By Dani Onyewuenyi 

On May 7 2026, millions of people in Scotland will take themselves to the polling station to elect 129 Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs). 

Polling takes place between 7.00am and 10.00pm and the constituency results are expected to be announced on Friday May 8 2026. 

General elections to elect MSPs to the Parliament are held every five years, as provided for in the Scottish Elections (Reform) Act 2020. In the run-up to an election, the parliament is dissolved for about five weeks to allow for campaigning to happen. During this period, MSPs stop being Members of the Scottish Parliament.  

Under the Additional Member System (AMS) that the Scottish Parliament uses, it allows those who are eligible to vote (the electors) the option of two separate votes in the form of a constituency MSP vote and a regional MSP one.  

73 of the 129 MSPs are constituency members who are elected through the First Past the Post system (FPTP). The remaining 56 members are regional members who are elected using the party list system.  

What does that mean?  

That means that as an individual you have eight different people that represent you and should reflect and amplify your voice in Parliament. One of the eight MSPs would be your constituency MSP who represents your local area. For Dundee City West, that would be Joe Fitzpatrick MSP and the remaining seven would be your regional MSPs (Northeast Scotland) one of which is Maggie Chapman MSP, our current rector.  

2026 will be the first year where the elections will be held with the newly changed constituency boundaries, which will be interesting to see how it will affect the way the seats are allocated to political parties or independent members.  

In Scotland we use a residents-based voting system which means that to be able to vote you must be:  

  • A UK or Irish citizen, or  
  • A qualifying Commonwealth citizen living in the UK,  
  • A qualifying foreign national who is living in Scotland and has permission to enter or stay in the UK, or who does not need such permission, including EU citizens 

To register, you must be 14 years of age (however you cannot vote until 16) and as students it is worth noting that if you spend time between a home address and a term time address, you may be able to apply to register to vote at either address.  

It is important to remember that even if you consider this simply your “university city”, you still deserve a voice in Scottish politics. Thus, I encourage everyone to take themselves to the polling stations to fulfil their suffrage.