At stake in this election:

• 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament (Pàrlamaid na h-Alba)

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: Queen ELIZABETH II
• Head of Government: First Minister Alexander Elliot Anderson SALMOND
• Assembly: Scotland (part of the United Kingdom) has a unicameral Scottish Parliament (Pàrlamaid na h-Alba) with 129 seats.

Description of electoral system:

• The Queen is the hereditary head of state.
• The First Minister is appointed by the monarch.
• In the Scottish Parliament (Pàrlamaid na h-Alba), 73 members are elected by plurality vote in single-member constituencies to serve 4-year terms and 56 members are elected through a closed-list proportional representation system to serve 4-year terms.***

*** Seats in the proportional tier are allocated using the d'Hondt method.

Main parties in the electoral race:

• Party: Scottish National Party (SNP) / Pàrtaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba;
  • Leader: Alexander Elliot Anderson SALMOND
  • Seats won in last election: 47
• Party: Scottish Labour Party / Pàrtaidh Làbarach na h-Alba
  • Leader: Iain GRAY
  • Seats won in last election: 46
• Party: Scottish Conservative Party / Pàrtaidh Tòraidheachd na h-Alba
  • Leader: Annabel GOLDIE
  • Seats won in last election: 16
• Party: Scottish Liberal Democrats / Libearal Deamocratach na h-Alba
  • Leader: Tavish SCOTT
  • Seats won in last election: 16
• Party: Scottish Green Party / Pàrtaidh Uaine na h-Alba
  • Leader: Eleanor SCOTT and Patrick HARVIE
  • Seats won in last election: 2

Population and number of registered voters:

• Population: 5,168,500 ( 2010 )
• Registered Voters: 3,950,626 (March 2011 )