John McCormick has retired as controller of BBC Scotland but it is clear from his interview with The Herald today that he does not consider his role as Scottish member of the Electoral Commission as a sinecure to help while away the hours. His commitment to the job is as important as it is welcome. The commission has been in existence for eight years and has helped improve the electoral landscape in several areas. However, it came in for criticism in the wake of the Scottish Parliament elections last year when a combination of factors, overseen by the commission, led to the disenfranchisement of thousands of voters.
In addition, it was slated in some quarters for the time taken to investigate Wendy Alexander's breach of election law and the conditional nature of its ruling. Rightly or wrongly, these were seen to undermine its position as the watchdog of party funding. If ever we needed a watchdog with teeth it is now, as such a body could, with beefed-up powers to investigate, judge and regulate, help clean up the tarnished image of politics and go some way to restore public confidence in politicians.
As Mr McCormick points out, the commission's powers are at present limited and far from satisfactory. It is more than a year since Sir Hayden Phillips concluded in a review of party political funding that the commission should have greater powers. When there is a momentum building for the commission to be strengthened, politicians who prevaricate give the impression of having their heads in the sand; and, proverbially, snouts in the trough. Voter trust is not won that way.
Last year's Holyrood poll fiasco probably had the unfortunate consequence of further alienating the voter. Ron Gould, who investigated what went wrong, found that the voter had been treated as an afterthought as politicians and officials attempted to make too many changes to the ballot process in too short a time frame. Mr Gould suggested one parliament should take responsibility for elections in Scotland. Unsurprisingly, given a propensity for pushing the boundaries of constitutional responsibilities, the SNP wants that parliament to be Holyrood. Indeed, it believes there should be a Chief Returning Officer for Scotland.
It is understandable that Mr McCormick will not be publicly drawn into such potential minefields but it would seem to make sense for Holyrood being responsible for Scottish polls. Given the number of elections in Scotland, and the variety of voting methods, there would be merit in examining the case for, and against, such a figure overseeing the process. The post would have to be independent of the commission. With so much heat (if limited light) on the subject of an independence referendum, Mr McCormick offers interesting thoughts on the Holyrood minority administration's plans and how robust or otherwise they might be. With so much potentially at stake, the SNP would be wise to heed his words and seriously consider his offer to help make the process open, fair, balanced and scrupulous. That, after all, is what all ballots should aspire to be.
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