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Electoral Management Board for Scotland

The EMB is a body corporate (following commencement of part 11 of the Scottish Elections (Representation and Reform) Act 2025), one is one of the independent officeholders (Officeholders | Scottish Parliament Website) supported by the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body (SPCB).

It was created in 2011 by the Local Electoral Administration (Scotland) Act 2011 and since then it has grown to become an important part of the landscape of delivering democratic events in Scotland. The EMB’s general purpose is to coordinate the delivery of elections in Scotland. The Board has operated successfully over the last 15 years and has become a valued and recognised element in the architecture of democracy in Scotland and across the UK. In that time it has Supported the delivery of major electoral events since 2011 – that history has seen it support the delivery of major electoral events including referenda, local, parliamentary and European elections. The major concerns are:

Consistency: in the voter facing elements – the Directions issues by the Convener have achieve consistency in the voter facing elements of the election valued by voters, candidates, parties, campaigners and both RO and ERO teams.
Contingency: resilience and risk management – the Board has worked to ensure that RO and EROs are applying sound project and risk management principles to deliver robust events.
Clear vision - the Board as shaped its operations around a clear vision “…to deliver results in which all can have full confidence”. This informs and assesses all that it does.
Principles – the vision is articulated through four principles accessibility, consistency, efficiency, integrity.