Voting for the Scottish Parliament is similar to the past two elections. You have two votes, each requiring an X on the ballot form. One is for the constituency, of which there are 73 throughout Scotland. The other is for regional MSPs, with Scotland’s eight regions each having seven such representatives – bringing the MSP total to 129.

What is different from before?

It has been decided to put both Scottish Parliament votes on one form. And whereas you were told the constituency vote was the “first vote”, that is not the case now. Reading the form from the left side, the regional vote is the first you will find, where the paper is coloured brown, and where you are offered a list of party names and symbols. It will no longer have the list of candidates for each party. On the right side of the ballot paper, coloured lilac, constituency candidates are named, along with their party. Do not fold your ballot form, to make scanning easier for the electronic counting process.

How are these votes counted?

Your constituency vote for Holyrood is counted by first-past-the-post, meaning the candidate with the most votes is declared winner.After those votes are finalised, the regional vote is used to counter act any imbalance in the constituency results. The counting process means a party that gets many votes but no constituency seats can expect to win list seats instead.

New (STV) Council Election Voting System Explained

To find out more, see:

Vote Scotland

The Electoral Reform Society