Ballot boxes will be opened across the country from 9am with the first results anticipated around 12pm
07:27, 08 May 2026Updated 07:31, 08 May 2026
Edinburgh results will begin to trickle in throughout May 8
Millions of votes will be counted this morning, May 8, with the final result of the 2026 Scottish Parliament election set to be declared later today.
Edinburgh polling stations closed at 10pm last night with official counts set to begin from 9am. The first declarations are expected by noon with a final result expected to be confirmed later this evening.
Capital residents should have a clear idea of who has won the election by late afternoon once a seat declarations trickle in throughout the day, reports the Daily Record.
A total of 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament are up for grabs, with voters electing 73 constituency representatives and a further 56 MSPs via eight regional lists.
Unlike previous elections – other than 2021 because of the Covid-19 pandemic – votes will be counted on Friday rather than overnight, with the final result likely to be known by late Friday evening.
Campaigners have spent the past six weeks traversing the country in the hopes of winning the keys to Bute House.
John Swinney’s SNP has led the polls throughout the campaign.
He has told voters a majority for his party – a rarity in the Holyrood voting system – will allow him to put more pressure on Westminster to grant a second referendum on independence.
SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn – who is a candidate for Holyrood – also said the ballot offers people the prosect of the “fresh start of independence”.
Flynn said: “The increasingly unaffordable cost of living in the UK has defined this election. Brexit Britain is broken – and Scotland is trapped in a never-ending cycle of soaring bills and constant chaos under Westminster control.
“The fresh start of independence is the opportunity Scotland can’t afford to miss.”
One of the unknowns ahead of Friday’s results is the fate of Reform UK.
The party has been polling well for the first time at Holyrood and looks poised to win at least a dozen seats, with one of the key battles being between Lord Offord’s party and Labour for second place.
Sarwar however has insisted the polls – some of which put Labour in third place – were wrong and his party will defy the pollsters and pundits on Thursday, but it is a far cry from the success Labour experienced at the 2024 general election in Scotland.
The Scottish Labour leader cut ties with Prime Minister Keir Starmer in February, calling for him to stand down in the wake of the Peter Mandelson scandal, severing an alliance which had held since the two took over their respective parties north and south of the border.
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