrats. Of the 39 Labour councillors elected in 1998, one defected to the Green Party, three defected to independent Labour, one resigned from the party and one seat had become vacant in 2002. This meant that, on the eve of the election, Labour had 33 seats to the Conservatives' 13 and the Liberal Democrats had 2.^[1]

The Labour Party maintained its overall majority control in the borough, but its majority was reduced to four seats. The Conservatives made significant gains and indeed polled a higher vote share than Labour, despite winning fewer seats. The Liberal Democrats failed to hold onto the newly-redrawn ward of West Barnes, losing their three seats in the ward to the Conservatives.^[1]

The Merton Park Ward Residents' Association maintained its three councillors in Merton Park.^[1]

Merton Local Election Result 2002^[2]

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Conservative	25			13	41.7%	38.0%	48,188	5.1%
	Labour	32			7	53.3%	37.1%	47,081	7.1%
	Merton Park Residents	3			0	5.0%	3.4%	4,334
	Liberal Democrats	0			3	0%	11.1%	14,063	3.4%
	Green	0			0	0%	7.3%	9,279	2.5%
	Wimbledon Park Independent Residents	0			0	0%	1.7%	2,198	n/a
	UKIP	0			0	0%	0.7%	851	n/a
	Independent	0			0	0%	0.5%	644	n/a
	BNP	0			0	0%	0.2%	302	0.1%

The by-election was called following the resignation of Cllr. Tony Giles.

The by-election was called following the resignation of Cllr. Leslie D. Mutch.