Phil Sim
Scotland political correspondent

There has been lots of talk of turnout in the Scottish Parliament election.

In the last election turnout hit a record high, but most projections have us heading for the kind of figures we saw during the 2000s - low to mid 50s.2021 - 63.2%2016 - 55.6%2011 - 50.4%2007 - 52.4%2003 - 49.4%1999 - 59.1%We have a record 4.2 million people registered to vote in this election, but perhaps significantly postal vote registration is down - from 1 million postal voters, 24% of the electorate in 2024 general election (following a similar figure in 2021), to 850,000 and just under 20% of the electorate this time round.

Postal voters are very reliable in terms of turnout - 87% last time - so there being fewer of them again points to lower participation.The worst turnout I can find for an individual seat at Holyrood is 33.4% for Glasgow Shettleston in 2007. To be honest I doubt we're going to plumb those depths but worth keeping in mind.

Yana Thandrayen

Vote counting has started in Edinburgh at the Highland Hall.

Six Edinburgh constituencies and seven list places will be declared here, the boundaries have been substantially redrawn since the last Scottish Parliamentary election due more people living in the area.

The capital’s population has increased by 10% in the last ten years to 530,000 according to the city council. Edinburgh Eastern, Musselburgh and Tranent which covers two council areas is being counted in East Lothian.

A key seat to watch out for is Edinburgh Central where the SNP’s Angus Robertson is facing a challenge from both the Greens and Labour.

Laura Maxwell
BBC Scotland

The boxes are open and ballots are being counted.

Health Secretary Neil Gray, who has held Airdrie since 2021, is standing again. He’s at the count bright and early.

Airdrie is expected to be one of the first seats in Scotland to declare.

We've got reporters at counts across the country - including in the north east where we'll be keeping an eye on the SNP's Stephen Flynn.

You might be asking yourself, isn't Stephen Flynn already elected?

And yes, you'd be right. He is already the MP for Aberdeen South and the SNP's Westminster leader- and his decision to stand as an MSP caused some controversy.

Ahead of the 2021 election, the SNP changed its rules to require MPs to resign before standing for Holyrood, and Holyrood has since legislated to ban dual mandates from 2026.

Despite this, Flynn had originally said he would seek a dual mandate, to keep both his MP and MSP roles which led to some political opponents accusing him of "hypocrisy". He later said he'd "got it wrong".

So if Flynn is elected to the Scottish Parliament today, he will resign his seat as an MP which will trigger a by-election and an SNP Westminster leadership contest.

Former Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross used to have a dual mandate. John Swinney and Alex Salmond also held a dual mandates in the early days of devolution.

Ballot boxes are open, the papers are flowing and counting is under way across Scotland.

The first declarations are expected at around lunchtime and the hope is that all results will be known by this evening.

Here is the scene at the count in Shetland.

Lorna Gordon
BBC News Scotland correspondent

Officials in Glasgow say there were four suspected cases of impersonation over the course of yesterday’s voting.

Police investigations will follow to see if any crimes have been committed, but this means that once counting is underway senior officials will extract the relevant ballot papers to be given to police as potential evidence.

Three of the suspected cases were in the Glasgow Southside constituency, one was in the Easterhouse and Springburn constituency.

Cases of voter impersonation have, we are told, happened at previous elections.

Officials here say they usually turn out to be genuine mistakes where someone for instance forgot they had registered for a proxy vote to allow someone to vote of their behalf. But they added that all cases have to be investigated.

Andrew Kerr
BBC Scotland political correspondent

We were in the Aberdeen count early for our breakfast radio hits - it was almost eerie seeing all the ballot boxes carefully lined up in the deserted counting hall.

The story of the north-east election results is locked inside them for now - and we've got some good stories to tell.

As the BBC marks David Attenborough's 100th birthday, our cameras will be tracking a big political beast - the SNP's Westminster leader, Stephen Flynn.

He's spoken of a future as first minister - so will his first steps to power begin here in the P&J live arena as he stands for Holyrood in the Aberdeen Deeside & North Kincardine constituency.

He and his SNP colleagues should be fine in the three city seats - there are two fights in the shire, though.

The north east is the home of fishing - in fact, this venue's hosting a skippers' convention.

Will Reform UK's Conrad Ritchie unseat the SNP's Karen Adam in Banffshire and Buchan Coast with the biggest haul of votes?

We'll also be keeping a close eye on Aberdeenshire West - here will the castle-owning Conservative Alexander Burnett fend off an attack from Fatima Joji of the SNP with the help of pro-union reinforcements?

Hayley Jarvis
BBC Scotland

Counters are patiently waiting for the first ballot boxes to arrive at the Ravenscraig Sports Facility in Motherwell.

It will be a busy day in here with five constituency seats and seven seats on the Central Scotland and the Lothians West regional list to declare.

Graeme Ogston
Tayside and Central Reporter

Good morning from the Dundee International Sports Centre or DISC, as it's known here.

It's a hive of activity as you'd expect with preparations under way for the count to begin at 09:00.

Dundee City East and Dundee City West will both be counted here today.

Steven Godden
BBC Scotland

Normally at this time on a Friday morning the Michael Woods Centre in Glenrothes would be gearing up for pilates and body pump classes.

But today the leisure centre is closed to make way for an exercise in democracy.

When we arrived around 07:30 the 300 or so counting staff were patiently queuing outside the venue to take up their positions amongst stacks of sealed ballot boxes.

The votes for five Fife constituencies will be tallied up in Glenrothes with the result for the Mid Scotland and Fife Regional list also declared here later on.

Lucy Whyte
BBC Scotland correspondent

It's all calm and quiet so far here at the Renfrewshire count in Braehead Arena.

It’s freezing, but that’s to be expected because it’s normally an ice rink and home to the Glasgow Clan ice hockey team.

We have three constituencies to count here but we’re expecting things to heat up later with the West of Scotland regional count.

That’s where Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay could potentially be on thin ice. This is his only way of being returned to Holyrood and depending on how other results go he could lose his seat.

Other big names, Scottish Labour deputy Jackie Baillie and Reform UK Scottish leader Malcom Offord are also using this region as a back up if they don’t win in their constituencies.

Politicians across the country will have had a restless night awaiting their fate - but we're already seeing some cross-party consensus.

Conservative MP for Aberdeenshire and Kincardine Andrew Bowie kicked off his new campaign on X last night - to bring back overnight counts.

"This waiting is interminable. Done and dusted by breakfast...much better," he posts.

Perhaps in an unexpected twist of events, he was backed by the SNP's Kevin Stewart

"Not often I agree with Andrew but on this point his is 100% right," Stewart replied - at almost 01:00 this morning.

Clearly a nervy night.

Image source, X

When asked about Reform's chances, Robison says: "It would be a very sad day if they have representation in the Scottish parliament, I hope they do not."

This comes despite pollster predictions that the party are on course to gain some MSPs.

She called the party "insidious" and decisive" adding "it's easy for them to point the finger at some of the most vulnerable in society".

She said the SNP have ruled out working with the party "very, very clearly".

The outgoing finance secretary said it's too early to rule out an SNP majority - which the party has said would be a mandate for an independence referendum.

Robison says: "We’re optimistic we will win this election for the fifth time in a row which will be absolutely unprecedented."

She says whether the party get a majority - of 65 MSPs - or not, they will continue to campaign for a second independence referendum.

She added Prime Minister Keir Starmer is on a "shoogly nail" and he should "listen to the voices in Scotland and stop blocking democracy."

Image source, PA Media

Outgoing MSP Shona Robison has been speaking on Radio Scotland Breakfast, where she said yesterday was "strange" as her first polling day with her name not on the ballot in nearly three decades.

The former finance secretary stood down ahead of the vote after 27 years as an MSP.

She is not alone - 42 MSPs from the last parliament choose not to seek re-election ahead of this campaign.

Robison says she will continue to campaign for the SNP and independence after taking some time to "decompress" over summer.

Phil Sim
Scotland political correspondent

Last term was a breakthrough for the Scottish Greens, when they entered government with the Bute House Agreement with Nicola Sturgeon's SNP.

But the party has its sights set even higher in this poll, hoping to win a record clutch of MSPs to wield influence in the parliament.

Their promise is to hold the SNP's feet to the fire, to force them to be bolder on climate issues and a host of other topics.

Image source, PA Media

The Lib Dems, meanwhile, are hoping for a resurgence, having been a junior partner in coalitions in 1999 and 2003.

Their support collapsed following a rather more controversial coalition - with the Tories at Westminster from 2010 to 2015 - and it has taken until now for them to begin to shed that baggage.

Both of these parties have set themselves up in a similar way, with their manifestos reading like a menu of options for budget talks with a larger governing party.

But their routes to success are complete opposites.

Image source, PA

Lorna Gordon
BBC News Scotland correspondent

Glasgow is Scotland's largest count in terms of the numbers of potential voters.

Just over a tenth of the MSPs who will be heading to the Scottish parliament next week will come from the city.

I'm told the Returning Officer for Glasgow, the council's director of legal services, head of internal services and election manager all spent the night here at the Glasgow Emirates Arena.

Working late and then early and also in order to reassure voters that the ballot boxes - more than 800 of them here - remained secure and undisturbed overnight until the count gets under way.

As for the number of people who have voted in this year's Scottish election, Diffley suggests there will have been a significant drop compared to five years ago.

"If we compare the polls from this year to the same point in 2021, it's somewhere between 10 and 15 percentage points down," he says.

About 51% of the population went to the polls yesterday, Diffley thinks, but this is the norm for Holyrood elections as 2021 was considered an outlier.

He adds that cost of living has been a major voting issue during the campaign and the vote strategies of different parties in some areas will be crucial for the result.

It's been just over nine hours since Scotland's polling stations shut up shop.

Before the results start coming in thick and fast, pollsters have been making predictions about what the next Scottish government will look like.

"What we're expecting is what we've been expecting all the way through this campaign, which is that the SNP will be the largest party," Mark Diffley tells BBC Radio Scotland Breakfast.

What has changed in the last few days, he says, is that there is now a smaller likelihood of the SNP forming an overall majority.

But the race for second place still very much hangs in the balance, Diffley says.

He adds: "All the way through the campaign we've spoken about Labour and Reform UK being neck and neck, and it's still too close to call."