Commentary on Sections Part 1 – Electoral Management Board for Scotland
5.Part 1 of the Act contains provisions relating to the Electoral Management Board for Scotland. Section 1 establishes the Board and defines its general function which is to provide a forum for co-ordinating the administration of local government elections in Scotland. Section 2 defines the membership of the Board and provides for the convener of the Board to be appointed by Scottish Ministers. Members of the Board will be returning officers, depute returning officers and electoral registration officers and will be appointed by the convener.
6.Section 3 sets out the duration of the convener’s and other members’ appointments. Appointments will be for a period of four years and the Act also allows for the possibility of reappointment. It is anticipated that appointments will be made in 2011, 2015, 2019 and so on with local government elections taking place in 2012, 2017, 2021 and subsequently every four years.
7.Section 4 enables the Board to determine its own operating procedures. Subsection (2) enables the convener, with the Board’s agreement, to invite advisers to its meetings.
8.Sections 5 and 6 provide for the convener to have the power of direction over local government returning officers and electoral registration officers. The power of direction over returning officers in section 5 is similar to that given to the Regional Returning Officer for European Parliamentary elections. Such directions must relate to the exercise of the returning officers’ functions in connection with local government elections generally or a particular local government election. Previous directions for European elections have included, for example, requirements in relation to the opening of postal votes and the timing of the count.
9.Section 6 contains a more limited power of direction over electoral registration officers in relation to local government elections in Scotland. This power of direction would be limited to functions relating directly to the preparation for a particular local government election. Possible uses of this power of direction could include the supply of data to returning officers by electoral registration officers at a particular time, the requirement to use an agreed style of form or to confirm specific dates for making available updated electoral registers.
10.Section 7 provides that the convener must consult the Electoral Commission and the Board before giving a direction.
11.Section 8 sets out the reporting requirements of the Board. The Board will provide an annual report on the performance of its functions in relation to local government elections to the Scottish Parliament as soon as practicable after the end of the financial year.