Comhairle nan Eilean Siar

Council flag and logo

Council area: Na h-Eileanan Siar Shown as one of the council areas of Scotland

Administrative headquarters Stornoway

Control No party control

Website http://www.cne-siar.gov.uk/

Comhairle nan Eilean Siar is the local government council for Na h-Eileanan Siar council area of Scotland. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Western Isles redirects here. ... council area of Scotland File links The following pages link to this file: Outer Hebrides Na h-Eileanan an Iar (UK Parliament constituency) Categories: NowCommons | GFDL images ... The council areas of Scotland form the local government areas of Scotland, all of them unitary authorities. ... This article is about the town in Scotland: for other uses, see Stornoway (disambiguation) , Stornoway (Steòrnabhagh in Scottish Gaelic) is a burgh on Lewis (Leòdhas), in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. ... A political party is a political organization that seeks to attain political power within a government, usually by participating in electoral campaigns. ... Western Isles redirects here. ... The 32 council areas of Scotland form the local government areas of Scotland, all of them unitary authorities. ... This article is about the country. ...

It is the only local council in Scotland to have a Gaelic-only name. Western Isles Council was retracted in 1997 under the Local Government (Gaelic Names) (Scotland) Act 1997, meaning that the former Western Isles are now officially named Na h-Eileanan Siar, even in English-language contexts. The Goidelic languages (also sometimes called, particularly in colloquial situations, the Gaelic languages or collectively Gaelic) have historically been part of a dialect continuum stretching from the south of Ireland, the Isle of Man, to the north of Scotland. ... The Local Government (Gaelic Names) (Scotland) Act 1997 enables local councils in Scotland to rename the areas for which they are resposible with Gaelic names. ... English is a West Germanic language originating in England, and the first language for most people in Australia, Canada, the Commonwealth Caribbean, Ireland, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States of America (also commonly known as the Anglosphere). ...

The council was created in 1975, 57 years after the creation of Na h-Eileanan an Iar for elections to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (the constituency being named, when created, Western Isles). Since 1999, there has been also the Western Isles constituency of the Scottish Parliament, with the same boundaries. Na h-Eileanan an Iar is a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, created in 1918. ... The House of Commons is a component of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also includes the Sovereign and the House of Lords. ... Type Bicameral Houses House of Commons House of Lords Speaker of the House of Commons Michael Martin MP Speaker of the House of Lords Hélène Hayman, PC Members 1377 (646 Commons, 731 Peers) Political groups Labour Party Conservative Party Liberal Democrats Scottish National Party Plaid Cymru Democratic Unionist... In the United Kingdom each of the electoral areas or divisions called constituencies elects one or more members to a parliament or assembly. ... The Western Isles are a constituency of the Scottish Parliament. ...

Elections

General elections to the council are held on a four year cycle. The next is due in 2011. Elections Part of the Politics series Politics Portal This box:      A general election is an election in which all or most members of a given political body are up for election. ...

During the period since 1975, elections to the council have been by the first past the post system of election with the final elections of this type returning 31 councillors, elected by 31 single-member wards. The plurality voting system, also known as first past the post, is a voting system used to elect a single winner in a given election. ... A ward is an electoral district used in local politics, most notably in England, Scotland, and Wales, as well as Australia, Canada, the Republic of Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa and many cities in the United States and the federal district of Washington, DC. Wards are usually named after neighbourhoods...

In 2007, under the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, the single transferable vote system, together with multi-member wards, was used for the first time, each ward electing three or four councillors. This system is designed to produce a form of proportional representation. This is an Act of the Scottish Parliament which provided, inter alia, for the election of local Councillors by the Single Transferable Vote system. ... This STV ballot for the Australian Senate illustrates group voting tickets. ... Proportional representation (sometimes referred to as full representation, or PR), is a category of electoral formula aiming at a close match between the percentage of votes that groups of candidates (grouped by a certain measure) obtain in elections and the percentage of seats they receive (usually in legislative assemblies). ...

External links

• Comhairle nan Eilean Siar website
  • Ward maps, with links re councillors