Elections to the Scottish Parliament took place on Thursday 7 May, with the counting of votes on Friday 8 May. Voters were electing 129 Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs).

All those registered to vote had 2 votes: 1 vote (First Past the Post system) for a Constituency MSP, and 1 vote (proportionally allocated through a distribution of votes) for Regional MSPs. There were a record number of people in Scotland registered to vote, however, only 53.2% chose to exercise that right.

How did people in Orkney cast their two votes ? Electorate: 17,841

Constituency Vote

Turnout : 57.82% (down from 65.6% in 2021)

Number of votes cast : 10,315 ( down from 11, 596 in 2021)

COUPLAND, John William Reform UK, 844 votes, 8%
HALCRO JOHNSTON, Jamie William (commonly known as Jamie Halcro Johnston) Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party 358 votes, 3%
LESLIE, Robert Fraser Scottish National Party (SNP) 1,661 votes 16%
MACLEOD, Michael John (commonly known as Mike Macleod) Scottish Labour Party 199 votes, 2%
MCARTHUR, Liam Scott Scottish Liberal Democrats 7,221 votes, 70%(ELECTED)
Rejected votes: 32

Highlands and Islands Regional Vote

Turnout : 57.6% (down from 65.5% in 2021)

Number of votes cast: 10,274 (down from 11,586 in 2021)

ADVANCE UK 16 votes
ALLIANCE TO LIBERATE SCOTLAND Alliance to Liberate Scotland For Independence 41 votes
INDEPENDENCE FOR SCOTLAND PARTY Independence for Scotland Party, Direct Democracy. 49 votes
INDEPENDENT GREEN VOICE Independent Green Voice – Organic, Local, Democratic 58 votes
REFORM UK 1,250 votes (up from 31 0.3% in 2021)
SCOTTISH CHRISTIAN PARTY “PROCLAIMING CHRIST’S LORDSHIP” 38 votes
SCOTTISH CONSERVATIVE AND UNIONIST PARTY 958 votes (down from 2,202 19% in 2021)
SCOTTISH FAMILY PARTY Scottish Family Party – Christian values 100 votes (down from 127 1.1% in 2021)
SCOTTISH GREEN PARTY Vote Scottish Greens – Let’s demand better 1,329 votes (up from 1,104 9.5% in 2021)
SCOTTISH LABOUR PARTY Scottish Labour – Scotland Needs Change 463 votes (down from 725 6.3% in 2021)
SCOTTISH LIBERAL DEMOCRATS 4,037 votes (up from 3,616 31.2% in 2021)
SCOTTISH LIBERTARIAN PARTY 28 votes (down from 32 in 2021)
SCOTTISH NATIONAL PARTY (SNP) 1,755 votes (down from 3,384 29.2% in 2021)
SCOTTISH RURAL PARTY 29 votes
SCOTTISH SOCIALIST PARTY Scottish Socialist Party – Independent Socialist Scotland 19 votes
WORKERS PARTY OF BRITAIN Workers Party – Scotland 23 votes
MACPHERSON, Duncan Independent 43 votes
RICE, Mick Independent 2 votes

Rejected votes : 36

Elected as MSPs:

• Liam McArthur, LibDem, Orkney Constituency.
• Morven-May MacCallum, LibDem, Highlands and Islands Region.
• Vic Currie, Reform UK, Highlands and Islands Region
• Max Bannerman, Reform UK, Highlands and Islands Region
• Arianne Burgess, Scottish Greens, Highlands and Islands Region.
• Kristopher Leask, Scottish Greens, Highlands and Islands Region.
• Maree Todd, SNP, Highlands and Islands Region.
• Tim Eagle, Conservative, Highlands and Islands Region.

The Scotland Vote,

Registered voters 4,320,981 (4,280,785 in 2021). This is a record number of registered voters for a Scottish Parliament election.

In Scotland the overall turnout was 53.2% (down from 63.5 % in 2021) Total number of votes cast : 3,847,511.

The Scottish Parliament is now made up of:

• Scottish National Party 58 (down 6)
• Labour 17 (down 4)
• Reform UK 17 (up 17)
• Scottish Green 15 (up 6)
• Conservative 12 (down 19)
• Liberal Democrat 10 ( up 6)

MSPs in favour of Scottish Independence : 73

MSPs in favour of remaining in the United Kingdom : 56

The Orkney News will publish details of each of the elected MSPs for Orkney and the Highlands and Islands Region soon.

Fiona Grahame

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