‘The Last Post’ For First-Past-The-Post? The 2003 Scottish Council Elections

Abstract

The third round of elections for the 32 unitary Scottish local councils established in 1995 took place on May 1st 2003. As in the previous round in 1999, these were held on the same day as the Scottish Parliament elections. Whereas in Wales council elections were postponed in order to avoid a clash with elections for the National Assembly, the Scottish Executive apparently took the view that the inevitable overshadowing of the local elections by the Parliament elections was a price worth paying in order to secure the likely benefit of a higher local turnout than would otherwise be the case.