Today our Five things are all about The Scottish Parliamentary Election 2016
Where do you go to vote?
Today all campaigning ceases and voters across Scotland have their chance to vote.
If you need to know where to vote then have a look here and search with your postcode. You may vote from 7:00am till 10:00pm.
Reasons you might vote today
Who can you vote for?
If you don’t know who to vote for then this is the complete list of constituency candidates. Where we have interviewed the candidate there is a link to our article with more information about the individual candidate.
We put out various calls for the candidates to get in touch and be interviewed, but have not managed to interview all of them on camera.
Central
BETTSWORTH, Hannah (Scottish Liberal Democrats)
BOYACK, Sarah (Scottish Labour Party)
DAVIDSON, Ruth (Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party)
DICKIE, Alison (Scottish National Party (SNP))
JOHNSTONE, Alison (Scottish Green Party)
LAIRD, Tom (Scottish Libertarian Party)
Eastern
COOK, Nick (Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party)
DENHAM, Ash (Scottish National Party (SNP))
D’INVERNO, Cospatric (Scottish Liberal Democrats)
DUGDALE, Kezia (Scottish Labour Party)
Northern and Leith
CALDWELL, Jack (Independent)
HINDS, Lesley (Scottish Labour Party)
MACPHERSON, Ben (Scottish National Party (SNP))
MCGILL, Iain (Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party)
VEART, Martin (Scottish Liberal Democrats)
Pentlands
FARTHING-SYKES, Emma (Scottish Liberal Democrats)
HEARY, Blair (Scottish Labour Party)
LINDHURST, Gordon (Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party)
MACDONALD, Gordon (Scottish National Party (SNP))
Southern
BRIGGS, Miles (Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party)
EADIE, Jim (Scottish National Party (SNP))
JOHNSON, Daniel (Scottish Labour Party)
SUBBARAMAN, Pramod (Scottish Liberal Democrats)
Western
BATHO, Sandy (Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party)
COLE-HAMILTON, Alex (Scottish Liberal Democrats)
GIUGLIANO, Toni (Scottish National Party (SNP))
HEADLEY, Cat (Scottish Labour Party)
There are also what is known as list candidates. These are elected on a proportional representation basis from the second vote on your ballot paper which is just for a party. These are the parties who have candidates:
Lothian Region
RISE – Respect, Independence, Socialism and Environmentalism
Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Scottish Green Party
Scottish Labour Party
Scottish Liberal Democrats
Scottish National Party (SNP)
Scottish Women’s Equality Party
Solidarity – Scotland’s Socialist Movement
UK Independence Party (UKIP)
When will you hear about the results?
We will be at the count tonight. The Edinburgh count results will come from the Royal Highland Centre at Ingliston. If you are curious as to what is happening or would like to keep up with events then do tune in to our live blog here.
We will be tweeting short interviews with all the candidates we can find in the counting hall, sending out audio interviews here and sending you all the up to date news as and when it happens.
The Chief Executive of the City of Edinburgh Council, Andrew Kerr, will be officiating at proceedings tonight as he is also the Chief Returning Officer. He has to oversee all proceedings to ensure that the election is fairly and properly conducted. We hope to speak to him during the count too.
What happens next at Holyrood?
The first meeting of the fifth session of Holyrood will take place next Thursday 12 May 2016, and all MSPs will be sworn in then.
You can watch the whole proceedings from the Scottish Parliament on Parliament TV.
A new Presiding Officer will be appointed as Tricia Marwick MSP stood down in March.
Her Majesty the Queen will visit the parliament on 2 July to address MSPs.
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