Scotland local government STV - first preferences do generally set the winners

Most of the candidates who received large numbers of first-preference votes are elected in an STV-PR election. 

We see this in the 2007 STV-PR elections to Scotland's 32 Local Government Councils. These elections take place in 352 separate districts.

Candidates here classified by position in relation to numbers of first preferences received: leading, second, third, etc.

190 three-member wards electing 570

Position in 1st Count         elected

Leading           190

Second            185

Third               165

Fourth               26

Fifth                    4

  total 570

all those in first place in 1st Count were elected,

all but five of those in second were elected

all but 25 of those in third place were elected.

26 of the candidates in fourth place were elected (after vote transfers had moved them up to the top three)

in four districts the candidate in fifth place in the 1st Count moved up to win seat.

163 four-member wards electing 652

Position          elected

Leading           163

Second            163

Third               160

Fourth             146

Fifth                  15

Sixth                    3

Seventh               1

Eighth                 1

  total 652

all those in first and second place in 1st Count were elected,

all but 3 of those in third place were elected.

all but 17 of those in fourth place were elected.

15 of the candidates in fifth place were elected,

in five districts the candidate in sixth, seventh or eighth place in the 1st Count moved up to win seat.

So first preferences are most important, but transfers (later preferences) do matter.

Many people emphasize how STV uses ranked votes, but actually the main fairness of the STV election method is due to single voting (one person - one vote) in a multi-member district. The vote transfers (made possible by the ranked ballots) only polish the basic balance arrived at already in the 1st Count.

In the Scottish results from computerised counts, the only surplus votes not transferred are those (if any) accruing to the candidate last elected when there were only two continuing candidates for the last remaining vacancy. 

In all other circumstances, all surpluses, no matter how small, are transferred.

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James Gilmour of Scoland was the source of this information.

Any mistakes are my own - Tom Monto

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How did Scotland local elections get PR?

The "Fairshare" voting reform campaign played an important role.

https://citizensassembly.arts.ubc.ca/public/get_involved/submission/G/GILMOUR-795.htm

but linked info not main point

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report on the 2012 Scottish local authorities elections :

https://web.archive.org/web/20150915220715/http://www.electoral-reform.org.uk/sites/default/files/2012-Scottish-Local-Government-Elections.pdf

info on page 22 says 532 candidates were elected on first round of counting, just on first preferences.

just 353 districts are used to elect the 1223 LA members in 54 separate councils

so that means on average, more than one member was elected in each district on the first count.

in Aberdeen council contests, for example, it was common for a 4-seat district to have two elected on first count.

This was likely partly due to relatively few candidates being on the ballot.

in Tillydrone, for example, there were just 9 on the ballot.

just 6 parties, and no party ran more than two candidates - usually only one.

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2017

2017 - 32 local councils, electing total of 1223 members in 353 ward contests, each electing 3 or 4 members in each ward.