About 2% of ballot papers in last week's council elections were spoiled, suggesting voters were not confused by the new system of proportional representation for local government.

The figure is significantly lower than for the parliamentary poll, where more than 140,000 votes were discarded - around 3.5% of the total cast.

Last night, the Scottish Executive said the relatively low level of spoiled papers in the council vote showed the decision to hold both elections on the same day did not contribute to last week's fiasco.

For the first time, Scotland's councils were elected last week using the single transferable vote PR method, which required voters to rank candidates in order of preference.

Meanwhile, The Herald has learned that Glasgow's returning officer has been asked for details of the thousands of discarded parliamentary ballot papers after a senior lawyer said he believed there were grounds for legal action. A written request was faxed to George Black yesterday by Mike Dailly, a solicitor based at the Govan Law Centre.

Mr Dailly is acting on behalf of voters in Glasgow who claim they mistakenly put two crosses on the regional part of the ballot and none on the constituency section.

He believes the errors may have denied Tommy Sheridan or an additional Green a seat via the Glasgow list.

Robert Sutherland, an advocate, has told Mr Dailly he has grounds for a legal challenge if he can prove the outcome of the election was changed as a result of the voters' mistakes.

In his letter Mr Dailly asks for details of how many of the city's 9000 spoiled ballots were discarded because two crosses were put next to candidates on the regional list. He also wants a breakdown of the parties voted for in this way.

A spokesman for Glasgow's returning officer said: "Any requests for information from the returning officer will be dealt with under election law."

12:01am Thursday 10th May 2007

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