Scottish voters head to the polls on 7 May 2026 to elect their representatives to the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood.
Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) are elected to Holyrood using the additional member system. Scotland is divided into 73 constituencies which are divided between eight regions. Each constituency has one MSP, while each region elects eight MSPs.
Different systems are used to elect constituency MSPs and regional MSPs. Constituency MSPs are elected by first past the post – the candidate with the most votes wins. Regional MSPs are elected using a proportional system which can be difficult to understand.
In this guide, we help you get your head round the Scottish voting system by explaining it in simple terms.
As part of the United Kingdom, Scotland is governed in part by the UK government. Because of devolution, Scotland has certain powers to make its own laws, as does Wales, Northern Ireland and even parts of England.
Every five years, Scottish voters head to the polls to elect their devolved government. This is often a coalition, such as between 2021 and 2024, when the SNP governed in coalition with the Scottish Greens. If a party is able to win an outright majority of seats, they can form a government on their own.
The Scottish government has control over many aspects of policy in Scotland, including:
Things like policing, justice and welfare are controlled by the UK government.
For the purposes of the Scottish Parliament, Scotland is divided into:
This means 129 MSPs sit in the Scottish Parliament.
You’ll be given two ballot papers when you get to the polling station (or vote by post).
The first ballot paper is for your constituency Member of the Scottish Parliament. It will show a list of names and parties. You choose one candidate by placing an X in the box next to their name. The candidate with the most votes wins.
As a voter, the election of regional MSPs is simple. On your second ballot paper, you’ll see a list of political parties. If independent candidates are standing, you’ll see their names as well. Again, you vote by placing an X next to one party or independent candidate.
That’s the simple bit! The way the results are calculated is where it gets complicated…
Because there are seven seats in the region, the results are determined in rounds.
In the first stage, the number of votes each party has won is divided by the number of constituency MSPs the party won in the first round across the region, plus one. For example, if a party has won four constituency seats, their total number of votes will be divided by five (four plus one).
That means if they have won 10,000 votes, the number of votes that will be counted for them will be 2,000. If they have won one seat, their votes will be divided by two (one plus one), giving them 5,000 votes. If they have won zero seats, their votes will be divided by one - meaning the full 10,000 votes will be counted. The party with the most (adjusted) votes wins the first MSP seat for the region.
This system is called the D’Hondt formula, after a 19th-century Belgian mathematician called Victor D'Hondt. It is used to ensure the number of MSPs a party ends up with roughly reflects its vote share.
The second stage is very much like the first stage, except the number of regional seats won is added to the constituency seats which map onto the region. So the winner of the first round has an extra seat added to the number by which their votes are divided.
Say a party won three constituency seats and the first regional seat on 10,000 votes in the regional ballot. These would be added together and one added (three plus one plus one) to give five. Their 10,000 votes would be divided by five, to give 2,000 votes. The party with the most (adjusted) votes wins the regional MSP seat for this round.
This process is repeated a total of seven times to fill the seven regional seats.
This table shows how the rounds work (it is borrowed from this Scottish Parliament fact sheet):
Round 1
|
Party |
Total regional votes |
Constituency seats won |
Regional seats won |
Add 1 |
Number to divide by |
Votes counted after total is divided (winner in bold) |
|
Party 1 |
62,000 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
20,666 |
|
Party 2 |
64,000 |
4 |
0 |
1 |
5 |
12,800 |
|
Party 3 |
60,000 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
30,000 |
|
Party 4 |
38,000 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
38,000 |
Round 2
|
Party |
Total regional votes |
Constituency seats won |
Regional seats won |
Add 1 |
Number to divide by |
Votes counted after total is divided (winner in bold) |
|
Party 1 |
62,000 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
20,666 |
|
Party 2 |
64,000 |
4 |
0 |
1 |
5 |
12,800 |
|
Party 3 |
60,000 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
30,000 |
|
Party 4 |
38,000 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
19,000 |
Round 3
|
Party |
Total regional votes |
Constituency seats won |
Regional seats won |
Add 1 |
Number to divide by |
Votes counted after total is divided (winner in bold) |
|
Party 1 |
62,000 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
20,666 |
|
Party 2 |
64,000 |
4 |
0 |
1 |
5 |
12,800 |
|
Party 3 |
60,000 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
20,000 |
|
Party 4 |
38,000 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
19,000 |
After three rounds, the seats won are as follows:
This continues until all seven seats are filled.
Above, we said that as a voter, you vote for a political party (or independent candidate). But which candidates actually get elected when a political party wins a round?
The answer is, the political parties produce lists of their regional candidates and decide the order to rank them in. The first time they win a round, the first candidate on their list wins a seat, and so on. It’s very unlikely all the candidates on their list will be elected.
A candidate can stand for both a constituency and the region. If they win a constituency seat, their name is taken off the regional list for their party.
If you live in Scotland and want to vote in the Scottish Parliament elections on 7 May, you will need to be registered to vote:
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