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rhythmaningAs well as the parliamentary election in Scotland - which resulted in a very hung parliament and what looks like a minority government - there were also the council elections.
These were the elections which used the single transferable vote system to bring some broader proportional representation to the councils.
The Scotsman provided the results for each council. Typically, I can't find anything on their website about it - sorry (and I tried searching on lots of different keywords!). The full results, published on May 5th, shows that out of 32 councils, there were three with Independent control (Western Isles, Orkney and Shetland; for reasons I don't know, all the candidates here seem to be independent - there don't appear to be parties in the Islands, which seems curious to me), two with Labour control (City of Glasgown and Lanarkshire) - and twenty seven with no overall control.
This compares with thirteen under Labour control, one Lib Dem, one SNP, six Independent and eleven no overall control in the previous council elections, 2003.
So it would seem that bringing in STV has removed overall control from sixteen councils.
As a result, as well as the MSPs trying to build coalitions that will enable them to produce a stable government, so are twenty seven councils. I have no idea what the effect of this will be (and since this is old news, many of the councils may have succeeded in forming coalitions by now), but I can't help thinking that it will lead to a more healthy, less hide-bound political system. The old certainties of local politics will have to be re-thought. For instance, Edinburgh used to be a Labour-controlled council; now Lib-Dems are the largest party, followed by Labour - who lost half their seats to other parties. That is a big, big change. (EdinburghSucks - which is a blog about the city's politics rather than an opinion of life here - has a lot more to say about the local election in Edinburgh.)
In particular, councillors from different parties will have to get on with each other - rather being confrontational, safe in the knowledge that they have a majority and are likely to have ad infinitum. This can only be a good thing. Can't it?
These were the elections which used the single transferable vote system to bring some broader proportional representation to the councils.
The Scotsman provided the results for each council. Typically, I can't find anything on their website about it - sorry (and I tried searching on lots of different keywords!). The full results, published on May 5th, shows that out of 32 councils, there were three with Independent control (Western Isles, Orkney and Shetland; for reasons I don't know, all the candidates here seem to be independent - there don't appear to be parties in the Islands, which seems curious to me), two with Labour control (City of Glasgown and Lanarkshire) - and twenty seven with no overall control.
This compares with thirteen under Labour control, one Lib Dem, one SNP, six Independent and eleven no overall control in the previous council elections, 2003.
So it would seem that bringing in STV has removed overall control from sixteen councils.
As a result, as well as the MSPs trying to build coalitions that will enable them to produce a stable government, so are twenty seven councils. I have no idea what the effect of this will be (and since this is old news, many of the councils may have succeeded in forming coalitions by now), but I can't help thinking that it will lead to a more healthy, less hide-bound political system. The old certainties of local politics will have to be re-thought. For instance, Edinburgh used to be a Labour-controlled council; now Lib-Dems are the largest party, followed by Labour - who lost half their seats to other parties. That is a big, big change. (EdinburghSucks - which is a blog about the city's politics rather than an opinion of life here - has a lot more to say about the local election in Edinburgh.)
In particular, councillors from different parties will have to get on with each other - rather being confrontational, safe in the knowledge that they have a majority and are likely to have ad infinitum. This can only be a good thing. Can't it?
no subject
Date: 2007-05-16 12:56 am (UTC)One would certainly hope so. Cllr Kelly seems to disagree. But then, I think he's just disagreeable.
But yeah, in a four party polity, that there are any left under one-party rule is scary. I love STV, best voting system ever.