Letters: STV brings more fairness into voting

There was nothing “vague” about the elections. We all voted for the candidates we wanted and those elected fairly represent those who voted (so far as possible in three- and four-member wards).

There was nothing “indecisive” about the elections. The parties’ shares of the seats fairly reflects their share of the votes (again, so far as possible with three- and four-member wards).

If no one party is in overall control that’s because we, the voters, voted that way. Maybe Mr McKay yearns for the “good old days” when one party won 30 of the 58 seats on the council (52 per cent) but had the support of only 27 per cent of those who voted.

I suppose the electronic counts might be considered “boring” compared with the drama of seeing the piles of ballot papers rise and fall in a manual count. But speed and accuracy were combined to good effect on Friday.

Far from removing “all direct constituency representative links” as he says, STV strengthens those links in a very effective way.

In every ward there is diversity of representation, so the overwhelming majority of those who voted are now directly represented by a candidate of their choice.

That’s a great improvement on the minority members we had in the single-member wards with first-past-the-post.

James Gilmour

East Parkside

Edinburgh

In her defence of the STV system, may I ask Alison Halley (Letters, 7 May) one question: does she believe one in 100 Scots voters know who their councillor – or their list MSP for that matter – is?

STV is fine for political anoraks, but it merely confuses the vast majority of voters – the voter turnout and the number of binned papers prove my point.

The direct link between electors and elected has been irretrievably broken.

Alexander McKay

New Cut Rigg

Edinburgh

John Addison (Letters, 7 May) is wrong to suggest that the SNP did not win the most votes or councillors in last week’s local elections.

When compared with 2007, which is the only valid comparison, the SNP now has 424 councillors (+62), Labour Party 394 (+46), Conservative Party 115 (-29), Liberal Democrats 71 (-95), Green 14 (+6).

The SNP also recorded the most first-preference votes in Scotland.

However, by doing deals with the Tories, Labour will circumvent the wishes of their own supporters, and the number of Liberal Democrat losses should provide a salutary lesson for those councillors who would rather sup with the Devil than deal with a progressive left-of-centre SNP.

Calum Stewart

Montague Street

Edinburgh

John Addison clearly enjoys a wee joke – so do I! My mathematics may not be as good as his, but there is a clear winner of the council election in terms of seats and votes, hence the “smiling councillors lined up behind Alex Salmond”.

A 61-seat gain since 2007, compared with Labour’s 48, and the largest share of the popular vote – an amazing feat after five years in government and after the relentless negative campaigning directed at, particularly, the First Minister.

Mr Addison, once he has sorted out his mathematics, should climb aboard the “big new car” to a bright future and abandon the worn-out old banger that Labour has become – unfortunately for the people of Glasgow they are stuck with that anachronism, but hopefully not for five years.

Bill McLean

Newmills

Dunfermline, Fife

If I cast my mind back to local elections before 2007 I can recall electoral deserts and one-party states where there was no need to fight for every vote. Last week the electoral battles in places like Midlothian and Glasgow showed us that a system that delivers councillors relative to the wishes of the voters made for a much more democratic and interesting set of council elections.

Of course, having a good electoral system is not the answer to all our democratic woes, but it is a necessary foundation if we are to build confidence in our democratic politics as the means to create a good society.

Willie Sullivan

The Electoral Reform Society

South Charlotte Street

Edinburgh