Due to the Covid-19 pandemic and restrictions put in place to keep electoral staff and everyone else attending the counts safe, things are going to look a little different this year. 

The National have picked out the key declaration times and seats to look out for, and expect in-depth coverage from our reporters who will be on the ground in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen. 

How will the election count work this year?

In pre-covid times election counts would begin at 10pm after the polls closed, with votes being counted through the night and results being declared as they came in. However, with heavy restrictions and social distancing in place due to the coronavirus pandemic, counting votes won’t begin until 9am (today) on Friday May 7 with some seats declared at different times throughout the day.

The count will then stop around 6pm and resume at 9am on Saturday, with more seats declared and the regional list expected by around 7pm that evening. We should know the full make-up of the next parliament by Saturday night, and crucially whether there is a majority of pro-independence MSPs elected to the chamber. 

Will there be an exit poll?

The short answer, no. An exit poll requires a random poll of voters taken immediately after they have exited polling stations, and are usually carried out by pollsters, commissioned by broadcasters such as the BBC and STV, to get an early indication of how each party has performed before the official result is certified. But this year, none of the major UK broadcasters are running an exit poll due to safety concerns around the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Which constituency seats will be declared when?

In the Scottish Parliament election there are 73 first-past-the-post constituencies (FPTP). A total of 46 FPTP seats are expected to count during the day on Friday (today) with some results due at lunchtime and others peaking in the evening. Roughly these seats are expected to be declared on Friday: 

12pm - Airdrie and Shotts, Coatbridge & Chryston, Clydebank & Milngavie

1pm - Aberdeen Donside, Banffshire and Buchan Coast, Cowdenbeath, Kirkcaldy.

3.30pm - Angus North and Mearns

4pm - Cunninghame North, Cunninghame South, Dumbarton, Dundee City West, East Lothian, Eastwood, North East Fife, Ayr.

5pm - Kilmarnock & Irvine Valley, Argyll and Bute

5.30pm - Linlithgow, Midlothian North & Musselburgh

6pm - Motherwell & Wishaw, Na h-Eileanan an Iar, Orkney Islands, Paisley, Clackmannanshire & Dunblane, Aberdeen Central and Aberdeenshire East. 

6.30pm - Edinburgh Central, Edinburgh Southern, Edinburgh Western, Ettrick, Roxburgh & Berwickshire

7pm - Glasgow Anniesland, Glasgow Maryhill & Springburn, Glasgow Pollock, Glasgow Southside, Greenock & Inverclyde, Hamilton, Larkhall & Stonehouse, Inverness and Nairn. 

Expected to declare evening Friday but time unknown:

Falkirk East, Moray, Perthshire North, Renfrewshire North & West, Rutherglen, Shetland Islands, Stirling, and Strathkelvin & Bearsden.

And on Saturday, the final 27 FPTP constituency seats will be declared throughout the day: 

1pm - Clydesdale, Cumbernauld & Kilsyth, Dumfriesshire, Dundee City East, Dunfermline, East Kilbride, Edinburgh Eastern, Edinburgh Northern & Leith, Edinburgh Pentlands, Falkirk West, and Mid Fife & Glenrothes

3pm -  Perthshire South & Kinross-shire, and Renfrewshire South

5pm -  Aberdeen South & North Kincardine, Aberdeenshire West, Almond Valley, Angus South, Caithness, Sutherland & Ross, and Carrick, Cumnock & Doon Valley

6.30pm - Glasgow Cathcart, Glasgow Kelvin, Glasgow Provan, Glasgow Shettleston, Midlothian South, and Tweeddale & Lauderdale 

Expected to declare Saturday but time unknown: Galloway & West Dumfries, Skye, Lochaber & Badenoch, and Uddingston & Bellshill

When will the regional list be declared?

The regional list elects 56 proportional representation seats chosen from eight regional lists; Central Scotland, Glasgow, Highlands and Islands, Lothian, Mid Scotland and Fife, North East Scotland, South Scotland and West Scotland. However, as regional list MSPs can only be elected once the constituency seats have been officially decided and declared, we will have to wait until Saturday evening to find out the full results. This will be around 6pm or 7pm depending on the region. 

What are the seats to watch?

Firstly, all eyes will be on how many constituency seats the SNP take as they need 65 seats combined from the constituency and list to form a majority government. In the last election in 2016 they won 59 constituency seats and 4 regional seats, giving them a total of 63, down from 69 seats (53 constituency, 16 list) in the 2011 election. 

The National previously picked out 10 key battlegrounds that could be key to the SNP getting a vital majority, these include Dumbarton where Toni Giugliano is up against incumbent Jackie Baillie only won by 109 votes in 2016, Ayr where the SNP’s Siobhan Brown is taking on the longest-serving Tory MSP John Scott, Eastwood where Colm Merrick is taking on former Tory leader Jackson Carlaw and Edinburgh Central, where Angus Robertson is bidding to take Ruth Davidson’s former seat as she heads off to the House of Lords.

READ MORE: The top 10 battleground constituencies to watch

In Glasgow, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is up against Labour leader Anas Sarwar in Southside, where she won comfortably with a majority of over 9500. It is the first time two major party leaders have stood in the same seat in British political history, and is an area with a large number of ethnic minority voters and Sarwar is the first Muslim leader of a major UK party.

On the regional list, it will be interesting to see if either or both Roza Salih of the SNP or Scottish Greens candidate Nadia Kanyange will become the first former refugees to become elected parliamentarians in the whole of the UK.  

For the Greens, Glasgow Kelvin will be the one to watch with Patrick Harvie gunning for the party’s first constituency seat, and recent polls have said the party are expected to increase their number of regional seats to nine or ten. 

And of course, on the North East regional list we’ll find out on Saturday if Alex Salmond will be making a return to the Scottish parliament or not with the Alba Party. As they have four candidates standing in each list, it will also be interesting to see how many seats the party gets in total, and if the SNP and Greens also gain more seats will we have that crucial supermajority for independence and an unshakeable mandate to hold a second referendum?

What happens next?

Once all of the constituency and list MSPs have been confirmed, Parliament will reconvene on Monday, May 10 and the new parliamentarians will be registered. Wednesday, May 13 will be the first sitting day of the parliament, with MSPs taking their oaths and affirmations, before the chamber will nominate and vote on the presiding officer who will serve for the five-year parliamentary term.