Elections to Scottish Parliament, Welsh Assembly, etc

[Ali Abdullah]

I find it very encouraging that after all the violence there is a nice clean vote. I often wonder which party NI Muslims tend to vote for!

[Mikebloke]

End Result of Northern Ireland Assembly Election (and ministerial positions)

Democratic Unionist Party 36 seats (4)
Sinn Féin 28 seats (3)
Ulster Unionist Party 18 seats (2)
Social Democratic and Labour Party 16 seats (1)
Alliance Party 7 seats
Green Party 1 seat
Progressive Unionist Party 1 seat
Independent 1 seat

[Mikebloke]

Scottish Elections on BBC:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politi...nd/default.stm

Welsh Elections on BBC:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politi...es/default.stm

Northern Ireland Assembly Ministerial positions by order of selection:

DUP: Finance
SF: Education
DUP: Economy
UUP: Health
SDLP: Social Development
SF: Regional Development
DUP: Environment
SF: Agriculture
DUP: Culture
UUP: Employment and Learning

[watchthevideo]

Labour Party heads for meltdown local elections

Labour appears to be heading for meltdown at next Thursday's local elections.

An authoritative analysis last night suggested the party will suffer its worst-ever defeat at the polls.

Labour-controlled councils could be almost entirely wiped out in southern England, outside London.

Swathes of the South-East, the Home Counties and the West Country look set to become no-go areas for the party, just as much of the urban North is for the Conservatives.

Analysts at the University of Plymouth predict a loss of 500 Labour councillors. That would take the party's tally to 5,600, the lowest for 35 years, and nearly half its peak of 10,900 some 11 years ago.

MORE
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/a...ons/article.do

[Mikebloke]

Polls are open till 10pm, Scotland is trying out electronic counting, which may also go to Northern Ireland too next time, so counting there at least should be quicker than usual.

Results (when ready) will be available at:

Scottish Parliament + Locals: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/vote2...gion_99999.stm

Welsh Assembly: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/vote2...gion_99999.stm

English Locals: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/vote2...gion_99999.stm

Unsure where the Mayor elections in Bedford, Mansfield and Middlesbrough results are going to pop up but I'll link them as soon as I know.

I'll also be doing a complete list of all results over here in one place (long page, beware):

http://antibafflegab.wikispaces.com/ukvotes2007

I also intend to do a complete tally of the number of local councillors for each political party and ratepayers associations (seemingly never done before) after the results of today for all 431 councils in the UK.

[Mukhtar_Scotland]

It's already getting exciting

Initial impressions are that this Scottish election is going to have a very high turn out of voters.

The results of this vote could have serious implications for the UK. Lets ignore the independence issue as currently irrelevant. Devolution has been successful mostly due to the fact that the same political party controls both parliaments. This situation appears very likely to change. Will we soon be seeing Westminster stone-walling and trying to limit the Scottish Parliament?

[Mikebloke]

Some quick info on first night of counting:

Scottish Parliament:

a) Bashir Ahmad the Muslim standing in the Glasgow region for SNP has got the seat. The alternative socialist party: Solidarity has lost their seat in the same region. The Greens also got a seat in this region.

b) SNP have had a net gain of +10 currently giving them 19, but Labour still leads with 32. SNP gains include Both their Leader and Deputy Leader taking seats which had little SNP support before rather than staying safe in regional lists, a risky move that paid off but might not have enough seats to make largest party.

c) Liberal Democrats struggling but could still be picked up via Regional lists.

Welsh Assembly:

a) Trish Law remains the Independent for Blaenau Gwent, but John Marek (Forward Wales) loses his seat back to Labour. That said, Independents from other constituencies have done very well, including a 2nd place.

b) Labour is unlikely to hit a majority government in Wales, currently standing at 26 seats out of 60 with 8 seats from 2 regions to call.

c) Plaid Cymru nets 3 seats in an important election for them, the first since re branding and forming a parliamentary bloc in Westminster with the SNP.

d) Conservatives has hit into Cardiff, the city that has been completely Labour for a long time in both Welsh Assembly and Parliamentary, although they are currently struggling to net seats.

English Locals:

a) Bad day for Labour but Liberal Democrats are suffering too as votes move to Conservative. Tories take control of 15 councils as it currently stands, and likely to hit more. They have currently netted 300 councillors.

b) Labour has lost control of 5 councils and 151 councillors, results that are better than expected for them.

c) Liberal Democrats really suffer, some gains, a lot of losses. No net gain Councils wise, but have netted a loss of 100 councillors so far.

d) Small Parties: Ratepayers mostly hold their ground in their respected areas. Green takes 3 seats (totals 96 in full country) and Liberals (not to be confused with the Lib Dems) defend their 5 seats. Independent Kidderminster Hospital and Health Concern, the one issue local party which still has an MP at Westminster add a seat on, making up for previous years losses. Respect is apparently stuck where they are right now with maybe net +1, although some possible gains later. BNP has gained one but has lost others in other areas. Both UKIP and Socialist Alternative (Socialist Party) have lost a seat. Even smaller parties have often lost out to the major parties.

Scottish local results still waiting (They use a STV system for locals).