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Wednesday, 26 March 2008 |
A multi-option referendum on Scotland’s constitutional future would use a preferential voting system that could see independence enacted despite that option receiving less than 50 per cent of the initial vote, according to First Minister Alex Salmond.
Speaking at the launch of the second phase of the National Conversation Salmond said that a referendum with three options – independence, enhanced powers for the Scottish Parliament and retention of the status quo – would employ a Single Transferable Vote system as used in local government votes.
“I’m pretty clear that the people of Scotland can handle a multiple option referendum. Our preference is to have a single question but the other parties are going to have a chance to have a multi option referendum and that is how you would conduct it. There’s a debate that cannot be conducted by politicians alone, it has to be a decision that’s made by the Scottish people. People in Scotland are getting used to voting 1, 2, 3. Our preference is to have a one question referendum but people are able to apply the process very well.
“It’s a perfectly common system of election, it’s one people handled really well, it’s the way we get a decision. It’s not by the backdoor; it’s by a perfectly valid system of election. People in Scotland have handled it very well and STV is a choice that’s perfectly valid and we handled it well in the local elections,” he said.
Under the STV system, voters rank candidates in order of preference and if their first preference receives the fewest votes, it is eliminated and their second preference used. This means that independence could be passed on the ‘second preferences’ of voters.
The SNP’s initial choice was for a simple yes/no ‘one question’ referendum on the issue of independence. The white paper on independence launched last year says of a multi-option referendum:
“The design of such a referendum would also raise technical issues on how support for each option is to be judged – for example, whether there would be ranking of options.”
However, consensus is emerging that any referendum would have to have the third option of increased powers for the Parliament. Salmond used the occasion to challenge the anti-independence parties – Labour, the Lib Dems and the Tories – to use their Constitutional Commission to develop an enhanced powers option that could be placed on a ballot paper.
The Tories immediately savaged the proposal, with leader Annabel Goldie saying the suggestion was “tripe”.
“The absurd suggestion that we should have an STV referendum on independence is proof positive that Alex Salmond and the SNP are losing the argument and clutching at straws. You do not decide the destiny of a country on the basis of the second best or least worst option.
“This is tripe – the wild words of a panicking man. Alex Salmond is clutching at straws for his minority whim. It may have escaped his notice but you don’t have a referendum to preserve the status quo – devolution is the status quo,” she said.
The Electoral Reform Society said that if a multi-option referendum is to be held, then a form of preferential voting is the obvious choice of method.
ERS Scotland director Amy Rodger said:
“If you are going to have a multi-option referendum, particularly with an issue of this significance, it has to be done in a considered way and that means you have to have preferential voting.”
Salmond erred when he pointed to the 1948 referendum on the future of Newfoundland as an example of how such a multi-option referendum could work.
In fact, the National Convention on the future of Newfoundland agreed that the ballot on the future of Newfoundland should have only two options: the continuation of direct rule from London, or Newfoundland regaining responsible government power.
This lead the Westminster Government to overrule the Convention and insist that a third option – confederation with Canada – be added to the referendum. After an initial vote in which there was no clear winner, the lowest supported option of the continuance of direct rule, was removed and a new ballot held, which passed the option of joining Canada with 52.3 per cent of the vote.
One person has commented on this article. 1. STV
Big Chris, Unregistered Apparently us people of Scotland "handle STV very well" - or so Alex says four, (or is it five) times!!
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 27 March 2008 )
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