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Local and Holyrood elections to be held on separate days

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Published Date: 04 February 2009
SCOTTISH voters will be asked to go to the polls on separate dates to elect councillors and MSPs under measures announced today.
The change was a key proposal of an independent report by international elections expert Ron Gould into the fiasco which saw more than 140,000 ballots spoiled in the 2007 Scottish elections.

The local government elections Bill will extend current
and subsequent council terms of office by one year.

This means the next local council elections may be held in 2012, again in 2017 and then every fourth year.

Future local government elections will be held at the midpoint of the parliamentary cycle.

Bruce Crawford, minister for parliamentary business, said: "Local government elections are an important part of the democratic system in Scotland.

"Our councils do a vital job and it is right that elections to these bodies are given their proper place, rather than overshadowed by national elections on the same day.

"Holding the elections on different dates will help eliminate the voter confusion that was experienced in 2007 and give Scottish local government elections the prominence they deserve."

MSPs have already backed a motion to accept the recommendations of the Gould report, including "decoupling" the council and Holyrood election dates.

Holyrood's local government committee backed the measure in a report it compiled into the elections fiasco, while the Electoral Commission also accepts there is a strong case for change.

The Scottish Government last year published a consultation on the creation of a chief returning officer to oversee much of the process of elections, in line with the Gould report's recommendations.

Ministers are also expected to consult on more administrative changes stemming from Gould later this year.

SNP MSP Keith Brown, a former deputy returning officer, used today's announcement to urge the UK Government's Scotland Office to transfer powers regarding Scottish elections to Holyrood.

Mr Brown said: "We all experienced the chaos London control caused in 2007.

"Now is the right time for Labour in London to face up to their responsibility and let Scotland have responsibility for Scotland's elections."



Page 1 of 1

 
1

Jimmy Le Pie,

04/02/2009 14:49:27
Separate days will mean closer scrutiny on New Labour Sleaze and Corruption, well known for electoral fraud.

Onwards to independence.
2

Resolutions,

04/02/2009 15:06:12
# Inclined to agree with you Jimmy. Much closer scrutiny is needed on the electoral process.

And why oh why do some marked up registers(the sensitive ones) appear to vanish? And the 'response' from the 'returned member' did not sound very convincing either - made me really start to wonder.
3

Daveunderwater,

04/02/2009 15:28:14
#7 "evil prospers while good men do nothing"

I quite agree, look at the extent of corruption revealed recently after 50 years of good men doing nothing.
4

Daveunderwater,

Sliver City By the Grey North Sea (but the oil is 04/02/2009 15:31:36
I doubt if the SNP will be pushing for a LOW turnout, this might increase the number of postal votes, and we all know what happened in Glenrothes

Well at least somebody in Glenrothes Sherrif court does
5

Westfield Bairns,

falkirk 04/02/2009 15:33:33
The Nulabour party will have to reasses their level of postal vote fraud, oops did i say fraud must have meant canvassing
6

Scottish 'N British,

04/02/2009 15:45:12

Before the may '07 election I read somewhere (can't remember where) that SNP voters come largely from C2 and D socio economic classes.

So this decision will help.

Mr Salmon tried to help out when insisted his name be at the top of each ballot saying "Alex Salmon for First Minister" as opposed to something confusing, like Mr/s Salmon, SNP.

Of course it only served to confuse voters, hence the mass of spoiled ballots.

Hopefully he has learned his lesson. Famous last words.
7

,

04/02/2009 16:02:33
Comment Removed By Administrator
Reason:
8

Nevsky;,

Moscow 04/02/2009 16:20:21
12 Onward#

When the parliament gains full fiscal autonomy indenpendence is a forgone conclusion.

Everything is going exactly to plan!
9

Scottish 'N British,

04/02/2009 16:28:25
14

Duh!!

Aside from a vote from the peeps, that is...

If brains were dynamite, you wouldn't have enough to blow your hat off.

lol
10

Rufus-T-Firefly,

04/02/2009 16:30:52
What a waste of money.

The elections will now have cost double.

If people are too stupid to be able to tick the correct boxes............ then tough.

11

Rufus-T-Firefly,

04/02/2009 16:32:34
15 Scottish 'N British,04/02/2009

Don't worry about Nevsky, he has delusions of being Irish whilst living in Norway.
12

Scottish 'N British,

04/02/2009 16:40:05
17

SNP role model now is Greenland, apparently. When this wee gem was passed to Greenland's PM he had a heart attack and died. Tragic, really.

Like many of his dim-witted mates on this side of the North Sea, Newsky, or whatever he's called, has gulag for brains.
13

Free by 2093,

04/02/2009 16:45:53
This is good news for the SNP voter. Asking them to put an "x" in the right box 3 consecutive times in a row is a bit much.

I'd have preferred society to teach the SNP voter how to read and think, but this will serve as a useful short-term solution.

It will be good practice for them before the referendum, in many respects teaching an SNP voter how to put an "x" in the correct box is a bit like poking butter up a porcupine's rear end with a hot needle. Difficult as hell, but not impossible.
14

Nevsky;,

Moscow 04/02/2009 16:46:23
17 and 18 Rufus#

I suggest you try not to divide what little remains in within your brain between two monikers and having conversations with yourself.

It is verging on self-abuse!

Gulag for brains...????
15

Nevsky;,

Moscow 04/02/2009 16:48:10
21 Free#

'a bit like poking butter up a porcupine's rear end with a hot needle. Difficult as hell, but not impossible'

Not surprised this is how you spend your spare time...must have taken you ages to perfect!
16

Scottish 'N British,

04/02/2009 16:52:08
22

So it's a double moniker, is it? Yer oot o' yer depth, son. Oot o' yer depth.

lol
17

Daveunderwater,

04/02/2009 16:58:10
On a lighter note

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rARN0SduQs0

Rapper Broon get's doon
18

Daveunderwater,

04/02/2009 17:01:19
Salmon? (sic) or Brown Trout?

You Choose!!
19

IanAyr,

Ayr 04/02/2009 17:33:44
It makes for sense as labour voters canna read the instructions.
20

Miss H,

04/02/2009 17:43:30
11 and 16 and 21 The Scottish Office (westminster dept) very kindly published all the ballot box results for the 2007 SP election, both regional and constituency and cross-paper combinations which allows us to compare constituency and regional votes.

Thus we know that people who voted Labour were the most likely to return a second ballot paper which was uncertain or blank.

I do not conclude from this that Labour voters are thick. I do conclude that they are more likely to be elderly and perhaps to have a lower level of education than SNP, Tory or Lib Dem voters. But it does not mean that they are thick and it would certainly be quite wrong of the SNP to try and gain a political advantage from the fact that Labour voters appear more easily confused than SNP voters.

So they have done the right thing decoupling the elections and this should be welcomed by everyone.
21

,

04/02/2009 18:45:37
Comment Removed By Administrator
Reason:
22

Observer,,

Glasgow 04/02/2009 19:20:29
30 What ''collective whine'' ? The one that you have just made up ?
23

Scottish 'N British,

04/02/2009 21:24:11
31

"collective whine"- as it says on the box.

Sometimes I think people post here cos they're bored or cos they've been banned from their local boozer.

Perhaps they are getting what is called "4P"

Paid
Per
Pointless
Post

24

dude,

wishy 04/02/2009 22:25:52
scottish not british

It'snot for me to say. Perhaps you're canvassing for 4th February to become National Daftie Day, in your specisal honour?

It wont be 'british day' he will be canvassing for since nobody wants to be 'british' apart from extremists like you and your bethern.

face it over 85% of Scots are Scots first and formost, we live in the 'british isles' thats about it, there is no such thing as britishness ask Gordon Brown
25

dude,

wishy 04/02/2009 22:28:40
Another nail in the coffin of the corrupt labour cheat machine, the next logical step would be all Scottish elections under Scottish control with failsafe procedures to put to bed any inkling of unfair or illegal vote rigging
26

Resolutions,

04/02/2009 23:15:49
The Scot Brit or whatever is not much of a credit to either and seems rather short in the decency and manners department, let alone the debating side.

27

Scottish 'N British,

04/02/2009 23:46:44
35

Er, if you've been keeping tabs you'll know that "decency and manners" are in short supply ALL OVER these threads.

Perhaps you have been too busy imbibing some Buckie or aerosol sniffing to notice?

 

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