Scotland's political parties are awaiting the results of elections to the European Parliament.
Voting took place on Thursday but results will not be announced until after polls close in other European Union member states at 22:00 BST.
There are six MEP seats in Scotland up for grabs, out of 73 across the UK.
The last European election, in 2009, saw the SNP win the largest share of the vote in Scotland for the first time, beating Labour into second place.
However, the full Scottish result will not be known until noon on Monday, as the Western Isles declines to count its votes on a Sunday.
- You can follow all the latest news, reaction and results on bbc.co.uk/vote2014, as well as the latest from the Scottish count, in Edinburgh.
The last Euro election, which came two years after the SNP's 2007 Scottish Parliament election win, saw the party take 29.1% of the vote - a 10 point increase from the 2004 election - ahead of Labour's 20.8%. The Tories took 16.8% and the Lib Dems, 11.5%.
The result saw the SNP and Labour return two MEPs each, with one each for the Tories and Liberal Democrats.
Keen as ever, I have arrived at the city chambers in Edinburgh to prepare for tonight's European elections declaration. Or rather partial declaration.
We will not get the full and final result for Scotland until noon tomorrow. That is because, as in the past, the Western Isles declines to count its votes on a Sunday.
To clarify further, the Scotland and indeed UK count is today so that it does not pre-empt elections elsewhere in the EU which are commonly held on a Sunday.
If you voted in Scotland, you did so on Thursday.
Been a big day in Edinburgh today. The marathon, punctuated both by sunshine and thundering rain. Plus the play-off for relegation and promotion between Scotland's two top football divisions.
Here at the city chambers, you can easily spot the Hibs fans among the staff.
In the 2014 election, the Scottish Greens are hoping to capitalise on what they predicted would be a falling Liberal Democrat vote north of the border, to win their first MEP seat.
UKIP has also been campaigning in Scotland.
Ahead of the independence referendum, on 18 September, the SNP said a vote for the party was "a vote for Scotland", while Labour said it was the party of influence in Brussels.
The Conservatives have backed EU reform, while the Liberal Democrats said they were making a positive case for Britain in the EU.
The European Parliament's powers have expanded since the last election, and the 751 MEPs now negotiate legislation with national government ministers, before parliament votes on the laws.
They also have a say on budget areas, including agriculture and regional aid.
European Parliament seats are allocated in proportion to each country's population.
Britain is one of eight countries to use a "closed list" system where people vote for a party, rather than an individual, with seats allocated within each European constituency using the D'hondt system, a form of proportional representation.
The new intake of MEPs will be representing 500 million citizens in 28 states.
Scots parties await Euro results
Put the internet to work for you.

0 comments:
Post a Comment