The Scotland Act 1998 requires the Parliament to elect a Presiding Officer and two deputies at its first meeting. These elections, by secret ballot, are scheduled to take place from 2.30pm on Wednesday, May 12. It is possible the first business of the afternoon session will be oath or affirmation taking by any member who was unable to do so in the morning session.

Presiding Officer

The first election will be for Presiding Officer. Members will be able to submit nominations to the Clerk in the Chamber Office in Scottish Parliament Headquarters, George IV Bridge during the lunchtime adjournment between 12.30pm and 2.15pm only.

Nominees can only be nominated by members who have taken the oath or affirmation.

Ballot papers for the first round of the election for Presiding Officer will be printed between 2.15pm and 2.30pm. The election will start at 2.30pm with the oldest qualified member (defined as the oldest member who does not intend to stand as a candidate for Presiding Officer or First Minister and who is not a leader of a party with more than five members) resuming the chair and announcing the nominations.

Each member may collect a ballot paper from one of the clerks. Three voting booths and a ballot box will be situated in the Chamber for members to cast their votes.

After the voting has taken place, the ballot box will be emptied out and the ballot papers unfolded and counted by two counting clerks. Each candidate may appoint a member to act as scrutineer to oversee the count on his or her behalf.

Once the clerks counting the votes have recorded the result it will be announced by the oldest member. If a candidate wins more votes than the total number received by all other candidates and a quorum is achieved, i.e. the total number of votes cast is more than a quarter of the total number of seats in the Parliament, that candidate will be elected. Where there is only one candidate members will be asked to vote for or against that candidate or to abstain. A sole nominee will be elected if he or she obtains a simple majority in his or her favour and a quorum is achieved.

If there is no outright winner then successive rounds of voting will be held with the candidate receiving the fewest votes in each round being eliminated. This will continue until one candidate is left or until one candidate wins more votes than the total won by the other candidates. In each round new ballot papers will be printed and members will be invited to follow the same voting procedures as outlined above.

In the event of a tie at any stage there will be a brief adjournment before new ballot papers are printed and another vote taken.

Once a candidate is elected he or she will be invited by the oldest member to take the chair as Presiding Officer. The oldest member will return to his or her seat in the Chamber and the newly elected Presiding Officer will have the opportunity to address the Parliament to accept his or her election. He or she will then adjourn the sitting to enable nominations for the two deputy Presiding Officer positions to be submitted.

Members who wish to make nominations for the positions of Deputy Presiding Officers will be able to collect nomination papers from the clerk in the Presiding Officer’s office in the Assembly Hall only after the election for the Presiding Officer has been completed. The time period during which nominations can be collected and submitted will be announced by the newly elected Presiding Officer before the sitting is adjourned.

Nomination papers for the Deputy Presiding Officer posts must be signed by the nominee as well as the members who are nominating and seconding. Completed papers must be handed to one of the clerks in the Presiding Officer’s office.

The ballot papers for the first round of the first election for Deputy Presiding Officer are scheduled to be printed in the quarter hour following the close of nominations. When these have been placed in the Chamber the Presiding Officer will re-enter the Chamber. He or she does not have a vote or any casting vote in the elections for Deputy Presiding Officer.

The elections for the Deputy Presiding Officers will be conducted in the same way as the Presiding Officer election. There will be one nomination list for both posts and consecutive elections will be held for each deputy Presiding Officer position. All candidates for deputy Presiding Officer will be included on the ballot paper for the first election.

All except the candidate elected as a deputy Presiding Officer in the first election will then proceed to the second election unless the Presiding Officer and the first deputy elected represent the same political party. In that event any remaining candidates from that party will be excluded from the second election in accordance with Rule 11.9 of the Standing Orders of the Parliament.

The second election follows on immediately from the first. Once elected the Deputy Presiding Officers retain their seats in the Chamber. They do not have the opportunity to speak but the Presiding Officer may express the congratulations of the Parliament on their election.

NOTE FOR EDITORS

Media access to the Assembly Hall and press gallery will be limited on the opening sitting days of Parliament, with seats allocated by the media relations office on a pool/ballot basis.

Space is limited in the Assembly Hall and there will be a maximum of one previously-accredited reporter per newspaper / broadcast programme allocated a seat.

An ‘overspill’ facility for reporters will be provided in one of the large committee rooms in the nearby Committee Chambers building, with a large screen audio visual feed of proceedings.

If bona fide media wish to book a place in the overspill room, please call the number below or email a request to andrew.slorance@scottish.parliament.uk