WITHIN the Scottish Parliament, there are 129 elected members (MSPs), comprising 73 constituency members and 56 regional members.

The Additional Member System of voting – combining the traditional First Past the Post (FPP) method with Proportional Representation (PR) – is used.

Voters have two votes. The first vote is to elect a person to be their constituency member, who is the person with the most FPP votes.

The second vote is to elect regional representatives. Voters can select a party or an individual candidate standing for a seat in a Scottish Parliament Region.

There are seven MSPs for each of the eight Scottish Parliament Regions. Candidates or parties are elected using a PR voting system and are called ‘List’ MSPs.

East Lothian has one Constituency MSP and is also part of the South of Scotland Region.

At the last election in 2011, Iain Gray won by 151 votes from the SNP’s Dave Berry.

East Lothian Council Wards 1 and 2 (Musselburgh, Wallyford and Whitecraig) are in the Midlothian North and Musselburgh constituency, which is part of the Lothian Region. The SNP's Colin Beattie won there in 2011.

This is the first Scottish Parliamentary election in which 16 and 17 year olds are eligible to vote.