THE 2019 European elections will take place on Thursday, May 23, across the UK.
73 MEPs will be elected with the UK split into 12 multi-member regional constituencies.
Scotland is its own constituency and will elect six MEPs to the European Parliament.
Our handy guide gives you everything you need to know before voting.
The 2014 result
The last time the European elections were contested was in May 2014 before the 2016 EU referendum and also before the Scottish independence referendum. The SNP and Labour both secured two of the Scottish seats each with the Conservatives getting one as well as UKIP who got their first ever Scottish MEP elected. Across the UK, UKIP won the most seats taking 24 and became the first party out with Labour and the Conservatives to win the popular vote since the 1906 General Election.
The voting system
The UK uses a closed-list system of proportional representation known as the D’Hondt method for the European elections. This means on polling day, each voter will put a cross beside the party they want to vote for on their ballot paper with the idea that the amount of seats a party wins directly linked to the number of votes they achieve in each region.
When will we know the result?
Despite polling day in the UK being on Thursday, May 23, we will have to wait a few days longer before we know the results. This is due to other countries going to the polls on Friday, May 24, Saturday, May 25 or Sunday May 26. Therefore, counting will not begin until Sunday night with the first results expected from 10pm onwards.
The candidates standing in Scotland are:
Change UK
David MacDonald
Peter Griffiths
Kate Forman
Heather Astbury
Colin McFadyen
Cathy Edgeworth
Baroness Nosheena Mobarik
Iain McGill
Shona Haslam
Iain Whyte
Andrea Gee
Michael Kusznir
Green
Maggie Chapman
Lorna Slater
Gillian Mackay
Chas Booth
Mags Hall
Allan Faulds
Labour
David Martin
Jayne Baxter
Craig Miller
Amy Lee Fraioli
Callum O'Dwyer
Angela Bretherton
Sheila Ritchie
Fred Mackintosh
Catriona Bhatia
Vita Zaporozcenko
John Edward
Clive Sneddon
SNP
Alyn Smith
Christian Allard
Aileen McLeod
Margaret Ferrier
Heather Anderson
Alex Kerr
The Brexit Party
Louis Stedman-Bruce
Karina Walker
James Ferguson-Hannah
Stuart Waiton
Paul Aitken
Calum Walker
UKIP
Donald MacKay
Janice MacKay
Otto Inglis
Mark Meechan
Roy Hill
Neil Wilson
Independents
Gordon Edgar
Ken Parke
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