Main Changes
The new Scottish Parliament, devolved from Westminster, will have 129 MSPs (Members of the Scottish Parliament). Each elector will be entitled to cast 2 votes. One vote will choose a constituency MSP and the second vote will be for a political party.

First Ballot Paper
73 MSPs will be elected on the traditional "first past the post" basis so that the candidate who receives the most votes will be elected. It also means that the link between MSPs and their individual constituencies will be retained. (A list of the 73 constituencies is found down below)

Second Ballot Paper
The remaining 56 MSPs will be elected using the "Additional Member system". Each of the 8 electoral European Parliamentary regions will return 7 MSPs. The second ballot paper will require a vote for a specific party and the more votes each party gets, the more seats they should win. Depending on each party's share of the votes they will be entitled to a proportion of the 7 available seats in each of the 8 electoral regions.

Prospect of Coalition Government
If no party wins a majority of seats in the elections there will be discussion between the parties with a view to forming a coalition. When two or more parties with enough elected members between them to form a majority can agree on a common programme, they can proceed to form a government. Opinion polls in Scotland suggest that this electoral system is most likely to result in the formation of a coalition Government in the first term of the Scottish Parliament.

List of 73 Parliamentary Constituencies
(MSPs elected by "first past the post" system votes)

Aberdeen Central
Aberdeen North
Aberdeen South
Airdrie & Shotts
Angus
Anniesland
Argyle & Bute
Ayr
Baillieston
Banff & Buchan
Caithness, Sutherland & Easter Ross
Carrick, Cumnock & Doon Valley
Cathcart
Central Fife
Clydebank & Milngavie
Clydesdale
Coatbridge & Chryston
Cumbernauld & Kilsyth
Cunninghame North
Cunninghame South
Dumbarton
Dumfries
Dundee East
Dundee West
Dunfermline East
Dunfermline West
East Kilbride
East Lothian
Eastwood
Edinburgh Central
Edinburgh East & Musselburgh
Edinburgh North & Leith
Edinburgh Pentlands
Edinburgh South
Edinburgh West
Falkirk East
Falkirk West
Galloway & Upper Nithsdale
Gordon
Govan
Greenock & Inverclyde
Hamilton North and Bellshill
Hamilton South
Inverness East, Nairn & Lochaber
Kelvin
Kilmarnock and Loudoun
Kirkaldy
Linlithgow
Livingston
Maryhill
Midlothian
Moray
Motherwell and Wishaw
North East Fife
North Tayside
Ochil
Orkney
Paisley North
Paisley South
Perth
Pollock
Ross, Sky & Inverness West
Roxburgh & Berwickshire
Rutherglen
Shetland
Shettleston
Springburn
Stirling
Strathkelvin & Bearsden
Tweeddale, Ettrick & Lawderdale
West Aberdeenshire & Kincardine
Western Isles
West Renfrewshire