Democracy At Work


I notice that South Lanarkshire Council has become a bastion of municipal socialism again - the Labour party having gained overall control after defeating the SNP in a recent by-election.

So it seems that the Tories who have been propping up the majority Labour Group since the council elections in 2011 - have served their purpose and will not be needed any longer. 

Scotland's councils are normally elected under a system of proportional representation or PR - by a single transferable vote (STV) if I remember correctly.

But in by-elections people's votes don't transfer in the same way and when only one seat is up for grabs (out of 3 or 4) - this can produce unusual results.

In effect a by-election becomes more of a First Past The Post Race (FPTP) race - as happened in a Glasgow City Council ward as well a couple of years back - in Drumchapel, I seem to recall.

Now if I remember correctly, the Glasgow by-election result meant that Labour won all four council seats - which would be impossible in a normal election.

In the recent Rutherglen South by-election  Labour won the seat with 1,352 votes - while the Lib Dems secured 999 votes and the SNP 712 votes.

Which means that the Labour candidate - won the contest on a minority (44%) of the total votes cast.

The Tories meanwhile didn't even stand a candidate it appears - but as they are out on their ears by now, that hardly matters anyway.  

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