High voter turnout forecast

OBSERVERS have forecast today’s election could see the highest ever turnout of voters to decide the shape of the next Shetland Islands Council.

Returning officer Jan Riise said on Wednesday that 1,400 of the islands’ 2,000 postal votes had already been returned, a 70 per cent response rate.

Dissatisfaction with the performance of the previous council, fears about school closures and public service cuts, job losses and the ongoing arguments over Viking Energy are exercising voters as never before.

Forty three candidates are standing in seven wards, with just 11 existing councillors standing for re-election. The only two parties being represented are the SNP and the Scottish Christian Party, who have two candidates each.

Candidates will be elected using the single transferable vote system. Instead of marking a cross next to the favoured candidate, voters are asked to rank their candidates in order of preference. Voters mark a ‘1’ by their first choice candidate, a ‘2’ by their second, a ‘3’ by their third and so on.

Voters do not need to number all the candidates if they don’t want to, but they will need to number at least one for their vote to count. There must also be no break in the sequence of numbers, otherwise only the top ones will count.

Polling stations are open throughout Shetland from 7am until 10pm. Anyone seeking more information about how to vote can go to www.aboutmyvote.co.uk or call 0800 3 280 280.

Shetland News will be running a live feed from the election count at Lerwick Town Hall on Friday morning, with the first results expected at 9.45am.