By Steve Bargeton, political editor

ONE OF the world’s top election experts will lead the review into the Holyrood voting fiasco.

Ron Gould, the former assistant chief electoral officer of Canada, has led and participated in over 100 election observation missions in over 70 countries, and advised the United Nations, the Commonwealth and governments around the world.

There was a public outcry after it emerged that around 140,000 ballot papers, representing some 7% of the electorate, were rejected in the Scottish Parliament and local authority elections on May 3.

The independent Electoral Commission, which immediately launched an inquiry, has itself come in for criticism as it was involved in aspects of the election including the controversial design of the ballots.

“Ron Gould is widely respected as one of the world’s leading elections experts,” said Electoral Commission chairman Sam Younger.

Mr Younger said, “He will undertake a thorough and independent review of all aspects of the elections in Scotland, including those areas where the law gives the commission itself a role.”

The investigation under Mr Gould will focus on the high number of rejected ballots, the electronic counting process and the arrangements for postal voting.

It will also look at the decision to hold parliamentary and local government polls on the same day, as well as combining the two parliamentary votes on one ballot.

Mr Gould will also look at the role of the Electoral Commission itself in the elections preparations.

Mr Gould said, “I look forward to working with all those involved in the Scottish elections to enable us to develop a clear picture of exactly what happened and why.

“I hope my review will help ensure that the people of Scotland can be confident that any lessons are learned for the future.”

The appointment of Mr Gould, who was a member of the independent Electoral Commission of South Africa at the first post-apartheid election in 1994 and head of the elections missions in Bosnia in 1995 and 1996, was widely welcomed.

A Scotland Office spokesman, which is responsible for the Scottish elections, said, “The Scotland Office welcomes the Electoral Commission’s announcement that an independent electoral expert will lead the review into the 2007 Scottish elections.

“Scottish ministers and officials will of course lend their full support and co-operation to Mr Gould’s inquiry.”

Lib Dem Scottish spokeswoman Jo Swinson said, “I am pleased that the Electoral Commission has taken this step.

“There must be a full, transparent investigation into how the voting arrangements went so badly wrong. Public faith in our democratic system needs to be restored.”

The Scottish Green Party yesterday welcomed the review and called for the rejected ballot papers to be available for scrutiny.

“The design of the ballot paper, its effect and any patterns as a result are vital to a credible conclusion,” said a spokesman.

“This is why we have requested that the ballot papers be made available under Freedom of Information law.

“The commission can short-cut this, and study them as a key part of their investigation.

“Without doing a full analysis, any independent review may be seen to be inconclusive.”

* The spectre of the shambles surrounding the May 3 Holyrood elections in which over 140,000 papers were rejected returned to haunt the chamber yesterday when four MSPs managed to spoil their papers by voting for more than one candidate in the deputy presiding officer ballot, despite clear instructions from the chair beforehand.