Scottish Parliamentary Elections

The Scottish Parliament is made up of 129 members. 73 are elected using the first-past-the-post system in individual geographical constituencies.

A further 56 are elected from eight electoral regions with 7 from each region. These additional MSPs are chosen from party lists.

Voters therefore have two votes. This also means that the Party can contest either a particular constituency and/or present a list in one of the electoral regions.

The deposit is £500 to stand in a constituency and £500 to present a list in an electoral region. So if we contested the Glasgow Region the deposit would be £500.

To stand only one signature is required (which in a constituency can be that of the candidate; for an election region it will be that of the Party's Nominating Officer).

Afraid there is no free postal distribution of an election communication.

No free delivery of leaflets is a bummer for me. I'm also guessing we won't have enough candidates standing for a election broadcast, either.The fact that i believed we would be entitled to free postage and Royal Mail would do the foot-work for us was what i was hoping for. The fact we don't get one changes things for me a bit. It is not the cost of the leaflets but the sheer logistics of pushing them through the letter boxes that has to be considered. When you say the cost of distribution of the leaflets will be from party funds, Brian, are you suggesting that  tens of thousand of leaflets will have their postage paid.  Even with what is called house-hold delivery, that will be costly and that is not even the printing costs.  10,000 = £660 If less than 20g. And if we encountered a dumping problem in the general election, i would guess it would be a tenfold increase with those. http://www.royalmail.com/business/sites/default/files/docs%20part%205/docs%20part%205/Royal-Mail-Door-To-Door-Rate-Card-November-2014_0_0.pdfA limited distribution of leaflets could be an alternative in specific areas and also distribution could be done at railway and underground stations and shopping centres via lit stalls with our banners on show but has Glasgow the labour-power able for this task which surely means committing it to numerous days and not just the odd sunny Saturday outing. Standing would get us invited to hustings and we would receive mentions in the press but those can be accomplished without actually standing candidates. I was an eager advocate of contesting those elections but now i'm slightly less enthusiastic. I'm not too keen on ourselves carrying the full burden of blind targetting in the hope of some response that is not guaranteed.  Not good news But if the Party does accept the financial responsibility for the production and distribution of leaflets in adequate numbers plus a couple of local press adverts and Glasgow have sufficient volunteers (if necessary with the occasional assistance from other branches in the election campaign) and not have too high an expectation of fruitful rewards then it should put itself forward I await the outcome of their branch meetings and since the Parliament elections it is almost a full  year from now, they can take their time and don't need to reach a hasty decision but debate it over a series of branch meetings, seeking further advice and information from the Election Committee where necesssary and it can also canvas non-attendees for their views as well as get an idea of how many will actually will volunteer and participate in the tasks ahead as candidates and election agents etc.It is a huge commitment for this branch for various reasons but a strategy has to develop for it to not only stop the slide but reverse the trend and instead grow, once more. Thoughts from afar…

One possible option would be to investigate the commercial delivery of our election communication rather than depend on Royal Mail…

I would have thought that, even without any free postal distribution, it would be worth paying a mere £500 to get coverage throughout the whole of Glasgow on radio, TV, the local press, internet, hustings, etc. even if you did nothing else. But of course you should be able do something else, eg some street stalls, some leafletting (maybe commercial, though personally I wouldn't think it worth the cost — we did it  in West London for the London Assembly elections in 2012 in a selected area of Wandsworth, Tooting as it happens.. I'm not sure it was effective).

The election campaign begins the moment a branch decides to contest an election and the candidates chosen, with letters and press releases to the local media, lit stalls, public meetings, newspaper adverts and contributions to online websites.  And as Brian says , it continues after the polling day. Brighton is an example of a follow-up that has now led to a discussion group. Years of open air public meetings in Glasgow and environs led to a vigourous branch (even two branches) with its own premises. It will take the same sustained effort. We would be foolishly optimistic if we expect over-night success.However that sort of effort requires motivation and a need for younger, fitter members. Where do we get such new members? By going in search of them for starters. It may mean poaching them from the usual Leftists. Some of our finest members were once activists in other groups and parties.  We are fortunate in Glasgow that there are older members with the experience and knowledge who can act as mentors to wean newcomers from Leninism and reformism.