Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP; ; ) is the title given to any one of the 129 individuals elected to serve in the
Scottish Parliament
The Scottish Parliament ( ; ) is the Devolution in the United Kingdom, devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. It is located in the Holyrood, Edinburgh, Holyrood area of Edinburgh, and is frequently referred to by the metonym 'Holyrood'. ...
.
Electoral system
The
additional member system produces a form of
proportional representation
Proportional representation (PR) refers to any electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to political divisions (Political party, political parties) amon ...
, where each constituency has its own representative, and each region has seats given to political parties to reflect as closely as possible its level of support among voters.
Each registered voter is asked to cast 2 votes, resulting in MSPs being elected in one of two ways:
* 73 are elected as
First past the post
First-past-the-post (FPTP)—also called choose-one, first-preference plurality (FPP), or simply plurality—is a single-winner voting rule. Voters mark one candidate as their favorite, or First-preference votes, first-preference, and the cand ...
constituency
An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...
MSPs and;
* 56 are elected as
Regional
In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...
additional member MSPs. Seven are elected from each of eight regional groups of
constituencies.
Types of candidates
With the additional members system, there are 3 ways in which a person can stand to be a MSP:
* a constituency candidate
* a candidate named on a party list at the regional election
* an individual candidate at the regional election
A candidate may stand both in a constituency and on a regional list. Constituency seats are decided first. Candidates who succeed in being elected to a constituency seat will then have their name removed from the regional list process.
Elections
All MSP positions become simultaneously vacant for
elections held on a five-year cycle. The
Scotland Act 1998 as amended by the
Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011
The Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 (c. 14) (FTPA) was an Act of Parliament (United Kingdom), act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which, for the first time, set in legislation a default fixed-term election, fixed election date for gener ...
sets out that ordinary general elections for the Scottish Parliament are held on the first Thursday in May, every five years.
If a
vacancy arises at another time, due to death or resignation, then it may be filled in one of two ways, depending on whether the
vacancy is for a
first-past-the-post constituency
An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...
MSP or for an additional-member MSP.
A constituency vacancy may be filled by a by-election. An additional-member vacancy may be filled by the next available candidate on the relevant party list. In case there is no next available person, then the vacancy will remain. This situation occurred in April 2014 following the death of
Margo MacDonald, independent MSP for the Lothian region.
Title
An MSP is known as ''Name'' MSP (''Name'' BPA in Gaelic). For instance,
Mike Russell can be entitled either Mike Russell, MSP, or Mìcheal Ruiseal, BPA.
See also
*
Commissioner (Scottish Parliament) for the historic representatives of the pre-1707 Estates of Parliament
*
1st Scottish Parliament
*
2nd Scottish Parliament
*
3rd Scottish Parliament
*
4th Scottish Parliament
*
5th Scottish Parliament
*
6th Scottish Parliament
*
Scottish Parliament constituencies and regions
*
MSPs' Salaries, Expenses and Allowances
*
Member of Parliament
*
Member of the Legislative Assembly (Northern Ireland)
*
Member of the Senedd
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Member Of The Scottish Parliament
Scottish Parliament