Scotland

Download the Elections and Referendum Booklet

On Thursday 5 May 2011, there will be:

an election to the Scottish Parliament, and
a UK-wide referendum on the voting system you use to elect MPs to the House of Commons

Scottish Parliamentary election

 

The Scottish Parliament has powers to make laws for Scotland on a range of areas including economic development, education, health and law and order.

There are 129 elected Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs). Seventy-three are constituency members, meaning they represent one Scottish Parliament constituency. The other 56 are regional members, meaning they represent one of the eight electoral regions of Scotland. Each electoral region includes a number of constituencies.

If you live in Scotland, you are represented by eight MSPs. One represents your Scottish Parliament constituency and the other seven all represent your region.

For more about the Scottish Parliament, go to http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/

 

How do I vote in the Scottish Parliamentary election?

 

You will receive two ballot papers like the ones pictured below. There will be a lilac coloured ballot paper to elect your constituency member and a peach coloured ballot paper to elect your regional members.

Use this ballot paper to vote for a candidate to represent your constituency. To vote, mark a cross (X) in the box opposite the name of one candidate. The candidate with the most votes wins.

 

Use this ballot paper to vote for a party or individual candidate to represent your region. To vote, mark a cross (X) in the box opposite the name of one party or individual candidate. In each region, parties and individual candidates win seats based on:

• the number of votes they receive in this regional ballot, and
  the number of constituency seats that parties win in the region.

 

 

Find out how the votes are counted in Scotland

Find out further information on the referendum on the voting system used to elect MPs

The registration deadline for the Scottish Parliament elections and the referendum is 15 April.

Register to vote

Ways of voting

You can view translations of the information about the Scottish Parliament election here.