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Scottish Parliament constituencies and regions were first used in 1999, in the first general election of the Scottish Parliament
Scottish Parliament

The Scottish Parliament is the Devolution national, Unicameralism legislature of Scotland, located in the Holyrood, Edinburgh area of the capital Edinburgh....
 (Holyrood
Scottish Parliament Building

The Scottish Parliament Building is the home of the Scotland Scottish Parliament at Holyrood, Edinburgh, within the World Heritage Site in central Edinburgh....
), created by the Scotland Act 1998
Scotland Act 1998

The Scotland Act 1998 is an Act of Parliament of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It is the Act which established the devolved Scottish Parliament....
.

The parliament has 73 constituencies
United Kingdom constituencies

In the United Kingdom , each of the electoral areas or divisions called constituencies elects one or more members to a parliament or assembly....
, each electing one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP)
Member of the Scottish Parliament

Member of the Scottish Parliament is the title given to any one of the 129 individuals elected to serve in the Scottish Parliament....
 by the plurality
Plurality

In voting, a plurality is the largest number of Voting to be received by any candidate or proposition when three or more choices are possible. With only two choices the winner would have a majority, barring a strong showing from a write-in....
 (first past the post) system of election, and eight additional member
Mixed member proportional representation

Mixed member proportional representation, also termed mixed-member proportional voting and commonly abbreviated to MMP, is an 'additional member system' voting system used to elect Legislator to numerous legislatures around the world....
 regions, each electing seven additional MSPs.

Each region is a group of constituencies, and the D'Hondt method
D'Hondt method

The D'Hondt method is a highest averages method for allocating seats in party-list proportional representation. The method is named after Belgium mathematician Victor D'Hondt....
 of allocating additional member seats from party
Political party

A political party is a political organization that seeks to attain and maintain politics power within government, usually by participating in electoral campaigns....
 lists is used to produce a form of proportional representation
Proportional representation

Proportional representation , sometimes referred to as full representation, is a category of voting systems aimed at a close match between the percentage of votes that groups of candidates obtain in elections and the percentage of seats they receive ....
 for each region.

The total number of parliamentary seats is 129.






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Scottish Parliament constituencies and regions were first used in 1999, in the first general election of the Scottish Parliament
Scottish Parliament

The Scottish Parliament is the Devolution national, Unicameralism legislature of Scotland, located in the Holyrood, Edinburgh area of the capital Edinburgh....
 (Holyrood
Scottish Parliament Building

The Scottish Parliament Building is the home of the Scotland Scottish Parliament at Holyrood, Edinburgh, within the World Heritage Site in central Edinburgh....
), created by the Scotland Act 1998
Scotland Act 1998

The Scotland Act 1998 is an Act of Parliament of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It is the Act which established the devolved Scottish Parliament....
.

The parliament has 73 constituencies
United Kingdom constituencies

In the United Kingdom , each of the electoral areas or divisions called constituencies elects one or more members to a parliament or assembly....
, each electing one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP)
Member of the Scottish Parliament

Member of the Scottish Parliament is the title given to any one of the 129 individuals elected to serve in the Scottish Parliament....
 by the plurality
Plurality

In voting, a plurality is the largest number of Voting to be received by any candidate or proposition when three or more choices are possible. With only two choices the winner would have a majority, barring a strong showing from a write-in....
 (first past the post) system of election, and eight additional member
Mixed member proportional representation

Mixed member proportional representation, also termed mixed-member proportional voting and commonly abbreviated to MMP, is an 'additional member system' voting system used to elect Legislator to numerous legislatures around the world....
 regions, each electing seven additional MSPs.

Each region is a group of constituencies, and the D'Hondt method
D'Hondt method

The D'Hondt method is a highest averages method for allocating seats in party-list proportional representation. The method is named after Belgium mathematician Victor D'Hondt....
 of allocating additional member seats from party
Political party

A political party is a political organization that seeks to attain and maintain politics power within government, usually by participating in electoral campaigns....
 lists is used to produce a form of proportional representation
Proportional representation

Proportional representation , sometimes referred to as full representation, is a category of voting systems aimed at a close match between the percentage of votes that groups of candidates obtain in elections and the percentage of seats they receive ....
 for each region.

The total number of parliamentary seats is 129. For lists of MSPs, see Member of the Scottish Parliament
Member of the Scottish Parliament

Member of the Scottish Parliament is the title given to any one of the 129 individuals elected to serve in the Scottish Parliament....
.

Boundaries of Holyrood and British House of Commons
British House of Commons

The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the British monarchy and the House of Lords ....
 (Westminster
Palace of Westminster

The Palace of Westminster, also known as the Houses of Parliament or Westminster Palace, in London, is where the two Houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom meet....
) constituencies are subject to review by the Boundary Commission for Scotland, and prior to the Scottish Parliament (Constituencies) Act 2004
Scottish Parliament (Constituencies) Act 2004

The Scottish Parliament Act 2004 is an Act of Parliament of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that amends the Scotland Act 1998 which established the Scottish Parliament....
 reviews of Scottish Westminster constituencies
Scottish Westminster constituencies

Scottish Westminster constituencies were Scotland constituencies of the British House of Commons of the Parliament of Great Britain, normally at the Palace of Westminster, from 1708 to 1801, and have been constituencies of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, also at Westminster, since 1801....
 would have been also reviews of Holyrood constituencies.

The Arbuthnott Commission
Arbuthnott Commission

The Arbuthnott Commission on Boundary Differences and Voting Systems was set up in July 2004 by Alistair Darling, then Secretary of State for Scotland, under the chairmanship of John Peebles Arbuthnott, to examine various consequences of having four different Voting systems in Scotland, and different boundaries for United Kingdom constituenci...
, in its final report, January 2006, recommended that council area boundaries and Holyrood and Scottish Westminster constituency boundaries should all be reviewed together. This recommendation has not been implemented.

Boundaries


1999 to 2011


Until the 2005 United Kingdom general election
United Kingdom general election, 2005

The United Kingdom general election of 2005 was held on Thursday, 5 May 2005 to elect members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party under Tony Blair won its third consecutive victory, with a reduced Majority government of 66....
 the first past the post constituencies were the same as for the House of Commons
British House of Commons

The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the British monarchy and the House of Lords ....
 (United Kingdom Parliament, Westminster), except for Orkney
Orkney (Scottish Parliament constituency)

Orkney is a united Kingdom constituencies of the Scottish Parliament . It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament by the first past the post method of election....
 and Shetland
Shetland (Scottish Parliament constituency)

Shetland is a United Kingdom constituencies of the Scottish Parliament . It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament by the first past the post method of election....
, which were separate constituencies at Holyrood, but not at Westminster. The Scottish Parliament (Constituencies) Act 2004
Scottish Parliament (Constituencies) Act 2004

The Scottish Parliament Act 2004 is an Act of Parliament of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that amends the Scotland Act 1998 which established the Scottish Parliament....
 enabled a new set of House of Commons constituencies to be formed in Scotland in 2005, reducing their number and, therefore, the number of Scottish Members of Parliament (MPs)
Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament, or MP, is a representative of the voters to a parliament. In many countries the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a unique title, such as senate, and thus also have unique titles for its members, such as senators....
 to 59, without change to the Holyrood constituencies and the number of MSPs.

1999 boundaries were used also for the 2003 and 2007 elections.

From 2011


The first periodical review of boundaries of Scottish Parliament constituencies]] is now in progress, as announced on 3 July 2007, and the commission's final recommendations are expected to be implemented for the 2011 Scottish Parliament election.

Total numbers of constituencies, regions, and MSPs will remain at, respectively, 73, 8, and 129.