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Scotland

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Scotland

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Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) (Ball Pàrlamaid na h-Alba (BPA) in Gaelic) is the title given to any one of the 129 individuals elected to serve in the Scottish Parliament.

Methods of Election[link]

MSPs are elected in one of two ways:

1. First past the post constituency MSPs or;
2. Regional additional-member MSPs

Number of Members Elected[link]

73 are elected as constituency MSPs and 56 are elected as additional members, seven from each of eight regional groups of constituencies. This additional member system produces a form of proportional representation for each region.

Elections[link]

All MSP positions become simultaneously vacant for elections held on a four year cycle. If a vacancy arises at another time, due to death or resignation, then it may be filled in one of two ways, depending of whether the vacancy is for a first-past-the-post constituency MSP or for an additional-member MSP.

A constituency vacancy may be filled by a by-election. An additional-member vacancy may be filled by the next available candidate on the relevant party list.

Title[link]

An MSP is known as Name MSP (Name BPA in Gaelic). For instance, Alex Salmond can be entitled either Alex Salmond MSP or Ailig Salmond BPA.

See also[link]

• Members elected to the 1st Scottish Parliament
• Members elected to the 2nd Scottish Parliament
• Members elected to the 3rd Scottish Parliament
• Members elected to the 4th Scottish Parliament
• Scottish Parliament constituencies and regions
• MSPs' Salaries, Expenses and Allowances
• Member of the Legislative Assembly (Northern Ireland)
• Member of the National Assembly for Wales

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John Finnie (born 31 December 1956) is a Scottish National Party Member of the Scottish Parliament, representing the Highlands and Islands region.^[1]

References[link]

Jean Urquhart is a Scottish National Party member of the Scottish Parliament, elected in 2011 for the Highlands and Islands (Scottish Parliament electoral region).^[1]

References[link]

This article about a member of the Scottish Parliament is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Shirley-Anne Somerville (born 2 September 1974) was a Scottish politician and SNP MSP for the Lothians region from 2007 to 2011.

Early life[link]

Somerville was born on 2 September 1974 in Kirkcaldy^[1] and attended Kirkcaldy High School, followed by the University of Strathclyde, where she took a B.A. (Hons.) in Economics and Politics (1996), the University of Stirling, where she took a Diploma in Housing Studies (1999), and Queen Margaret University College, where she took a Diploma in Public Relations. She worked as a parliamentary researcher for Duncan Hamilton MSP from 1999–2001, then as a Policy and Public Affairs Officer at the Chartered Institute of Housing from 2001 to 2004, and as a Media and Campaigns Officer at the Royal College of Nursing from 2004 to 2007.^[2]

Scottish Parliament[link]

Somerville had stood as the SNP's candidate for Kirkcaldy at the 2001 UK general election, where she came in 2nd place with 22.2% of the vote, and for the Edinburgh Central constituency in the 2007 Scottish Parliament election, where she came in 3rd place with 25.5% of the vote. On 31 August 2007, Stefan Tymkewycz resigned his seat in the Scottish Parliament representing the Lothians region in order to concentrate on serving as a City of Edinburgh councillor,^[3] and Somerville was selected to succeed him.

Somerville has spoken in favour of the legalisation of Same-sex marriage in Scotland before the Public Petitions Committee,^[4] stating that "Civil partnerships have been a positive step forward from what we had in the past, but there still remains an inequality in the law."^[5]

See also[link]

• Government of the 3rd Scottish Parliament

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website