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Scotland Act 1998

SECTION 11: Electors.

Purpose and Effect

This section provides for who is able to vote in elections to the Parliament. It provides that the persons entitled so to vote will, essentially, be those entitled to vote in Scottish local government elections. The section prevents electors from casting more than one constituency vote or more than one regional vote. It also prevents electors from voting in more than one constituency.

General

This section also relates to elections and is linked to section 12.

Parliamentary Consideration

StageDateColumn
CC28-Jan-98413
CR12-May-98229
LC14-Jul-98219

Details of Provisions

Subsection (1) provides that the persons entitled to vote in a general election or by-election for membership of the Parliament are those who, on the day of the poll:

  • would be entitled to vote at a local government election in an electoral area all of which or part of which falls within the constituency; and

  • are registered in the register of local government electors at an address within the constituency.

Subsection (2) provides that those eligible to vote may, in any constituency, cast only one vote in the poll for constituency members and only one vote in the regional member poll. It also provides that electors will be able to vote in only one constituency.

These provisions mean that members of the House of Lords and EC nationals resident in Scotland will be able to vote if their names appear on the register of local government electors. Commonwealth citizens and citizens of the Republic of Ireland resident in Scotland are also eligible to vote. However, Scots resident abroad will not be eligible to vote in the Parliamentary elections.

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Explanatory Notes

Text created by the government department responsible for the subject matter of the Act to explain what the Act sets out to achieve and to make the Act accessible to readers who are not legally qualified. Explanatory Notes were introduced in 1999 and accompany all Public Acts except Appropriation, Consolidated Fund, Finance and Consolidation Acts.

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