The election resulted in a previously Independent council becoming an Independent/Conservative coalition, with a majority of four. The use of STV electoral system benefited the SNP and the Conservatives, with them gaining 6 and 2 seats respectively. It did not benefit Labour at all, which fell from second place in terms of seats to last. In addition, the Scottish Liberal Democrats lost their sole representative on the council
The previous election in 2003 were the last to use the first-past-the-post voting system. At that election, the Independent group received 16 seats and were able to form a majority administration.
There were 3 by-elections in the 2003-07 term. One by-election was held in the Buckie West ward and was an Independent hold. The other two by-elections were held in the Speyside ward, one resulted in a SNP gain from Independent, and the other resulted in an Independent gain from SNP. As such the composition of the council did not change between 2003 and 2007.
As no single political grouping on the council had enough seats to form a majority administration, the Independent and Conservative groupings together formed a coalition.