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Local government elections
17/06/2009
MSPs today passed a Bill that will lead to local government elections being held on a separate day from Scottish Parliamentary elections from 2012.
Decoupling local government elections from the Scottish Parliament elections was one of the recommendations of the independent review of the Scottish Parliamentary and Local Government Elections 2007 (the Gould Report).
Bruce Crawford, Minister for Parliamentary Business said:
"Local government elections are an important part of the democratic system in Scotland. Our councils do a vital job and it is right that elections to these bodies are given their proper place, rather than overshadowed by national elections on the same day.
"Holding the elections on different dates will help eliminate the voter confusion that was experienced in 2007 and give Scottish local government elections the prominence they deserve."
As a result of the change proposed in the Local Government Elections (Scotland) Bill, the next local government elections in Scotland will take place in 2012. The dates of future Scottish Parliamentary elections will be unaffected.
The second part of the Bill includes provisions to allow certain post election information which is already available at ward level, to be made available at sub ward (or polling station) level.