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Roundup: Preparations underway for Scottish parliamentary election

Xinhua, May 5, 2016 Adjust font size:

Preparations are underway for the Scottish parliament election as ballot boxes to be used for voting were picked up by van from storage for delivery to Edinburgh's polling places on Wednesday.

A total of 356 boxes were collected and sent to the city's 145 polling places, while more than 1,000 people have been employed as polling staff for the ballot on Thursday, and a further 1,200 will work at the count on Thursday night in Edinburgh.

Meanwhile, Scottish First Minister and Scottish National Party (SNP) leader Nicola Sturgeon appealed in Glasgow for Scots to "come together" and elect a government in her final speech before Thursday's election.

The SNP are projected to win an even greater majority of the total 129 seats in Scottish parliament in the election than the 69 seats they won in 2011.

Winning the Scottish parliamentary election in 2007 for the first time, the SNP formed its first majority government in the region after the 2011 parliamentary election.

The Scottish Conservatives are likely to overtake the Scottish Labours to become the second largest party in the Scottish parliament in its fifth election since the parliament was established in 1999, local media reported.

It will be the first parliamentary election in Scotland in which 16 and 17 year olds will be able to vote, under the provisions of the Scottish Elections (Reduction of Voting Age) Act.

Scotland will use the Additional Member System to elect its 129 members of Scottish parliament (MSPs), which is made up of two elements: a constituency vote and a regional vote. Each voter has two votes to use, with 129 MSPs to be appointed by the end of the election.

The constituency vote is where the voter chooses their preferred candidate for their constituency. Each candidate for all 73 constituencies in Scotland are elected by a simple majority system known as first-past-the-post (FPTP). The candidate with the highest amount of votes wins, with all other votes counting for nothing.

The regional vote is the second vote, used to elect an "additional" member to the system. Scotland is divided into eight regions, with seven candidates elected from each. Each eligible voter in Scotland is therefore represented by one constituency and seven regional MSPs after the election.

The other local elections in Britain also start on Thursday, including a combined Police and Crime Commissioner and local government election in England, Greater London Authority elections, polls for National Assembly for Wales combined with the Police and Crime Commissioner election, Northern Ireland Assembly and local government elections, according to the Electoral Commission in Britain. Enditem