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A voter leaves Westpark church in Denny, Central Scotland, after voting in the Falkirk constituency
A voter leaves Westpark church in Denny, central Scotland, after voting in the Falkirk constituency. Photograph: Andrew Milligan/PA
A voter leaves Westpark church in Denny, central Scotland, after voting in the Falkirk constituency. Photograph: Andrew Milligan/PA

Election date risks Scottish and Welsh confusion, warns adviser

This article is more than 13 years old
UN adviser says fixing UK's 2015 poll for same day as elections to devolved assembles could damage democratic process

An international elections adviser has warned it would be "a mess" to hold the next UK election on 7 May 2015, because it could cause widespread confusion for voters by clashing with separate elections for the Welsh assembly and Scottish parliament on the same day.

Ron Gould, an adviser to the United Nations and retired assistant chief electoral officer for Canada, urged ministers to drop plans to fix the date of the next election.

Gould said his main fear was that the Welsh and Scottish elections – which directly affect domestic policies for about 8 million people – would be overwhelmed by the general election campaign, damaging the democratic process.

"It's just going to be totally a mess because you're mixing apples and oranges, when you're putting all the different elections together," he told the Guardian.

Now a consultant who has taken part in more than 100 voting observation missions to 70 different countries, Gould was hired by the Electoral Commission to investigate the chaotic scenes during the last Scottish parliamentary and council elections, which were held on the same day in May 2007.

More than 180,000 votes were lost when voters spoiled their ballot papers as they wrestled with two polls using different PR voting systems at the same time. Confusing layout of ballot papers was also blamed. In some seats, candidates suspected the results had been affected.

As a result of Gould's recommendations, the Tories and Liberal Democrats at Holyrood voted in favour of new legislation that means the Scottish council elections will be held on a separate day from Holyrood polls.

The Scottish National party have tabled an early day motion at Westminster calling for the UK government to scrap its plans for a May 2015 general election and to introduce four-year fixed-term parliaments instead.

Pete Wishart, the SNP's constitutional affairs spokesman at Westminster, said "it would be totally wrong" if fixed-term UK elections clashed with Scottish and Welsh elections. He said it risked immediately undermining David Cameron's pledge to introduce a new "respect agenda" with the Scottish and Welsh administrations.

"Clearly, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats pieced their coalition agreement together in a hurry and failed to notice that the first Thursday in May 2015 is already earmarked for the Scottish and Welsh elections. It would be totally wrong to go ahead with both a Westminster and a Holyrood election in the same day," he said.

Gould said staging the elections simultaneously using different voting systems would cause great problems for voters. Ministers would have to fund "intensive" education campaigns and make sure that voters were able to distinguish between the two elections.

"It would be a continuing challenge, but not an insurmountable one," he said. It would require "sophisticated and in-depth voter and civic education about the two systems, how they work, with a lot of testing, which was not done last time".

Both the Scottish and Welsh devolved assemblies already have fixed-term parliaments by law, and elections have to be held on the first Thursday of May unless an emergency arises.

Alex Salmond, the first minister, and his chief business manager at Holyrood have supported complaints from Scottish Green party MSPs and Margo MacDonald, the independent MSP, who has tabled a critical motion at Holyrood signed by SNP, Green and Labour MSPs. They fear the confusion would increase if the Lib Dems succeeded in winning a referendum to hold UK elections using the alternative vote system. Scottish elections use a combination of first-past-the-post and regional party lists.

Meanwhile, the Tories want to severely cut the number of MPs, from 650 down to 500, leading to new parliamentary constituencies that will be different to those for the Scottish parliament and Welsh assembly. These changes would be an additional challenge, Gould said. "If there's a system that they're unfamiliar with, they're starting at square one."

A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Justice said ministers were not planning to change their minds. They would table a "binding motion" in the Commons fixing the next general election date for the first Thursday of May 2015. Legislation to introduce fixed five-year parliaments would follow.

"David Cameron is the first prime minister in British history to give up the right unilaterally to ask the Queen for a dissolution of parliament," the spokeswoman said. "This is a huge change in our system, it is a big giving up of power. It is a good change and it will provide a strong and stable government."

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