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Sunday Herald
June 1,
2003
Summary: In addition to
changing to choice voting for local council elections in Scotland,
First Minister Jack McConnell and other Scottish Labor Party leaders
intend to reserve nearly half of the council seats for women. Most
local councilors in the Scottish Labour party are male. However, a
28-22 majority of the Members of the Scottish Parliament from the
Scottish Labour party are female. This is because the Scottish
Parliament already has a rule about dividing nominations for equally
winnable seats between men and women.
http://www.sundayherald.com/print34296 Sunday Herald
McConnell: 50% of councillors must be women
June 1, 2003
By
Douglas Fraser JACK McConnell faces growing trouble from angered
Labour councillors, as he forces local parties to guarantee at least
half of their candidate places to women in future council elections.
The move , approved by the First Minister, will add to the fury
among Labour councillors, overwhelmingly male, who face a major cull
as a result of the coalition deal with the Liberal Democrats to
introduce proportional voting for councils by the next 2007
elections. A senior Labour source told the Sunday Herald: 'If we're
going to have a fight, we might as well have them all at once.
Voting reform gives us a one-off opportunity, the same way the
Scottish parliament elections were a one-off chance to force up the
number of women we have. The hope is that we do it once or twice,
and will not need to do this positive action again.' Labour
councillors have warned of a 'four-year war' over PR, including
threats to Labour MSPs that they face de-selection before the next
Holyrood election if they back the coalition voting reform deal. In
addition, Labour-run councils threatened late last week to hold
simultaneous postal referenda in their areas to test whether there
is public support for voting reform. Graham Morrice, leader of
Labour-majority West Lothian Council, said those Labour councils
against reform had yet to put across the case for the 'beauty and
simplicity' of the current, first-past-the-post system. The new
system will have larger council wards, represented by either four
councillors in urban areas or three in rural Scotland. Lesley Quinn,
Scottish Labour's general secretary, is to outline to the party's
executive later this month her plan for women to be guaranteed at
least two of the candidate berths in the four-member wards, and at
least one in the three-member wards. Voters will be able to choose
from any of the names on the Labour or other party lists, in order
of preference and without being limited to any one party. The
principle of a Labour's gender balance policy was approved in a
document the party executive passed earlier this year, but it is
thought not many of those involved realised what this would mean for
male-dominated councillors, already fearful they are to lose their
seats to opposition parties. Following the 1999 election, only 22%
of all councillors were women. Labour then won 551 out of 1,222
wards, but that fell to 509 seats in last month's elections. Only
five of the 32 newly-elected council leaders are women. Labour's
move follows one before the 1999 Scottish parliament election to
twin seats, so that pairs of equally winnable constituencies had a
man and a woman standing in them. That led to equal numbers within
the Labour group in the first parliament. And because male MSPs
suffered disproportionately from Labour's losses last month, there
are now 28 female MSPs out of a Labour group of 50. The final,
revised map of Scottish constituencies, following several public
hearings last year, is going before the Boundaries Commission
tomorrow[Mon], with publication likely within a few weeks. Although
further requests for changes can be made, the imminent publication
is likely to be the point at which candidacy battles commence. A
further problem facing incumbent councillors worried about losing
their positions is that the Kerley Report, which was commissioned by
the Executive and recommended the STV system for councils, also
suggested the total number of councillors in Scotland be cut by as
many as 200. It is yet to be decided if that reduction will be
implemented in the local governance bill which McConnell announced
last week will be tabled in the coming parliamentary year. |
