Starting in 2007, local elections in Scotland will be held for the first time under the single transferable vote (STV) system.

The principal of STV is simple. A person may win an election in first past the post (FPTP) elections with a small actual share of the vote. For example, if there were five candidates standing in a FPTP election, the break down could be like the one below:

Candidate one (duly elected): 500 votes (26.66%)
Candidate two: 499 votes (26.60%)
Candidate three: 450 votes (23.99%)
Candidate four: 400 votes (21.32%)
Candidate five: 27 votes (1.43%)

1376 people did not vote for candidate one but, since candidate one got the highest number of votes, they were deemed the first past the post.

Under STV even the 27 voters for candidate five matter. Wards usually become larger, with three or four councillors elected at one given election. In a three member ward, any candidate who received over twenty five percent of the vote would immediately be elected, in a four member the percentage would be reduced to over twenty. Imaging the result above was for a three member ward, candidates one and two would be successfully elected outright. Then the process of vote transferral takes place.

In a STV election an elector does not just place one cross on a ballot paper. Instead no crosses are used at all: the electors rank all the candidates standing, from favourite to least. Their first preference would receive a 1, the second preference a 2 and so forth. After any candidates had qualified outright, preference votes would be added for the remaining candidates, excluding the lowest placed candidate.

This can often produce some startling results! A minority party candidate may be very few people