大象传媒

Margot was always the only real candidate for PO when we saw how the numbers finally fell on Friday. Given her criticism of the Parliament in the past she is the obvious and only choice given Lab+Tory=63 and SNP+LibDem=63.

What`s more interesting is how long Salmond can last in a Minority Government given that a lot of his Fundamentalists were elected via the list that he didn`t expect to be there. Trouble ahead perhaps.

And of course Margot can`t stand Salmond so that`s another reason why she would be the ideal Presiding Officer.

Who`s brave enough to bet against another election within 12 months?
(All votes to be counted the old-fashioned way please!)

It's ridiculous that the Tories wont stick one of their number up. Then again, Margo would be an okay choice, since she doesn't really have a special place in her heart for any party!

If the SNP minority administration didn't last and someone else came in, like Labour, she would be able to deal with it just the same. Also, she is one less vote for an independence referendum, I would assume, so that's good, given that the vast majority of voters have already said no to one by not backing nationalist parties.

I thought rather than have Margo as Presiding Officer we could take advantage of the fact that all are minorities now and Margo could form a minority government on her own. It needn't last a whole term and would give the others time to work something out.

what about the farce of the miscount in highland? this haa hardly been mentioned. if it hadn't been challenged there would have been two more labour msps.

Newsnight Scotland tells us that the number of spoilt ballot papers may be as high as 142,000. So what?

Before we can describe this as a 'scandal', we need to have a breakdown and analysis of why these individual ballot papers were spoiled.

There is nothing scandalous in electors deliberately spoiling their papers. Neither is there anything scandalous in thousands of numpties failing to follow very simple instructions, or Douglas Alexander overestimating the electorates ability to get it right.

It would only be a scandal if papers that were completed correctly were then discounted for some reason. That's the kind of scenario that would justify calls for future U.N. involvement in Scottish elections (apparently suggested in the Commons yesterday), not Douglas Alexander's misplaced faith in the electorate, or numpties getting it wrong.

It would actually be a scandal if we were to try to redistribute those papers that were completed in error to the candidates we 'think' the voters intended them to go to. Why pander to numpties? If you get it wrong, it doesn't count. Simple as that. It would also be scandalous to even consider abandoning P.R. in favour of numpty proof FPTP.

By the way, whilst we can all moan that it didn't help matters that two elections were held simultaneously, the benefit is surely that we got a much greater turnout for the L.A. elections than we would have had if they'd been held at an alternative time. That increase in turnout must be seen as being good for democracy especially in the context of the change to multi-member council wards.

Margo, and the SNP are at opposite polarities of the political compass,like her partner Mr J Sillars they have decided to go on their own respective political journey.
As a somewhat berating ciritic of the political system,and the politicians in Scotland, is Margo best placed to be an impartial PO?
I think if she is to be considered for the position, three fundemental things should be considered.
1. A short term appointment?(1-2 years)
2. The effect that this could have on her health?
3. Did the people who voted for her in the Lothians, want her to be removed from being able to offer her input and political direction on any debates or issues in Holyrood?

Never mind Margo for presiding officer. What about Margo for First Minister, pulling together ministersfrom all the parties ? Deadly enemies are now in government together in Northern Ireland. If Ian Paislay and Martin McGuinness can govern together why can't Alex and Jack ?

The SNP had 164,454 votes more than Labour overall. Sour grapes won't get Labour anywhere. They were beaten by only one seat but even they must recognise the sentiment the above figure represents.

I agree with Harry, how a party (the SNP) can go from zero MSP's with the result just about to be announced to two after a recount is a mystery to me. Did they just happen to find a few thousand extra ballots.

Margo,no no!everyone is missing the point here,that! is the hole political frame work is on the edge,P.R. doesn't work,NEW LABOUR doesn't work and the electorate is on it's knee's saying "HOW DID WE GET FOOLED AGAIN"

Margo MacDonald as Presiding Officer? I'm packing my bags. That move would be a complete disaster and embarassment for Scotland. her behaviour, language and attitude in and throughout the sorry debale surrounding the construction of the Scottish parliament was absolutely despicable and not worthy of anyone in public office.
If we can't do better than that, we should give up on devolution now - nevermind independence - before we completely embarass ourselves off the international map.

Margo could be an interesting Presiding Officer. She's always had an interest in the budget of the Parliament building, and the cost of maintenance of it as a result. Given that she'd be partly more in control of that aspect of Parliament too, I'm sure she'd be excellent in that role. She also seems fairly partisan when it comes to the different parties - she's scathed and commended when she felt it was required. She's got a good no-nonsense approach. Plus, if she wasn't presiding officer, then I daresay she'd be pushed somewhere into the background of the current Holyrood show, simply because she would have no position in the Bureau, and probably get overshadowed in debates etc.

Plus its about time we had a female presiding officer in Scotland.