The Scottish Government

This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007

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Voting for the Scottish Parliament - how it will work

23/09/1998

The election for the Scottish Parliament next year will be run under a voting system not used in Scotland before. This question and answer note is offered as a quick reference sheet for journalists seeking an understanding of how the system will work.

As you will see from some of the answers, there are details still to be finalised - some linked to the Scotland Bill which is still being considered by the Houses of Parliament. A revised version of this note will be issued later this year. If you want further information please 'phone one of the contact numbers given at the end of this note.

When will the first election be held?

The Government plans to hold the election on Thursday, May 6, 1999. The date has still to be confirmed by an Order passed by the Houses of Parliament. The local government elections will be held on the same day. Future elections to the Scottish Parliament will normally be held every four years on the first Thursday in May.

Who can vote?

The rules will be identical to those which applied for the referendum last year. Anyone registered in the register of local government electors in Scotland will be eligible to vote. EU nationals, Commonwealth citizens and Peers registered in Scotland will be able to vote.

Overseas electors will not be eligible. This group is defined as UK citizens who are not resident in the UK on the qualifying date for the electoral register but were registered as Parliamentary electors in the UK at some point in the previous 20 years.

Who can stand for election?

The Scotland Bill defines eligibility as:

- those entitled to stand for the House of Commons, including Commonwealth citizens and Irish Republic citizens;

plus

- peers, and;

- ordained members or Ministers of any religious denominations.

The only residency qualification will apply to EU citizens, who must reside in the UK to be eligible

How many MSPs will there be?

The Scotland Bill provides for 129 Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs). The 129 total will be made up of 73 members elected from constituencies on a first-past-the-post basis and 56 regional members (7 from each of the eight European Parliamentary constituencies in Scotland). Each electoral region covers between 7-10 parliamentary constituencies.

The 73 first-past-the-post constituencies cover the current 72 UK Parliamentary constituencies except for Orkney and Shetland where the UK Parliamentary constituency is split to give a separate constituency to each island group.

Regional members will be returned from lists of up to 12 people put forward by registered political parties or from independent candidates.

How does the electoral system work?

Each elector will have two votes:

- one for a constituency candidate

- one for a regional member

Votes for the 73 constituency candidates will be cast and counted under first-past-the-post. This will be identical to the process which currently exists at UK Parliamentary elections.

Regional members will be elected by the following steps:

First - all the votes cast for each party or independent candidate within an electoral region will be counted.

Second - the total number of votes cast for a party will be divided by the number of constituency members already returned in the Parliamentary constituencies contained wholly within the electoral region plus one. The addition of the 'one' ensures that parties who have not secured any constituency seats can feature in the allocation of regional seats. This calculation produces the regional figure. For independent regional candidates the regional figure is the total number of votes cast for that candidate.

Third - the party or independent with the highest score gains the first regional member.

Fourth - the second to seventh regional members are allocated in the same way but any regional members gained each time are added to the dividing number in subsequent calculations. The attached example shows how this would have worked using the votes cast at the General Election in May 1997.

How often will elections be held?

Every four years on the first Thursday in May. The Scotland Bill, however, does make provision for any dissolution before the end of the four years provided that there is the agreement of at least two thirds of MSPs or if the Parliament fails to elect a First Minister.

Will voters be given a local government election ballot paper at the same time?

On entering a polling station each elector will be presented with three ballot papers -
· one for the constituency poll of the Scottish Parliamentary election
· one for the regional member poll and
· one for the local government election

News Release: 1849/98
23 September

How the allocation of regional seats works

Using the votes cast in Parliamentary constituencies within the North-East Scotland Parliamentary constituency on May 1, 1997, the following hypothetical model has been prepared to show how the allocation of regional members works. For the purpose of this exercise it has been assumed that electors would cast their regional vote for the party whose constituency candidate they voted for on May 1, 1997 and no account has been taken of independent candidates or other parties which contested these seats.

· The number of votes cast for each party list is divided by the number of constituency MSPs gained plus one. For example, the Labour Party gained 5 constituency MSPs so the party list vote is divided by 6.

· After that calculation is done, the party with the highest regional figure gains the first regional seat. In this case, that is quite clearly the Conservatives who had a high vote but no constituency MSPs

· For the second to seventh regional seats the same calculations are carried out but seats gained are included, e.g. when competing for the second regional seat the Conservative Party vote is divided by 2.

· The final regional seat was secured by 20,520 votes or 5.7 per cent of the total vote. An independent candidate would have had to secure a similar level of support in order to gain a seat.