Articles

Throwing Stones in Crumbling Legislatures…

Silly season came early to Scottish political Twitter, as charges of living in a “One Party State” started to appear. These mostly came from outwith Scotland, and the reaction from academics, journalists and politicians here has been absolute exasperation. Ballot Box Scotland was not immune to that feeling… […]

Articles

AMS – Neither Complex nor Broken

I’m not entirely sure why, but there are two particular misconceptions about Holyrood’s voting system that pop up frequently amongst journalists. AMS isn’t “complex”, and the SNP didn’t break it in 2011 – and you don’t need to be a mathematical genius to understand either of these things. […]

Articles

The 1999 Club

For a little bonus post from Ballot Box Scotland, I’ve had a look at the class of 1999. Of the 129 MSPs elected to the first Scottish Parliament, 26 are still to be found in the Holyrood chamber today. […]