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Scottish election FAQs
by CONRAD LANDIN
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When will we know the full results from Scotland?
Results from 46 of the 73 constituencies were expected by the end of Friday. The remaining constituency seats, and the 56 regional list seats, are set to be declared today.
How does the Additional Member System (AMS) of voting work?
Each voter gets two ballot papers. The first is a Westminster-style “first-past-the-post” ballot, in which you choose between named candidates from each party. The second is a choice between parties, who each put up a list of candidates covering a whole region (made up of multiple constituencies).
Why does Scotland have two types of voting?
First past the post is widely recognised to deliver results that do not reflect the proportion of votes cast for each party.
The regional list ballot is designed to be a corrective to this. If a party receives a smaller proportion of constituency seats than the proportion of votes it received in that region, it will receive a “top-up” of regional list seats.
So if the SNP wins big in the constituencies, will it win any list seats?
Not many. The SNP is weaker in certain regions — like South Scotland, where it still managed to win three list seats in 2016, as well as four constituencies.
Can one party still win a majority?
Yes — and the SNP did in 2011. You could win a majority with constituency seats alone — and given the SNP won all but three Westminster constituencies in 2015, that’s not just a hypothetical.
Will people use their regional list votes tactically?
Many will. In previous elections many SNP constituency voters have voted for the Greens in the regional list. But the big question this time round is how many will vote for Alex Salmond’s Alba party.
Polling suggests voters are paying attention to the Alba message of using your second vote wisely — but to the benefit of the Greens, rather than Alba.
Can the Additional Member System survive?
The Alba party’s brazen talk of gaming the system to win a “supermajority” for independence has sparked talk that AMS is not fit for purpose.
But it’s unlikely Alba will make much of a dent, and much as psephologists and Lib Dems (and journalists) like to bang on about electoral systems, most parties and voters have bigger fish to fry.
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