Polling stations across Scotland have opened as the country elects a new batch of MSPs to Holyrood.
Voters have until 10pm on Thursday to cast their ballot in a contest that will decide who Scotland’s MSPs will be – as well as determining who will be first minister.
A total of 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament are up for grabs, with voters electing 73 constituency representatives, with a further 56 MSPs elected via eight regional lists.
Unlike previous elections – other than 2021 because of the Covid-19 pandemic – votes will be counted on Friday rather than overnight, with the final result likely to be known by late Friday evening.
Campaigners have spent the past six weeks traversing the country in the hopes of winning the keys to Bute House.
John Swinney delivers an eve-of-poll speech at a rally with SNP candidates and activists (Jane Barlow/PA)
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First Minister John Swinney’s SNP has led the polls since the beginning of the campaign, with Mr Swinney telling voters a majority for his party – a rarity in the Holyrood voting system – will allow him to put more pressure on Westminster to grant a second referendum on independence.
Speaking ahead of polls opening, Mr Swinney said the election was “Scotland’s opportunity to choose a better future by voting SNP for real action on the cost of living, to lock Nigel Farage out of power, and to secure a fresh start with independence”.
He added: “By casting both votes for the SNP, Scotland can elect a strong majority SNP government that will always stand up for Scotland, prioritise the cost of living, and deliver that fresh start of independence that Scotland needs.”
SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn – who is running for Holyrood at this election – said the ballot offered people to prosect of the “fresh start of independence”.
People are casting their votes at the polling station at St James Church hall in Inverleith, Edinburgh (Jane Barlow/PA)
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Mr Flynn said: “The increasingly unaffordable cost of living in the UK has defined this election. Brexit Britain is broken – and Scotland is trapped in a never-ending cycle of soaring bills and constant chaos under Westminster control.
“The fresh start of independence is the opportunity Scotland can’t afford to miss. It is the opportunity to use Scotland’s huge energy wealth to lower household bills and build a better future – but it will only happen if people unite behind the SNP today.
“Every vote for the SNP will count to deliver the strongest possible support with the cost of living now – and to escape the constant chaos of Westminster control with independence.”
One of the unknowns ahead of Friday’s results is the fate of Reform UK.
The party has been polling well for the first time at Holyrood and looks poised to win at least a dozen seats, with one of the key battles being between Lord Malcolm Offord’s party and Labour for second place.
Anas Sarwar has insisted the polls – some of which put Labour in third place – are getting it wrong and his party will defy the pollsters and pundits on Thursday, but it is a far cry from the success Labour experienced at the 2024 election in Scotland.
The Scottish Labour leader cut ties with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in February, calling for him to stand down in the wake of the Mandelson scandal, severing an alliance which had held since the two took over their respective parties north and south of the border.
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar speaks during an eve-of-poll rally (Andrew Milligan/PA)
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The Scottish Greens and the Lib Dems also look set for gains, according to the polls, with the Greens forecast to be in the running to win their first-ever local constituency.
Green co-leader Gillian Mackay said that every vote for her party was a “vote for a fairer, greener and independent Scotland and to reject the hatred and division of Reform UK”.
She insisted: “We don’t have to accept a broken status quo. It’s time to demand better.”
Meanwhile, forecasts suggest the Scottish Tories’ recent history of defying political gravity – initially engineered by former leader Baroness Ruth Davidson – which saw them grasp the unionist vote in Scotland and sit in second place for the past decade could be over, with Russell Findlay’s party projected to shed votes and seats.
The campaign has been dominated by the cost of living, with the SNP pledging to cap bus fares and prices of supermarket essentials while Reform and the Scottish Tories have honed in on tax cuts.
Scottish Labour has also pitched tax cuts, but only if an Anas Sarwar-led government can kickstart the economy.
The Scottish Greens have pledged to introduce more taxes, which would pay for universal free bus travel.
The Scottish Lib Dems have put the NHS and social care at the centre of their campaign.
