The Single Transferable Vote
ADVANTAGE
DISADVANTAGE
PROPORTIONAL RESULT
Leads to an electoral result which is
more proportional – percentage of
votes for party roughly equal to
percentage of seats gained
CONFLICT BETWEEN DIFFERENT
COUNCILLORS IN WARDS
Because there are 3-4 councillors in
each ward in Scotland there can be
conflict over who is in charge. This is
especially true because councillors tend
to be from different parties.
An Audit Scotland report in 2010 found
that councillor/councillor relationships
have been poor for several years.
Relationships between councillors have
been influenced by political difficulties
and instability. Political tension has led to
confrontation in council chambers.
Relationships between councillors and
officers have not always been
constructive or effective with some
officers reporting incidences of bullying
and inappropriate behaviour.
For example in the 2012 Scottish
Local Government election, the SNP
gained 32% of first choice votes and
were awarded 35% of councillors
across Scotland. Labour had 32% of
first choice votes and gained 32% of
councillors across Scotland.
CREATES COALITIONS OR
COUNCILS WITH NO OVERALL
CONTROL WHICH IS GOOD
CREATES COALITIONS OR
COUNCILS WITH NO OVERALL
CONTROL WHICH IS BAD
STV means that it is harder for one
party to dominate a local authority. It
is more likely that two or more
parties will have to work together in a
coalition or that the authority
operates with no single party in
overall control which means that
parties have to work together.
Before STV was used in local
government elections, councils across
Scotland were dominated by Labour.
The introduction of the STV means
that more parties are represented
and have a say in Scotland’s 32 local
authorities – arguably more
democratic.
STV has led to a lack of cooperation at
local authority level and has made it
harder for councils to agree on policies
and get things done.
Currently there are a number of
unlikely coalitions such as the Labour
Conservative coalitions in East Lothian
and Stirling. In these situations two
political enemies have joined forces to
keep out the SNP which is arguably
unfair. In addition, people do not vote
for coalitions which are more likely
under the STV. After the 2012
election, 22 of Scotland’s 32 LAs have
no party in overall control (NOC) and
are run as minority/coalition councils.
The Single Transferable Vote
MORE REPRESENTATIVES
Each ward has 3-4 councillors which
means that residents in wards have a
choice about who to contact with
concerns.
TOO MANY REPRESENTATIVES
Each ward in Scotland has 3-4
councillors meaning that people may be
confused as to who to approach with
issues.
For example, in Glasgow East Centre
an SNP supporter might be more
likely to approach the SNP councillor
in the ward, Jennifer Dunn, rather
than one of the Labour councillors for
the area. Using STV means that
people have the option.
LESS WASTED VOTES
Under the STV, fewer votes are
“wasted”. This is because seats are
awarded proportionally rather than a
“winner takes all” scenario as is the
case with FPTP.
For example, Glasgow East Centre ward
has 4 councillors – 3 Labour and 1 SNP.
Who do people contact with concerns
about their area?
In Westminster elections which use
FPTP, thousands of votes are wasted
as a party needs a majority in an area
to win a seat. This means that there
is less point in voting for smaller
parties like the Greens and even the
Liberal Democrats leading to the big
parties dominating. STV ensures that
seats are distributed more fairly with
less people’s votes counting for
nothing.
CONFUSING
A major criticism of the STV is that it
is difficult to understand. Voters have
to rank candidates in order of
preference rather than simply putting
an “X” next to the candidate of choice
as under FPTP systems.
This has led to people filling in ballot
papers incorrectly in Scottish Local
Government elections in 2007 and
2012. It also takes much longer to
count results. Also, some people think
that STV elections lead to “donkey
voting” where voters just rank the
candidates in the order they appear on
the ballot paper.
The Single Transferable Vote
SMALL PARTIES REPRESENTED
Under the STV, smaller parties and
independent candidates have a
greater chance of gaining councillors
in local authorities, therefore more
voices are heard representing more
views.
For example, currently the Green
Party have 5 councillors across
Glasgow City Council and 14 in
Scotland as a whole. Under the old
FPTP system the Greens had no
chance of gaining representatives at
council level. There are currently 204
independent councillors across
Scotland. Typically these are local
people who will do what is best for
their wards and are not controlled by
party politics.
EXTREMIST PARTIES
A major criticism of STV is that it
heightens the chances of extremist
parties such as the BNP gaining
representation in local authorities.
In the Scottish Local Government
elections of 2012, many extremist
parties put forward candidates. In
Glasgow, the far-right Britannica Party,
a splinter group from the BNP, put
forward 4 candidates. Although parties
such as this have not won any seats at
council level in Scotland, it is much
more likely to happen using the STV
system as opposed to FPTP.
REAL COMPETITION FOR SEATS
STV means that there are fewer
“safe seats”. This means that
candidates have to work hard to
prove themselves to voters otherwise
they might be voted out.
CONFLICTS WITHIN PARTIES
A criticism of STV is that because
members of the same party can run for
the same wards they might be more
likely to come into conflict with each
other.
Under the old FPTP system, there
would only be one candidate per party
and so in a Labour supporting area it
would almost always be the Labour
candidate that won the seat. Now
because there are 3-4 councillors per
ward voters are more likely to vote
for individuals based on their
performance, and candidates are
more likely to “stay on their toes” and
work harder to win election.
It could be argued that a system
whereby members of the same party
are competing with each does not make
sense. Under FPTP there would be one
candidate per party for each ward –
this reduces the likelihood for conflict
between parties and keeps it simple for
voters.
The Single Transferable Vote
END TO SINGLE PARTY
DOMINANCE
STV elections make it difficult for
one party to gain an overall majority.
This has ended the Labour Party’s
dominance of local politics in
Scotland.
In 1999 when STV was still used in
Scottish local government elections,
Labour controlled 19 of the 32
councils in Scotland. In 2015, Labour
very councils are controlled by a
single party.
LEADS TO WEAK GOVERNMENT
It could be argued that because single
party majorities are less likely,
governments are weaker under STV.
Coalitions and minority governments
are more likely meaning that it is
arguably harder to make positive
changes quickly. In addition, conflicts
between the different political
groupings are more common.
A 2013 Audit Scotland Report into
Aberdeen City Council found that
political feuds and infighting were
preventing real progress from being
made, with opposition councillors being
“regularly disrespectful” to each other.
The Council currently has a “rainbow
coalition” of Labour, Tory and
Independent councillors. Under a FPTP
system this kind of coalition would be
highly unlikely.