Proportional Representation The Scottish Parliament & AMS (The Additional Member System)

The Rationale behind Proportional Representation (PR) is simple: % of votes = % of seats

The Scottish Parliament when it was set up, decided not to use First-Past-The-Post They decided to use a form of Proportional Representation (PR) called The Additional Member System (AMS) There are also other types of PR, for example STV (Single Transferable Vote) which is used in the Scottish Council Elections.

The Scottish Parliament is different from the UK Parliament in that there is not simply 1 MP for each Constituency

There are 129 MSPs (Members of Scottish Parliament) There are 73 Constituencies each with 1 MSP. However, that leaves a further 56 seats in the Parliament to be filled

Examples of Scottish Parliament Constituencies include: Central Scotland (Region) Airdrie and Shotts Coatbridge and Chryston Cumbernauld and Kilsyth East Kilbride Falkirk East Falkirk West Hamilton North and Bellshill Hamilton South Kilmarnock and Loudon Motherwell and Wishaw

Who is your MSP and what’s your Constituency? Search MSP and Constituency

Those 73 MSPs are elected using First-Past-The-Post This side of the ballot paper is used to choose the person you want to represent your Constituency. You simply place an X next to the candidate you want to win. The left side of the ballot paper we’ll look at in a minute.

Scotland is broken down into 8 Regions However, in addition to those 73 MSPs representing 73 Constituencies, 56 further MSPs must be chosen. Scotland is broken down into 8 Regions Vote Scotland - List of Regions

This side of the ballot paper will create the remaining 56 MSPs. A further ‘X’ is placed next to the Party you choose. There may be an Independent candidate here too. This is known as the Regional List

There are 8 Regions in Scotland Each of the 8 regions will be allocated 7 MSPs. This creates the remaining 56 MSPs.

How do we work out who gets those remaining seats then? In each region, the total votes cast for each party are totalled. Central Scotland Airdrie and Shotts Coatbridge and Chryston Cumbernauld and Kilsyth East Kilbride Falkirk East Falkirk West Hamilton North and Bellshill Hamilton South Kilmarnock and Loudon Motherwell and Wishaw For Central Scotland Region, all votes will be totalled. SNP Labour Lib Dems Tories Regional votes 60,000 51,000 10,000 20,100

7 calculations then take place and at the end of each calculation, a Party is allocated an MSP.

Total Number of Seats in Parliament SNP Labour Lib Dems Tories Regional Votes 60,000 51,010 10,000 20,100 Seats Already 4 3 2 1 1st Calculation 60,000/4+1 =12,000 51,010/3+1 =12,752 10,000/2+1 =3333 20,100/1+1 =10,050 2nd Calculation 12,000 51,010/4+1 =10,202 3333 10,050 3rd Calculation 60,000/5+1 =10,000 10,202 4th Calculation 51,010/5+1 =8502 5th Calculation 8502 20,100/2+1 =6700 6th Calculation 60,000/6+1 =8571 6700 7th Calculation 60,000/7+1 =7500 333 Total Number of Seats in Parliament 4+3= 7 3+3= 6 2+0= 1+1=

Each party will produce a ‘list’ for that Region and each seat they win will be allocated to the highest person on that list, working down the list if they win more than one. You can stand as a Candidate for a Constituency and/or the Regional List

Map of Central Scotland Region So 7 Regional/List MPSs are allocated to each of the 8 regions eg Central Scotland However, they don’t represent a specific Constituency eg Falkirk West – they work on behalf of the whole Region Map of Central Scotland Region

Total Number of Seats in Parliament SNP Labour Lib Dems Tories Regional Votes 60,000 51,000 10,000 20,100 Seats Already 4 3 2 1 1st Calculation 60,000/4+1 =12,000 50,100/3+1 =12,525 10,000/2+1 =3333 20,100/1+1 =10,050 2nd Calculation 12,000 50,100/4+1 =10,000 3333 10,050 3rd Calculation 60,000/5+1 10,020 4th Calculation 20,100/2+1 =6700 5th Calculation 51,000/5+1 =8500 6700 6th Calculation 60,000/6+1 =8571 8500 7th Calculation 60,000/7+1 =7500 333 Total Number of Seats in Parliament 4+3= 7 3+3= 6 2+0= 1+1=

Current Scottish Parliament SNP - 47 Labour - 46 Tories -16 Lib Dems -16 Independents - 1 Greens - 2 No Party Affiliation - 1