PETER Murrell has hit out at the BBC's coverage of the Holyrood election.

The SNP chief executive said the broadcaster had left Tory politicians unchallenged, despite the fact votes for the Tories were down so far in the count.

He tweeted: "Weirdly opposition politicians unchallenged on @BBCScotlandNews claiming vote increases, and yet results say that their party votes actually down after 41 seats declared."

Out of the 48 constituency seats declared so far, the SNP have 39 seats, the Liberal Democrats four, Tories are in second-last place with two seats and Labour have one.

Opposition parties are expected to see their number of seats increase dramatically once the regional list results are finalised.

But the SNP are still on course for a record fourth term in Holyrood after winning target seats of Edinburgh central, Ayr and East Lothian from Labour and the Tories.

Sturgeon said that the SNP "appears to be on course for a fourth consecutive election victory and to be on course to have the privilege of forming a government again".

READ MORE: BBC under fire for cutting off election coverage with results still to be called

It comes as Beth Rigby, the Sky News political editor, was widely criticised for saying if there is not an outright SNP majority then independence cannot go ahead.

She tweeted: "There will still be a pro-independence majority (SNP + Green) but will come as huge relief for UK govt if SNP miss outright majority - politically helps efforts to argue against second independence referendum."

As she arrived at the election count at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow yesterday, the First Minister said a majority was always a “long shot” given the Scottish Parliament mixed electoral first past the post and proportional representation system.

But she later told the BBC that a pro-independence majority in Holyrood of SNP and Green MSPs was, as she had previously maintained, a "significant" mandate for a second independence referendum.

She said a majority was not guaranteed and came down to a “small number of votes in a small number of seats”.

Rigby was criticised for downplaying the Green vote.

Laurie Macfarlane, the editor of media platform Open Democracy, said: "If I was a Green I’d find this belittling from London pundits infuriating. Why are Green votes less “real” than SNP votes? Both are avowedly pro-indy parties, and the Scottish electoral system is literally designed to prevent majorities."

Daibhidh Rothach said: "This is fascinating. People can vote SNP 1 Green 2 as a democratic preference and to Beth it’s like they’ve just spoiled their ballot paper."

Ben Rosher added: "It really doesn’t and journalists shouldn’t be pushing this narrative. A pro-indy majority is a pro-indy majority. What’s more, it’s in a system designed to produce coalitions. Parties teaming up to pursue common policy goals is *how the Scottish system is supposed to work*"

Adam Dalgleish agreed, saying: "It really bothers me when the MSM views the Scottish Parliament through Westminster eyes. The voting system is designed to prevent outright majorities and a pro-independence majority (whether SNP or otherwise) is a mandate for #indyref2."