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Plenary, 09 Oct 2008

09 Oct 2008 · S3 · Plenary

Item of business

Elections 2007

McInnes, Alison LD North East Scotland Watch on SPTV

It has been said that, in a democracy, the most important office is that of citizen. Sadly, it is clear from the analysis of last year's electoral process that the citizen was—if not forgotten—certainly the last one to be considered when changes to ballot papers and counting systems were proposed.

We have an assessment that criticises the fact that, among other things, ballot papers were complicated; postal votes were not delivered on time, which disfranchised people; decisions were taken so late that insufficient time was available to communicate them properly; and electoral administration systems might have reached breaking point as a result of pressures that had been imposed in recent years. That is quite a list of shortcomings.

In a mature democracy, it is hard enough to encourage participation in elections without the muddle that we encountered last year. The Scotland Office has a lot to answer for. Organising the Scottish Parliament elections is one of the few significant tasks that the generously resourced Scotland Office has had to do in the past few years, yet most of the failures that the Gould report highlighted fell within its remit.

Many shortcomings related to the parliamentary elections and less light has been cast on the comparative success of the local elections; I think that it is worth reflecting on that for a moment. The intuitive STV system, which was quickly understood and appreciated by the electorate, has delivered fairer votes; there has been a quiet revolution in our council chambers across Scotland. Scotland now has councils that much better reflect the spread of views among their electorates. No longer are councils so dominated by a particular party group that opposition is rendered ineffective; more parties are working together to provide good local governance; and more of the electorate have found that people whom they voted for have become councillors. STV has given voters a much wider choice: the average number of candidates per ward rose from 3.4 in 2003 to 7.4 in 2007. In 2007, there were no uncontested seats, whereas 61 councillors were returned unopposed in 2003.

A high percentage of voters ended up with the councillors for whom they had voted. In 2003, about half of all voters voted for losing candidates, but in 2007, nearly three quarters found that the candidate to whom they had given their first preference had been successful. STV succeeded in broadening the range of choice for Scottish voters and opening up the electoral process to a greater range of candidates. We saw an increase in the number of young people on Scotland's councils. As the system matures, I hope that all parties will take the opportunity to field as diverse a range of candidates as possible. It is early days, but I believe that we have invigorated and refreshed our local democracy.

I turn to some of the problems that the committee identified; that said, they are problems only of process, which can and must be fixed. In the time available, I cannot respond to all the recommendations, but I am sure that my colleagues will address other important matters.

The Liberal Democrats agree with Gould that

"a major initiative should be undertaken to rationalise and consolidate the existing legislation as it relates to these elections".

The present cluttered landscape and divided responsibility must be rationalised; Scotland should be in control of its own elections. We agree with the recommendation that Scotland should have a chief returning officer. We see merit in the Electoral Commission's development of that idea—that there should be a new electoral management board, with a convener recognised in statute, and a strengthening of the commission's role.

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Plenary, 09 Oct 2008

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