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The Single Transferable Vote (STV) has featured prominently in debates on electoral reform in Britain but until now there has been little hard evidence on how British voters might react to this electoral system. This has changed with the introduction of STV for the 2007 Scottish local government elections, which represented the first use of the system in a public election in mainland Britain in living memory. Election data collected from Scottish councils are used to examine how voters responded. After providing an overview of the elections, four issues are considered - rejected ballots, preference usage, the patterns of transfers and ballot position effects. Two main themes emerge from the analysis: voters had little difficulty in understanding and engaging with STV and in their use of lower preferences party loyalties remained important. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through a study of local party adaptation to the introduction of the Single Transferable Vote (STV) in the 2007 Scottish local government election, this article asks whether party organisations can be strategic, vote-maximising actors when a new electoral system is introduced. By examining candidate and 'vote management' strategies, the article demonstrates that local parties tended to adapt best in areas of organisational and electoral strength. However, despite some comprehensive attempts to adapt to the STV system, parties were hampered by a lack of experience with the new system and a lack of adequate data upon which to base candidate and campaigning decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article considers the impact of introducing STV for Scottish Local Government elections. The new electoral system has had a significant effect in terms of extending the principles of coalition politics, thereby presenting opportunities for all parties. Parties now work within the context of multi-party agreements in order to run Scotland's 32 councils. The myriad of party configurations or 'coalitions' to emerge from these STV elections stands in sharp contrast with the behaviour of parties at Holyrood, and with parties competing under FPTP rules. In this respect, STV has transformed party politics in Scottish local government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A form of the Single Transferable Vote (STV) will be introduced for Scottish local government elections in May 2007, bringing the total number of electoral systems used in Scotland to four. The article outlines the key characteristics of the new system, and considers the implications of these changes. The introduction of STV will undoubtedly produce a more proportional distribution of seats among the main parties, and there will be a reduction in the number of Labour councillors. However, the reforms are unlikely to lead to an electoral transformation in that minor parties will still struggle to make an impact. Nor will the party responsible for these changes – the Liberal Democrats – benefit to any great extent. This may be a case of political principles overcoming the desire for electoral advantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyses the candidate selection procedures of each of the major parties in the run‐up to the 1999 Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly elections, assessing the extent to which they reveal developments in party democratisation and decentralisation on the one hand, and evidence of countervailing central control on the other. Procedural innovations achieved greater openness in candidate nomination and gender balance in candidatures but developments in democratisation were contested and evidence of decentralisation was mixed. Surveys of candidates reveal a perception in the Labour Party that there was too much central influence, although its implications differed in Scotland and Wales. There were perceptions of unfairness and lack of internal democracy in the other parties as well, suggesting in particular a contradiction between central influence in all of the parties’ approaches to list selection and candidates’ expectations of such influence diminishing. Devolution, therefore, released tensions in all parties. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]