The Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee will conclude its work in March 2026 ahead of the next Scottish Parliament election. While it will continue to meet, the Committee has agreed it will not consider petitions submitted after 10 October. This is to ensure all petitions currently in the system can be considered before the next Scottish Parliament election. It is also unlikely that the Committee would be able to schedule and meaningfully progress petitions submitted after 10 October before the election. Contact the Committee team at petitions.committee@parliament.scot for more information about the petitions process.
If you are seeking emergency action or an urgent policy change please contact one of your 8 MSPs or the Scottish Government directly
Closed petition PE1901: Replace the voting system for the Scottish Parliament with a more proportional alternative
Calling on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to replace the broadly proportional Additional Member System used for electing MSPs with a more proportional alternative.
Previous action taken
I have raised the issue with my Lothian MSPs when I previously lived in Scotland and have since contacted new Lothian MSPs in Session 6 upon return to Scotland.
On contacting MSPs in session five, I received mixed responses although not everyone replied. Labour MSPs seemed potentially open to the idea. One Conservative MSP seemed open to some sort of reform while the other disagreed with any change at all. Green MSPs supported reform. I have also written about the issue in the media notably for Politics.co.uk in the run up to the 2021 election.
Background information
The Additional Member System results in more representative parliaments than First Past The Post used in Westminster but it is not fully proportional. In my view, it is flawed as it doesn’t guarantee proportionality, hands power to parties and creates two classes of MSPs. It also limits voter choice through closed lists and can be exploited by decoy parties.
Alternatives such as the Single Transferable Vote (STV) or Open List PR with levelling seats, would empower voters and lead to more representative parliaments
Link about the Additional Member System:
https://www.electoral-reform.org.uk/voting-systems/types-of-voting-system/additional-member-system/
Link about the Single Transferable Vote:
https://www.electoral-reform.org.uk/voting-systems/types-of-voting-system/single-transferable-vote/
Link about Open List PR:
https://ballotbox.scot/ballot-box-briefing-2-scandinavian-style-proportional-representation
This petition was considered by the Scottish Parliament
50 signatures