Background
Following the well publicised problems of the 2007 Scottish Elections, Ron Gould, former Assistant Chief Electoral Officer of Canada and electoral administration expert, was appointed by the Electoral Commission to carry out an independent review. The Scottish Government published its response to the Gould Report in March 2008, which recognised that the appointment of a Chief Returning Officer (CRO) for Scotland was one of the review's most significant recommendations, and undertook to publish a consultation paper on the issue by the end of 2008.
Greater Coordination and Consistency
The Government set forth in the paper a number of principles which it believed would need to be met by a proposed CRO to successfully improve elections in Scotland, and prevent the problems of 2007 for reoccurring in the future. Central to these principles was the need for greater coordination and consistancy in electoral administration. The Consultation paper explored various models which could provide this.
The Consultation Process
The Scottish Government consultation exercise aimed to bring together the various contributions to the debate in this area and facilitate the development of an agreed way forward for electoral administration in Scotland and ran from 17 December 2008 until 20 March 2009.
The Government is grateful for the contributions that we received. These are being currently being considered and our report and proposals for taking this matter forward will be published soon.
Publications