Results: South Scotland regional list dominated by Conservatives and Labour MSPs

Distinctive peach regional list ballot papers. Credit: Scottish Borders Council

Three Scottish Conservative and three Scottish Labour MSPs have been elected to the South Scotland regional list. 

One SNP MSP also made the list.

It means the following South Scotland additional member MSPs are elected:

  • Craig Hoy, Brian Whittle, Sharon Dowey - Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party

  • Colin Smyth, Carol Mochan, Martin Whitfield - Scottish Labour Party

  • Emma Harper - SNP

Spanning nearly 200 miles from west coast to east, the South Scotland region includes 9 Holyrood constituencies. 

Of the Scottish Parliament's 56 additional member MSPs, 7 are elected for the South of Scotland.

If a party does well in the area's constituencies, it makes it harder for them to win list seats.

In 2016, the SNP topped the vote and won three regional list MSPs, while the Conservatives had 2, and Labour 1. 

This year, while the Scottish Conservatives performed strongly in the ITV Border region constituencies, the SNP won the rest, reducing the number of MSPs they returned on the regional list.