Member of the Scottish Parliament

Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) (Ball Pr-
lamaid na h-Alba (BPA) in Gaelic, Memmer o the Scots
Pairliament (MSP) in Scots) is the title given to any one
of the 129 individuals elected to serve in the Scottish Par-
liament.
1 Electoral system
The additional member system produces a form of
proportional representation, where each constituency has
its own representative, and each region has seats given to
political parties to reects as closely as possible its level
of support among voters.[1] Each registered voter is asked
to cast 2 votes, resulting in MSPs being elected in one of
two ways:
1998 sets out that ordinary general elections for the Scot-
tish Parliament are held on the rst Thursday in May, ev-
ery four years.[5]
If a vacancy arises at another time, due to death or res-
ignation, then it may be lled in one of two ways, de-
pending of whether the vacancy is for a rst-past-the-post
constituency MSP or for an additional-member MSP.
A constituency vacancy may be lled by a by-election.
An additional-member vacancy may be lled by the next
available candidate on the relevant party list. In the event
that there is no next available person the vacancy will then
remain. This situation occurred in April 2014 following
the death of Margo MacDonald, independent MSP for
the Lothian region.

73 are elected as First past the post constituency

4 Title
MSPs and;
An MSP is known as Name MSP (Name BPA in Gaelic).
56 are elected as Regional additional member MSPs. For instance, Mike Russell can be entitled either Mike
Seven are elected from each of eight regional groups Russell MSP or Mcheal Ruiseal BPA.
of constituencies.[2]

5 See also
2 Types of candidates
Commissioner (Scottish Parliament) for the historic
With the additional members system, there are 3 ways in
representatives of the pre-1707 Estates of Parlia-
which a person can stand to be a MSP:[3]
ment

a constituency candidate Members elected to the 1st Scottish Parliament

a candidate named on a party list at the regional elec-
Members elected to the 2nd Scottish Parliament
tion

an individual candidate at the regional election Members elected to the 3rd Scottish Parliament

Members elected to the 4th Scottish Parliament

A candidate may stand both in a constituency and on a
regional list. Constituency seats are decided rst. Candi-
Members elected to the 5th Scottish Parliament
dates who succeed in being elected to a constituency seat
will then have their name removed from the regional list
Scottish Parliament constituencies and regions
process.[4]
MSPs Salaries, Expenses and Allowances

3 Elections Member of the Legislative Assembly (Northern Ire-

land)
All MSP positions become simultaneously vacant for
elections held on a four-year cycle. The Scotland Act Member of the National Assembly for Wales

1
2 6 REFERENCES

6 References
[1] About: Information resources: FAQs. Scottish Govern-
ment. 26 June 2012. Retrieved 21 September 2014.

[2] How the Scottish Parliament works (PDF). Scottish Par-

liament. July 2013. Retrieved 22 July 2014.

[3] Standing for Scottish Parliamentary election (PDF).

Electoral Commission (United Kingdom). February
2011. Retrieved 21 September 2014.

[4] Scottish Parliament Fact sheet: Scottish Parliament Elec-

toral System (PDF). Scottish Parliament. 8 June 2011.
Retrieved 21 September 2014.

[5] Scottish Parliament Fact Sheet: Dates of Recess, Disso-

lution and Parliamentary Years (PDF). Scottish Parlia-
ment. 8 May 2014. Retrieved 21 September 2014.
 3

7 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

7.1 Text
Member of the Scottish Parliament Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Member_of_the_Scottish_Parliament?oldid=778141928
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