Dick Taverne Colin Phipps Tom Bradley David Ginsburg Ednyfed Hudson Davies John Harris Owen Shirley Williams John Cartwright Mike Thomas Bob Mitchell Bryan Magee Richard Crawshaw Eric Ogden Christopher Brocklebank-Fowler John Grant James Wellbeloved David Sainsbury Evan Luard George Brown Results In the end, 75.6% of the membership returned their ballots, and the election proved a relatively close contest: Jenkins won with 55.7% of the vote. Owen accepted his defeat, and was appointed by Jenkins as Deputy Leader of the Parliamentary Party. Jenkins remained in the post for only a year. In the 1983 General Election, the SDP-Liberal Alliance won 25.4% of the vote, but the Alliance were left holding only twenty three seats of which only six were held by the Social Democrats, and Owen announced that he would force another leadership election. Jenkins chose to step aside rather than contest the challenge. Presidential election Alongside the leadership election, there was a separate contest to become President of the Council of Social Democracy, an institution with representatives of every area party of the SDP, with responsibility for deliberating on, and adopting, policies. The President was also to sit on the party's National Committee. Three candidates stood. Two, Shirley Williams and Bill Rodgers, were members of the "Gang of Four" Labour Party politicians which had led the party's formation. The other candidate was Stephen Haseler, former joint secretary of the Social Democratic Alliance. Notes References External links United Kingdom Election Results - Liberal Party Leaders Social Democratic Party (UK) Political party leadership elections in the United Kingdom Social Democratic Party leadership election Social Democratic Party leadership election Social Democratic Party leadership election