How many electoral systems are there in Scotland?
I used to be something of a minor expert on electoral systems which puts me in a very small and geekish minority.
It all started when I worked in the House of Commons in the the early 1970s as Research Assistant to the Labour Party spokesperson for Northern Ireland Merlyn Rees at a time when the then Conservative Government was introducing proportional representation in Northern Ireland. It continued in the mid 1970s when Merlyn Rees was the Home Secretary responsible for legislation introducing direct elections to the European Parliament and I was his Special Adviser. In both instances, I had to learn a lot about the characteristics and the advantages and disadvantages of different electoral systems.
Now I was talking recently to a friend who is a Labour Party activist in Scotland and she surprised me by explaining that Scotland now has four electoral systems:
- For European Parliament elections, Scotland (like the rest of the UK except Northern Ireland) uses the regional list system.
- For elections to the Westminster Parliament, Scotland (like the rest of the UK) uses the first past the post system.
- For elections to the Scottish Parliament (as for elections to the Welsh Assembly), the additional member system is used.
- For local elections in Scotland, the single transferable vote is used.
The surprise to me was the adoption of STV which, outside Ireland (North and South) and Malta, is hardly used worldwide. Apparently the new method of voting was introduced in 2007 as a result of an earlier deal between the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats on the formation of a coalition government in Scotland when the Lib Dems insisted on the reform as part of the price for their support.
Of course, all electoral systems have their strengths and weaknesses and it’s not essential that a country has the same system for different types of elections but four in a country of 5 million does seem a little odd.
If the Labour Party nationally has its way, we’ll be having a referendum on the introduction of the alternative vote system for Westminster elections, but I think that the Conservatives will block this.