Guidance for Candidates and Agents at Scottish Parliament elections
Examples
Spending by the party that promotes the constituency candidate
Example A
A political party produces a letter that sets out the party’s policies and in the final lines it asks voters to vote for a specific candidate in that constituency. Since the candidate is identifiable, the letter is to be regarded as distributed for the purposes of the candidate’s election.
Example B
A political party produces an advert that sets out the party’s policies and asks voters to vote for the party in that constituency. Although the advert does not name the candidate, it identifies the constituency. Therefore, the advert is to be regarded as distributed for the purposes of the party’s constituency candidate’s election.
Spending that should be partially attributed to both the party and the constituency candidate
Example C
A leaflet featuring the party leader is distributed across Scotland, including in the constituency where the party leader is standing. The leaflets distributed in the party leader’s constituency are to be regarded as distributed for the purposes of the leader’s election as a constituency candidate.
Example D
A prominent constituency candidate is featured in a leaflet that is distributed across the entire region, including in the specific constituency they are standing in. The leaflets distributed in the candidate’s constituency are to be regarded as distributed for the purposes of the constituency candidate’s election.
Example E
A party prepares a digital campaign featuring a popular party member in one area of the country. The party member is a constituency candidate in one part of that area. The material is targeted at a particular group of voters and will appear in the social media feeds of someone who is in the target group. The target group includes a geographic location. The proportion of the campaign targeted in the prominent party member’s constituency is to be regarded as published for the purposes of their election as a candidate.
Spending that doesn’t promote the constituency candidate
Example F
A political party produces a letter that sets out the party’s policies and encourages voters to vote for the party. Although the letter is addressed to a household in a constituency, the letter itself does not identify the candidate or the constituency. This is not to be regarded as used for the purposes of the constituency candidate’s election.
Example G
A party prepares a digital campaign featuring a popular party member across the entire country, including where the party member is a constituency candidate. The material is not targeted but will appear if a particular set of words is typed into a search engine. It is not possible to ascertain how often or when this appeared to voters in the party member’s constituency. This is not to be regarded as used for the purposes of their election as a candidate.
Please see the next section for guidance on assessing how to report spending.