Voting chaos in Scottish poll
Saturday, May 5, 2007
THE fight for control of Scotland's parliament went down to the wire yesterday after elections clouded by technical problems threw the country's most important ballot in a generation into chaos.
With 96 of the 129 seats declared, British Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labour party won 38 seats, slightly ahead of the Scottish National Party (SNP) which picked up 34.
But delays with postal voting and serious problems with new ballot papers and electronic counting machines overshadowed the vote, which could end Labour's 50-year stranglehold over Scottish politics.
The independent Electoral Commission promised a full review into what it called "serious technical failures" after counts in seven constituencies were suspended and an unprecedented number of ballot papers were rejected.
"It is important that they look as a matter of urgency into delays in postal ballots, the high number of spoiled ballot papers, and the performance of the electronic counting machines," it said in a statement.
An estimated 100,000 papers may have been discounted because they had not been filled in correctly, analysts said.
Voters had two papers to complete: one for the Scottish Parliament and the other for local municipal councils.
In some constituencies, the number of spoilt papers exceeded the majority of the winning candidate.
SNP leader Alex Salmond, who wants a referendum on independence from England and Wales if his party comes to power in the 129-member legislature, called the situation "totally inadequate ".
Elsewhere, counting was delayed after fog grounded a helicopter due to pick up ballot boxes from the remote Western Isles and the engine failed on a boat ferrying papers from the western Isle of Arran.
In Edinburgh, one man ran amok at a polling station with a golf club, destroying ballot boxes.
The election itself saw the SNP make key gains over Labour, including two in Dundee West and Central Fife, which are both in the backyard of Britain's likely next prime minister, Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown.
The SNP's deputy leader Nicola Sturgeon took the Glasgow Govan seat from Labour, a hugely symbolic victory given its industrial, shipbuilding past and working-class roots.
The nationalists also took Stirling, central Scotland, the area most synonymous with Scottish independence through "Braveheart" William Wallace and Robert the Bruce's victory over the English in 1297 and 1314.
"There's a wind of change blowing through Scottish politics," Salmond said, after he unseated the Liberal Democrats in Gordon, north-east Scotland.
Labour also lost control of several councils. Sturgeon said the SNP had won the popular vote, but Blair said Labour staged a dogged fightback from a 10-point deficit in pre-election polls.
Because of the combination of majority and proportional voting, a coalition is likely in the parliament, which has limited powers in areas like health and education.
That means negotiations for power-sharing, with the Liberal Democrats likely power-brokers, will dominate the days ahead.AFP
With 96 of the 129 seats declared, British Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labour party won 38 seats, slightly ahead of the Scottish National Party (SNP) which picked up 34.
But delays with postal voting and serious problems with new ballot papers and electronic counting machines overshadowed the vote, which could end Labour's 50-year stranglehold over Scottish politics.
The independent Electoral Commission promised a full review into what it called "serious technical failures" after counts in seven constituencies were suspended and an unprecedented number of ballot papers were rejected.
"It is important that they look as a matter of urgency into delays in postal ballots, the high number of spoiled ballot papers, and the performance of the electronic counting machines," it said in a statement.
An estimated 100,000 papers may have been discounted because they had not been filled in correctly, analysts said.
Voters had two papers to complete: one for the Scottish Parliament and the other for local municipal councils.
In some constituencies, the number of spoilt papers exceeded the majority of the winning candidate.
SNP leader Alex Salmond, who wants a referendum on independence from England and Wales if his party comes to power in the 129-member legislature, called the situation "totally inadequate ".
Elsewhere, counting was delayed after fog grounded a helicopter due to pick up ballot boxes from the remote Western Isles and the engine failed on a boat ferrying papers from the western Isle of Arran.
In Edinburgh, one man ran amok at a polling station with a golf club, destroying ballot boxes.
The election itself saw the SNP make key gains over Labour, including two in Dundee West and Central Fife, which are both in the backyard of Britain's likely next prime minister, Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown.
The SNP's deputy leader Nicola Sturgeon took the Glasgow Govan seat from Labour, a hugely symbolic victory given its industrial, shipbuilding past and working-class roots.
The nationalists also took Stirling, central Scotland, the area most synonymous with Scottish independence through "Braveheart" William Wallace and Robert the Bruce's victory over the English in 1297 and 1314.
"There's a wind of change blowing through Scottish politics," Salmond said, after he unseated the Liberal Democrats in Gordon, north-east Scotland.
Labour also lost control of several councils. Sturgeon said the SNP had won the popular vote, but Blair said Labour staged a dogged fightback from a 10-point deficit in pre-election polls.
Because of the combination of majority and proportional voting, a coalition is likely in the parliament, which has limited powers in areas like health and education.
That means negotiations for power-sharing, with the Liberal Democrats likely power-brokers, will dominate the days ahead.AFP
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