What Electoral reforms have there been since 1997? While the need for reforming Westminster’s First Past the Post (FPTP) voting system is getting clearer every day, outside Westminster the process of reform has been slowly, but surely, going in the right direction. While... Posted 02 Mar 2023
Here’s how SNP leadership elections work The deadline for contenders to put themselves forward for the next SNP leadership passed at midday on the 24th February, so it is now confirmed there are three potential future leaders. Humza Yousaf, Kate Forbes... Posted 24 Feb 2023
ERS Scotland’s State of Scottish Democracy lecture draws crowd in Glasgow Thank you to everyone who made it along to Govan’s Pearce Institute to hear Professor James Mitchell present the first-ever ERS Scotland State of Scottish Democracy lecture. The event was a real success. We are... Posted 28 Nov 2022
Don’t miss one of Scotland’s leading political experts in new annual lecture ERS Scotland is hosting the inaugural State of Scottish Democracy lecture next week. The event takes place on Thursday 17th November, in Govan’s Pearce Institute, and will be addressed by Professor James Mitchell. The idea... Posted 11 Nov 2022
ERS Scotland: Our plans for the years ahead At ERS Scotland we are constantly monitoring the political seas and updating our course to make sure we have the proper heading. Following this year’s local elections, the elections to the Scottish Parliament in 2021,... Posted 24 May 2022
The Power of Preferences: STV in Scottish Local Elections Much talk of the need for electoral reform focuses on Westminster and the goal of a proportionally elected House of Commons. But while the UK Parliament, and almost all of England’s elections, are still held... Posted 26 Apr 2022
England and Wales can learn from Scotland’s success with STV It is now 15 years since Scotland abandoned First Past the Post for local government elections and adopted the Single Transferable Vote form of proportional representation. What many will have seen as a small shift in process... Posted 01 Apr 2022
Should I rank all the candidates in the Scottish council elections? On Thursday 5 May, 2022, voters will go to the polls to elect councillors for each of Scotland’s 32 local authorities. This will be the fourth time that Scottish councils will be elected using a proportional system,... Posted 25 Feb 2022
Conservative councillor: How the Single Transferable Vote broke open Scotland’s one-party fiefdoms "With STV, we are trying to steal a march on other parties, while at the same time cooperating for the public good." Posted 05 Aug 2021
Joint letter: 650 voters in London, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland call for PR at Westminster A new report from the ERS celebrates two-decades of proportional representation in Britain, including the Senedd, Scottish Parliament, and London Assembly. Posted 02 Aug 2021