Scottish Elections (Reform) Act 2020

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Scottish Elections (Reform) Act 2020
Act of the Scottish Parliament
Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom in Scotland (Variant 1).svg
Scottish Parliament
Long title An Act of the Scottish Parliament to reform certain aspects of the law relating to Scottish parliamentary and local government elections, including length of terms; to make provision about the role of the Electoral Commission in relation to those elections; to confer functions on the Electoral Management Board for Scotland in relation to Scottish parliamentary elections; to rename and make provision about the Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland; and for connected purposes.
Introduced by Graeme Dey MSP, Minister for Parliamentary Business and Veterans
Dates
Royal assent 8 July 2020
Status: Current legislation
History of passage through the Parliament
Text of the Scottish Elections (Reform) Act 2020 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk.

The Scottish Elections (Reform) Act 2020 is an act of the Scottish Parliament which made several reforms to local government and elections in Scotland.

Contents

Legislative passage

During the legislative passage, the issue of ballot order effect was discused. [1]

Provisions

The legislation allows 14 and 15 year olds to register to vote ahead of actually being able to vote. [2]

The length of the term of the Scottish Parliament elections and Scottish local government elections is set to 5 years under the legislation rather than 4 years as was previously the case. [3] [4] This meant the next Scottish Parliament election after the 2021 Scottish Parliament election. [3]

The legislation introduces flexibility in the number of councillors for a ward so that wards can be represented by 2 or 5 councillors rather than only 3 or 4 councillors. [5]

References

  1. ↑ Sim, Philip (14 May 2022). "The A-Z of winning a council seat in Scotland". BBC News. Archived from the original on 14 May 2022. Retrieved 17 July 2025.
  2. ↑ McIvor, Jamie (3 September 2019). "Scottish elections could move to every five years". BBC News. Archived from the original on 12 October 2019. Retrieved 17 July 2025.
  3. 1 2 Phoutinane, Ketsuda (5 July 2024). "When is the next Scottish Parliament election? Expected date Scots will go to polls". Daily Record. Archived from the original on 5 July 2024. Retrieved 17 July 2025.
  4. ↑ Kirkaldy, Liam (14 January 2020). "MSPs back plans to extend Scottish Parliament terms to five years". Holyrood . Archived from the original on 2 February 2020. Retrieved 17 July 2025.
  5. ↑ Cassidy, Jane (15 January 2020). "Committee calls for five-year gap between Scottish elections". The National. Archived from the original on 22 September 2020. Retrieved 17 July 2025.
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