BODA Modern Studies Dept Events

Mock elections in schools are a great opportunity for our young people to feel part of the political process and to have hands on experience of how an election works. Our first year pupils have the chance to organise and vote in a class election when we are working on our Unit on The Council and Councillors. However, a school wide mock election with involvement from all years is much more exciting. The Modern Studies department could not miss the opportunity provided by the New Scottish Parliament to give our pupils such a positive experience of the democratic process.

Fortunately our Standard Grade class were working in class on the Living in a Democracy part of their course and so were ideally placed to help with the organisation and clerical work associated with an election. They organised the Electoral Register for the school, made ballot boxes, compiled ballot papers based on pro formas which had been provided and made posters explaining how to vote and encouraging participation. Senior pupils volunteered to organise the campaign on behalf of the major political parties. We had candidates from The Scottish Conservative Party, The Scottish Labour Party, The Scottish Liberal Democrats, The Scottish National Party and The Scottish Socialist Party.

In the real election for the Members of the Scottish Parliament the country was divided into 73 constituencies. These were exactly the same as for the election of MPs to the House of Commons in Westminster except that Orkney and Shetland became two separate constituencies for the Scottish Parliament elections. These 73 MSPs were to be elected using the familiar first past the post system where the candidate who gets the most votes wins the seat. However, in addition to these 73 MSPs who each represented one constituency a further 56 MSPs were to be elected to make up a total of 129. The extra 56 MSPs came from the eight regions that Scotland is divided into for the European elections. Each of these eight regions could send a further 7 MSPs to the Scottish Parliament (7 x 8 = 56). A second ballot paper where people had chosen their preferred party or independent candidate was used to choose these MSPs. This was the first time that a form of proportional representation (in this case the Additional Member system) had been used to elect representatives in mainland UK.

Voting is the thing to do
But no-one has a simple clue
Labour, SNP and the rest
You don’t know what’s the best
You still have to have your say
But in April instead of May
Go to your local polling station
To help you decide who will run our nation
SNP and Labour are in collision
The name you mark is your decision
Which ever party has its way
You can always say you had your say

I was at home one evening. There was nothing much happening. so I had a set to and thought of the mock election. I never did much it just came out and I was pleased it came together.

In the School mock election the pupils also used two ballot papers and voted for their preferred candidate and their preferred party. The campaign was fought very rigorously by all the candidates and their party supporters. There were some accusations of dirty tricks relating to the removal and/or defacement of party election material in the school canteen but referral to the election scutineer (Mrs. McWilliam, Principal Teacher of Modern Studies) soon brought this to an end. Campaigning continued with a lunch time hustings that was well supported. Candidates and parties put forward their views and answered questions from the floor. On the day of the ballot there was great enthusiasm from all year groups but the third year had the highest turnout of around 60%. This may have been related to the fact that the third years were organising the election and so encouraged more of their class mates to participate. Whatever the reason the fact that so many of our pupils participated when young people are so often accused of being complacent and apathetic is a great victory for democracy and our youngsters.

Not surprisingly the SNP were victorious in school, but, they did have a very thorough campaign which included a display in the school library.

the Results for the whole of Scotland which Bridge of Don Academy contributed to were as follows:

Over 42,000 young people’s votes were counted for the national result. It is very likely that many more took part after the final date for the registration of votes. Over 200 schools registered and 100 schools submitted results.

The SNP were the largest party as they had been in the May 1997 Mock election. However, they did not have enough seats to form an executive on their own. Just as in the real result collaboration between two parties would be necessary to form an effective administration to govern Scotland.

Bridge of Don Academy was asked to represent the constituency of Aberdeen North at this historic event. S3 Standard Grade students had been heavily involved in the organisation of the school’s mock election and so they were asked to represent the school. Names were forwarded and a draw took place to select the 24 pupils who would go to Edinburgh to be part of the parade of school children representing all 73 of the constituencies. The day began at 6.45 Am with our departure from school and the journey took about 3 hours. When we arrived in Edinburgh we were allocated a guide for the day who made sure that we got to the right place on time. The parade began at about 12.15 after the opening ceremony in the assembly Rooms. The children had all been given specially commissioned commemorative sweatshirts and cagoules to wear. Before the big day we had been asked to choose two senior pupils to carry the banners which represented the life and work of the people in the constituency.

I enjoyed the whole day and found it fun. I really enjoyed the parade and found it very interesting. the dinner was delicious and the afternoon concert was good and it was very good laugh. the weather was lovely which made it better, it was a day I shall never forget. enjoyed the day and I was proud to be a part of it. It is a great thing to look back on and remember.

It was a great day. I will never forget it. All my family wished they were there. my brother said he wanted to see the queen and saw her on television and he saw me!

After lunch in Princes Street Gardens - provided by Marks and Spencer - we were treated to concert with boy bands, local drama groups and the Massive Heids. Donald Dewar also came out to tell the young people how well they had done and how proud he felt when watching the parade. Don’t just take our word for how good the day was. Read the following comments by our pupils. It’s good to see such enthusiasm for an event like this when much of what is written about our youngsters in Scotland is often negative and suggests that they are not interested in democracy or the democratic process.

The following comments were all written by pupils as they reflected on their day out.

I’ll remember it all my life. The concert was good fun and so were the helium balloons!

It was enjoyable and would have been a good day out for the family. It was a bit tiring, but it was a great day out.

It was a good day, better than I thought it would be. I also enjoyed the entertainment. It was a day I,ll never forget.

The whole day was fun, especially walking through the streets. I enjoyed the concert at the end especially Mero as they were nice looking and their music was good. Its a day I’ll never forget even though it was a bit hot!!.

The day was good. I enjoyed the concert. The bands that were performing were good. I will not forget that day.

Scottish Parliament Constituency: Aberdeen North Vote for ONE candidate only
Scottish Liberal Democrats Karen Robertson
Scottish Labour Party Graham Thomson
Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party Joanne Mitchell
Scottish National Party Jennifer McKessick
Scottish Socialist Party Jodi Morrice

	Number of Seats	% of the vote	% of Seats
SNP	33	29.4	45.2
Labour	25	25	34.2
Liberal Democrats	11	18.6	15
Conservative	3	12.7	4.1
Green	1	6.9	1.3
Scottish Socialists	0	3	0
Total	73 Seats

	Seats	% Vote	% seats
SNP	17	33.7	30.35
Labour	13	26.2	23.2
Liberal Democrats	11	15.2	19.4
Conservative	7	9.8	12.5
Green	7	9	12.5
Scottish Socialists	1	3.4	1.78
Total

	Seats	% Vote (average)
SNP	50	31.55
Labour	38	25.6
Liberal Democrats	22	16.9
Conservative	10	11.25
Green	8	7.95
Scottish Socialists	1	3.2
Total	129