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Election 07

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Waste of time

  • Mark Devenport
  • 29 Mar 07, 03:15 PM

Just back from a seminar on our Assembly elections organised by the Electoral Commission, and attended by the political parties and other key players.

To my mind the most interesting contribution was from the Chief Electoral Officer, Douglas Bain. He argued that the election deposits, currently set at £150, were "a complete waste of time". Administering them took up a lot of work for his staff, but they didn't put anyone off standing. He said they should either be abolished or set at a more significant level.

He also didn't think much of the requirement that candidates must get 10 people to sign their nomination forms, on the grounds that most of them could get 10 people they'd met in the pub to sign on the dotted line.

Something else which emerged from an as still incomplete survey being carried out by the Electoral Commission was that 64% of people (so far they have only interviewed 400 people) appear to favour postal voting on demand.

There was also much talk of counting votes here electronically in the future.

So should they increase the deposit or do away with it? What do you think?

Bowing out

  • Brian Taylor
  • 29 Mar 07, 03:12 PM

It ended in tears. As MSPs paid warm - and well-deserved - tributes to George Reid, who’s stepping down as Presiding Officer, his charming wife Dee succumbed to the emotion of the moment in the gallery.

Indeed, there were more than a few sniffles in the Chamber. And not just from those who are retiring - or who suspect that they may be retired, involuntarily, by the voters.

After the Presiding Officer brought down the gavel for the final time in this Parliamentary session, members and staff queued up to wish him well.

For this observer, George Reid’s term of office has been a triumph. He sorted out the building project, he kept Holyrood’s face turned upon the world (rather than internalised). More than that, he has been a splendid envoy for Scotland and Scottish politics.

So the collective emotion was genuine. But the political battle is real too. Earlier, members had debated the future of Scotland. Frankly, they seldom strayed further than the next five weeks - the countdown to the Holyrood elections on May 3. And no wonder. This is serious stuff, a tough, tough contest.

The SNP have been ahead in the polls before - but never this close to an election. Habitually, they have slipped behind by now. Labour knows that. Cue anxious faces in Labour ranks – and hard campaigning.

George Reid has one more task as Presiding Officer. He returns to Holyrood on May 9 to swear in the elected members. Wonder who’ll be among them?

As they shook the PO’s hand, you could see that thought occurring to the departing MSPs too.


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