Explanatory Notes

Background to the Act

3.In May 2007 the Electoral Commission appointed Ron Gould, former Assistant Chief Electoral Officer of Canada and international elections expert to carry out an independent review of the problems that had arisen during the 2007 Scottish local government elections and elections to the Scottish Parliament. The Gould Report(1) was published in October 2007. One of the key recommendations in the Report was that local government elections in Scotland should be decoupled from elections to the Scottish Parliament. Separating the elections would prevent national issues from dominating local government campaigns and would give greater prominence to local issues. Separation would also minimise the potential for voter confusion caused by two elections being held at the same time for different institutions and using different voting systems. The Act implements this Gould recommendation.