Eight candidates confirmed as countdown to Scottish Parliament election begins
THERE were no further surprise nominations for candidates contesting the 7 May Scottish election after nominations closed this afternoon (Wednesday).
A total of eight candidates from the Greens on the left to Reform UK on the right have put their name forward to become Shetland’s next MSP.
The final candidate to enter the fray on Monday was Walls man Peter Tait who, as an independent, stands on a ticket to move the monarchy to Scotland.
The isles’ representative at Holyrood for the last five years, Beatrice Wishart, is retiring and not standing again.
The candidates are, in alphabetical order as follows:
- Alex Armitage, Scottish Greens
- Douglas Barnett, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Vic Currie, Reform UK
- John Erskine, Scottish Labour Party
- Hannah Mary Goodlad, Scottish National Party
- Emma Macdonald, Scottish Liberal Democrats
- Brian Nugent, Alliance to Liberate Scotland or Sovereignty
- Peter Tait, Independent.
People need to be registered to vote to be able to participate in the election on 7 May when polling stations will be open between 7am and 10pm.
People not registered to vote can do so by Monday 20 April at the local electoral registration office or via this link.
The system used to elect the 129 members of the Scottish Parliament is known as the additional members system, which is different from the way the UK parliament is elected.
There are 73 constituency MSPs and 56 list MSPs, representing eight different regions including seven MSPs that will be elected for the Highlands and Islands area.
The additional members system results in a parliament that reflects more proportionally the will of the electorate. It is often said that the system has been designed to allow no party to win an absolute majority.
On 7 May, or earlier if people have chosen to cast their vote by post (deadline is 21 April), voters are asked to make one cross each on two ballot papers.
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On the constituency ballot paper people are asked to decide on the candidates standing in the Shetland constituency, while on the regional ballot papers voters are asked to make a cross next to the party they favour.
The details of names on the 16 party lists can be found here.
Shetland News has just published its election pages where all the candidates have been given the opportunity to introduce themselves and set out their stall. This will be updated as more contributions come in.
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