Scottish Parliament

The Scottish Parliament is made up of 129 MSPs (Members of the Scottish Parliament). Like the UK Parliament, the Scottish Parliament passes laws. It also scrutinises the work and policies of the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government is formed from the party or parties holding a majority of seats in the Parliament. The members of the Executive are collectively referred to as 'the Scottish Ministers'. All Ministers are MSPs. This means that they are part of two separate organisations: the Scottish Government (Ministers) and the Scottish Parliament (MSPs).

The voting system used by the Scottish Parliament is known as the Additional Member System (AMS). AMS is a type of proportional representation. This means that the share of seats each party receives reflects its level of support among voters.

At a Scottish Parliament election each voter has 2 votes. With the first vote, voters choose between candidates standing in their constituency. The candidate winning the largest number of votes will gain the seat. There are a total of 73 constituency MSPs.

The second vote is for a political party, or for a candidate standing as an individual, within a larger electoral area called a Scottish Parliament Region. There are 8 Scottish Parliament Regions. Each region has 7 additional seats in the Parliament. Within each region, parties are allocated additional seats dependent upon the number of constituency seats it won. The members chosen to fill these 56 additional seats are known as 'regional members'.

Each voter will have one constituency MSP and 7 regional MSPs. All MSPs have equal status in the Parliament.

South Ayrshire boundaries are in 2 constituencies: Ayr Constituency and Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley.