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Lesley Riddoch’s State of Scottish Democracy lecture

Thank you to everyone who made it along to hear author and broadcaster, Lesley Riddoch, present the second of our annual ERS State of Scottish Democracy lecture. We are pleased to publish a video of...

Posted 28 Sep 2023

Northern Ireland’s local elections show the benefit of the Single Transferable Vote

On the 18th of May, Northern Ireland’s local elections showcased the continued successful use of the Single Transferable Vote (STV). This inclusive and proportional method stands in stark contrast to the disproportionate results witnessed in...

Posted 26 May 2023

Voters are much more likely to have a councillor they actually voted for

How can one party win all the seats in a local council election without all the votes?

In May’s 2023 local elections in England, the Liberal Democrats won 72% of the seats on Bath & North East Somerset. In Broxbourne, the Conservatives won 90% of the seats that were up for election....

Posted 11 May 2023

Thousands of voters are left underrepresented or not represented at all

New rules see Mayors elected without majority support

Coverage of the local elections has been dominated by punditry over what the results mean for next year’s general election and the government’s controversial voter ID scheme, which saw countless people turned away from casting...

Posted 10 May 2023

90% of seats on less than half the vote? That’s England’s local democracy

With nearly all the 2023 local election results declared, the First Past the Post system used across England has once again failed to reflect the views of voters in who runs their local community. Rather...

Posted 09 May 2023

Nobody can look at these examples and think our system is working

Elections Cancelled: 90,000 denied any say in local elections

Following the publication of candidate notices for the May 2023 English local elections, it is clear that the scourge of uncontested and guaranteed seats will once again limit the democratic choices of hundreds of thousands...

Posted 02 May 2023

Forty-six councillors will be elected without a single vote being cast

Early indications suggest Welsh voting pilots went well

In May’s local elections, four areas in Wales trialled a different way of voting – allowing people to cast their vote before election day. As well as polling stations being open on the Thursday 5...

Posted 05 Aug 2022

We need to be looking at removing other barriers to voting in Wales

Scottish local democracy can build and strengthen our communities

Democracy is the right for people to decide how the place where they live is run. But too few people now believe that this right is being honoured, too few believe that they decide and...

Posted 13 May 2022

We can revive local democracy in Scotland

The Power of Preferences: STV in Scottish Local Elections

Much talk of the need for electoral reform focuses on Westminster and the goal of a proportionally elected House of Commons. But while the UK Parliament, and almost all of England’s elections, are still held...

Posted 26 Apr 2022

The Power of Preferences_STV in Scottish Local Elections preview

Elections Cancelled: Over 100,000 Welsh voters to be denied a vote

With elections coming up across the country, campaigners across Wales are gearing up the familiar routine of doorstep conversations, leaflets through letterboxes and trying to convince voters that their candidate deserves to be re-elected, or...

Posted 13 Apr 2022