Local (Council) Elections
Glasgow City Council has 79 local wards each represented by a Councillor who is elected on the traditional “First Past the Post” (FPP) system. This voting system means the candidate with the most votes will be elected.
A change to existing legislation is being discussed with the recommendation of reducing the number of wards in Glasgow to 20. Each ward would have 3 or 4 Councillors with no change to the existing total of 79 Councillors.
A new voting system called “Single Transferable Vote” (STV) is also being proposed. Voters in each ward would indicate their preference of first, second, etc candidates. A quota and formulae system would then decide who is elected based on the preferences as indicated by the voters.
The next Local Election is scheduled for 2007 - to be held on the same day as the Scottish Parliamentary Elections.
Further details on Glasgow City Councillors.
Scottish Parliamentary Elections
Within the Scottish Parliamentary framework, there are 73 constituency Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs).
Elections to the Scottish Parliament use the Additional Member System. This voting system combines the traditional FPP and Proportional Representation (PR).
Voters use their first vote to elect a person to be their Constituency member. The person who wins the most votes using the FPP voting system becomes the Constituency member.
A second vote may be cast to elect Regional Representatives. Voters can select a political party or an individual candidate standing for a seat in a Scottish Parliament Region. There are seven MSPs for each of the eight Scottish Parliament Regions. Candidates or parties are elected using PR voting system and are called ‘List’ MSPs.
Glasgow has 17 MSPs. Nine are constituency members and eight are List members (including Rutherglen - a local constituency area within South Lanarkshire Council).
The next Scottish Parliament Election is scheduled for 2007 - to be held on the same day as the Local Elections.
Further details on Glasgow MSPs.
UK Parliamentary Elections (Westminster)
Glasgow has nine Members of the UK Parliament (MPs), all of whom are elected by the FPP system, similar to the way City Councillors are elected.
Proposed changes to legislation will reduce the number of Glasgow MPs to seven to reflect the reduction in population and to even out any anomalies in number of potential voters per constituency.
The proposed constituency structure is:
Glasgow Central BC Glasgow East BC Glasgow North BC Glasgow North East BC Glasgow North West BC Glasgow South BC and Glasgow South West BC
These new constituencies will match the current Council Ward Boundaries and will eliminate the current anomaly whereby certain local wards have shared Parliamentary constituencies.
The date of the next Parliamentary election has not been set yet although there must be a General Election before June 2006 as each Parliament has a 5-year life span. However, the Prime Minister may request the Monarch to call a General Election at any time.
Further details on Glasgow MPs.
European Elections
A Regional Returning Officer for Scotland is appointed to manage European elections. Currently the Regional Returning Officer for Scotland is Tom Aitkinson, Chief Executive of Edinburgh City Council.
Glasgow City Council acts as a Local Returning Officer for the Glasgow Sub Region of the Scottish Region for the purposes of European Elections.
Scotland has eight Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) elected by a process similar to that used for List MSPs in the Scottish Parliament.
The most recent elections for Europe were held on June 10, 2004.
Further details on Glasgow MEPs.
By-Elections and Special Elections
Due to vacancies, deaths, resignations and subject to the timetable for normal elections, a By-Election can occur in any of the standard Election cycles.
Special Elections occur as and when required at local or national level. Examples include the referendum on joining the Euro (a national event) and Edinburgh's plans to hold a referendum on Traffic Congestion Charging (a local event).
Register of Electors
A new Register of Electors is published every year on 1 December showing the name of all qualified electors at a particular address.
Information on voting rights and procedures are available from your local Electoral Registration Officer. Details of the Electoral Registration service are given within this website.
Links to external web sites
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