The Scottish electoral system has delivered its most disproportional result yet

By John Curtice, Professor of Politics, University of Strathclyde and Senior Research Fellow, National Centre for Social Research

In the event, the SNP did not win the overall majority First Minister John Swinney sought in the 2026 Scottish election. However, between them the SNP and the Greens won 73 seats, 57% of all MSPs. It is the largest ever contingent of pro-independence MSPs at Holyrood.

Yet between them the two parties won just 41% of the regional list vote. The avowed aim of the parliament’s mixed-member proportional electoral system is to produce a distribution of seats proportional to each party’s share of the list…

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