Polling stations open at 7am tomorrow in the 2017 elections for seats on Argyll and Bute Council.
There are 36 seats on the council but only 33 are up for grabs, since there were just three candidates for the three seats in South Kintyre , meaning SNP, Conservatives and Liberal Democrats already have one councillor apiece.
For details of candidates in the Helensburgh and Lomond wards see these statements by them, in their own words, Lomond North, Helensburgh Central, Helensburgh and Lomond South, which were published here last month.
After two referendums in three years, voters could find the process and options are distinctly more complex, so here are a few questions and answers.
Where’s my polling station? Details are on your polling card – otherwise, see the list here.
How do I fill in the ballot paper? Council elections in Scotland use a Single Transferable Vote (STV system), meaning you should order the candidates by order of preference, with 1 next to your favourite, 2 by the second favourite and so on.
But there are seven candidates in my ward, some of whom I really wouldn’t want to rank 5 or 6, let alone higher. You don’t need to put a number next to everyone but can leave some boxes blank, as explained in this video by The Electoral Commission:
What happens after I’ve voted? Each ward has a ‘quota’ figure; if enough candidates get this many votes as their preference, then that’s it – this happened in the Helensburgh Central ward in 2012:
If not, then there are further counts, using voters’ second, then third preferences etc. In 2012 this happened in Lomond North and Helensburgh and Lomond South (results compilation by Wikipedia):
When will I find out who’s won? That will take later than in referendums and general elections, because of the STV system; the count in Lochgilphead will start at 8.30am on Friday; in 2012 the Argyll and Bute results were announced at 4.51pm.
And who is likely to be in power after the election? That is the most difficult question of all. No single party has nominated enough candidates to win a majority of the council’s 36 seats, so there is likely to be some sort of deal reached between representatives of the main political parties and the various brands of ‘independents’.
It’s complicated further by the decision of Dick Walsh not to stand again – he has been leader of the council several times and a dominant figure at the authority for decades.
The authority’s leadership has been heavily criticised in recent years and Dick Walsh has always been a divisive figure, but in his absence the future is hard to predict – expect some urgent conversations among newly elected councillors this weekend, with a coalition being formed over the following few days which might feature some surprising alliances.
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