Agenda balance

The rising hysteria behind demands for “50-50” gender representation in Scotland’s parliament is drowning out logic while stamping out democracy. In a recent editorial, a quality Scottish Sunday paper declared the reason for the supposed imbalance to be “the result of a system that’s inherently prejudiced against women”.

That is a deliberate inversion of the truth: our electoral system contains no bias whatsoever between male and female candidates. All eligible men and women are entitled to present themselves as candidates.

Where our system does fall down is in fact in allowing individual parties to ignore this basic democratic requirement by selecting from women-only lists. What next then, in overcoming other “imbalances” – constituencies reserved for ­ethnic minorities?

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It’s time our parliament gave proper attention to this festering sore and provided a definite rule of law on the matter. ­Presenting a system of limiting either male or female members as fair and open is nothing short of grotesque.

Robert Dow

Ormiston Road

Tranent

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