 Democracy on a small scale at Skipness SchoolAfter the candidates had been selected for the mock election at Skipness Primary School in Argyll, there was nobody in the school left to vote for them!
Since the school currently has just five pupils, each decided to stand as a candidate for the five parties standing in their own ward. On election day they asked adults voting at the local polling station to vote for them. Twenty adult voters registered their votes and the result was a comfortable win for the Scottish Liberal Democrats.
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This result turned out to be an accurate reflection of the voting patterns in the wider constituency where Alan Reid of the Scottish Liberal Democrats held his seat in the general election with 36.5% of the vote. Mrs Abernethy, the teacher at the school, said
“We have taken part in several of the Hansard Society Mock Elections, but never with so few children. The pupils aged 7-10 were so disappointed when they realised that we would not be taking part this year, that I had to think of a way that they could participate. They thoroughly enjoyed election day and I hope that the memory of the fun they had will encourage them to take part in the democratic process in later life”. |
