Guidance for Candidates and Agents at Scottish Parliament elections

As the Nominating Officer of a party you may submit a list of up to 12 candidates to stand at a regional election. You may authorise someone else to issue and submit the list on your behalf. If so, you must authorise them to do so in writing.

The party must be registered on the Commission’s register of political parties and be listed as allowed to field candidates in Scotland.1  

To contest a regional election at a Scottish Parliament election you, or the person authorised in writing to act on your behalf, need to submit a completed set of nomination papers to the place fixed by the relevant Regional Returning Officer (RRO), together with the deposit of £500, by 4pm, 23 working days before the poll.2   

This deadline is set out in law and cannot be changed for any reason.

Nomination papers can be delivered from the day after the publication of the notice of election. The times and place for delivery of nomination papers will be set out in the notice of election published by the RRO.

The nomination papers that you must deliver to make the party list nomination valid are:3  

• the party list nomination form 
• a consent to nomination for each candidate on the list
• a certificate issued by you or on your behalf, authorising the use of the party name on the ballot paper and, if desired, a registered description 

The party may also make a written request for one of the party’s emblems to appear on the ballot paper. For more information on the emblem request form, see our guidance on requests to use an emblem on the ballot paper.

You can obtain nomination papers from the RRO. Contact details can be obtained from our website. Alternatively, the Commission has produced a set of nomination papers that you could use.

If you and/or the person authorised to act on your behalf are unable to complete the nomination form, the RRO can help by preparing the form for signature.4 You should check with the RRO at the earliest opportunity what assistance may be available.

The RRO may also be able to offer informal checks of your completed nomination papers before you submit them. You should find out from the RRO whether they plan to offer informal checks.

Note that any information you provide on the nomination papers must be true to the best of your knowledge (or to the best of the knowledge of the person authorised in writing to act on your behalf). It is an offence to provide a false statement on nomination papers. Providing a false statement could invalidate the election of candidates on the party’s list, and is also punishable by a maximum fine of £10,000 (or unlimited if convicted on indictment) and/or imprisonment.5