Votes lost around island by old council (6)
I believe the answer is:
soviet
'old council' is the definition.
'soviet' can be an answer for 'council' (soviet is a kind of council). I'm not certain of the 'old' bit.
'votes lost around island' is the wordplay.
'lost' indicates anagramming the letters.
'around' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'island' becomes 'i' (geographical abbreviation).
'votes' anagrammed gives 'sovet'.
'sovet' enclosing 'i' is 'SOVIET'.
'by' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for soviet that I've seen before include "Old government council" , "Russian workers' council, originally" , "Relating to the USSR" , "Like the USSR" , "Union of ... Socialist Republics" .)