NE Scotland 2016 Results, Explanation and 2021 Projections

For elections to the Scottish Parliament, Scotland is divided into 8 Regions. Each Region can contain 8 to 10 Constituencies. So everyone in Scotland gets 2 votes. A Constituency Vote and a Regional Vote. Normally people vote in both, but sometimes they only vote in one. Only voting in one does not spoil your other vote.

Constituency Vote (Vote 1 – Constituency Ballot Paper)

Constituencies	Labour	SNP	Lib Dem	Cons	Green	SNP %	Total Votes	Valid Votes	Turnout %

Aberdeen Central	7,299	11,648	1,735	6,022	-	43.62	57,195	26,704	46.7
Aberdeen Donside	5,672	17,339	2,261	5,709	-	55.97	61,200	30,981	50.6
Aberdeen South and North Kincardine	5,603	13,604	2,284	10,849	-	42.06	59,710	32,340	54.2
Aberdeenshire East	2,155	15,912	6,611	10,075	-	45.79	62,844	34,753	55.3
Aberdeenshire West	2,036	12,500	7,262	13,400	-	35.51	59,576	35,198	59.1
Angus North and Mearns	2,752	13,417	2,265	10,945	-	45.67	54,355	29,379	54.1
Angus South	3,773	15,622	1,216	11,318	-	48.93	56,418	31,929	56.6
Banffshire and Buchan Coast	2,372	15,802	1,290	9,219	-	55.09	59,155	28,683	48.5
Dundee City East	5,611	16,509	911	4,969	-	58.05	55,261	28,437	51.5
Dundee City West	7,242	16,070	1,008	2,826	-	57.83	53,830	27,788	51.6

Total Seats Awarded	0	9	0	1	0	48.85	579,544	306,192	52.82

Regional Vote (Vote 2 – Regional Ballot Paper)

Total Votes – 579,544, Valid Votes – 307,006, Turnout – 52.97 and SNP Vote Share – 44.65%

Regional Votes	Labour	SNP	Lib Dem	Cons	Green	D'Hondt Adjustment (Regional Party Totals ÷ Number of Seats Already Won + 1)

Regional Party Totals	38,791	137,086	18,444	85,848	15,123	For Round 1 (SNP - 137,086 ÷ 10 / Cons - 85,848 ÷ 2)

Round 1	38,791	13,709	18,444	42,924	15,123	Cons Win Round 1 - For Round 2 (Cons - 85,848 ÷ 3)
Round 2	38,791	13,709	18,444	28,616	15,123	Lab Wins Round 2 - For Round 3 (Lab - 38,791 ÷ 2)
Round 3	19,396	13,709	18,444	28,616	15,123	Cons Win Round 3 - For Round 4 - (Cons - 85,848 ÷ 4)
Round 4	19,396	13,709	18,444	21,462	15,123	Cons Win Round 4 - For Round 5 - (Cons - 85,848 ÷ 5)
Round 5	19,396	13,709	18,444	17,170	15,123	Lab Wins Round 5 - For Round 6 - (Lab - 38,791 ÷ 3)
Round 6	12,930	13,709	18,444	17,170	15,123	Lib Dem Wins Round 6 - For Round 7 - (Lib Dem - 18,444 ÷ 2)
Round 7	12,930	13,709	9,222	17,170	15,123	Cons Win Round 7

Total Seats Awarded	2	0	1	4	0

The Regional Vote however is affected by how many Seats a Party wins in the Constituencies.
Regional Seats are awarded by dividing Regional Party Totals by the Number of Seats already Won + 1 (D’Hondt System) over 7 Rounds. This might look complicated but it’s really just simple adding and dividing.
The basic premise is that if a Party does well with Constituency Seats, the System (D’Hondt) makes it very difficult for them to do well with Regional Seats.

What can we say about the 2016 Election Results?

In 2016 the SNP won 9 Constituency Seats so their Regional Vote was divided by 9 + 1 (D’Hondt) = 10 from Round 1 going forward. The Tories won 1 constituency seat each so their Regional Vote was divided by 1 + 1 (D’Hondt) = 2.
Despite having ‘by far’ the largest number of regional votes the SNP won ‘0’ regional seats in NE Scotland.
Unionist Parties however shared all the Regional Seats with the Tories winning the last one with 17,170 votes.
That meant in 2016 the SNP would have needed 171,710 regional votes (an extra 34,624 votes) to win the last regional seat from the Tories in NE Scotland (a 25.2% increase). Yes you are reading that right. The SNP needed 34,624 extra votes.
This is calculated as follows: (137,086 + 34,624 = 171,710 regional votes – 171,710 regional votes ÷ 10 (9 Constituency Seats + 1 (D’Hondt) = 17,171 regional votes).

2021 Projections For Additional Independence Parties Running on the Regional Vote

What might happen if another Independence Party ran on the Regional Vote and encouraged voters to vote for them instead of the SNP?

Regional Votes	Labour	SNP	Lib Dem	Cons	Green	ISP	D'Hondt Adjustment (Regional Party Totals ÷ Number of Seats Already Won + 1)

Regional Party Totals	38,791	119,915	18,444	85,848	15,123	17,171	For Round 1 (SNP - 119,915 ÷ 11 / Cons - 85,848 ÷ 2)

Round 1	38,791	10,901	18,444	42,924	15,123	17,171	Cons Win Round 1 - For Round 2 (Cons - 85,848 ÷ 3)
Round 2	38,791	10,901	18,444	28,616	15,123	17,171	Lab Wins Round 2 - For Round 3 (Lab - 38,791 ÷ 2)
Round 3	19,396	10,901	18,444	28,616	15,123	17,171	Cons Win Round 3 - For Round 4 - (Cons - 85,848 ÷ 4)
Round 4	19,396	10,901	18,444	21,462	15,123	17,171	Cons Win Round 4 - For Round 5 - (Cons - 85,848 ÷ 5)
Round 5	19,396	10,901	18,444	17,170	15,123	17,171	Lab Wins Round 5 - For Round 6 - (Lab - 38,791 ÷ 3)
Round 6	12,930	10,901	18,444	17,170	15,123	17,171	Lib Dem Wins Round 6 - For Round 7 - (Lib Dem - 18,444 ÷ 2)
Round 7	12,930	10,901	9,222	17,170	15,123	17,171	ISP Wins Round 7

Total Seats Awarded	2	0	1	3	0	1

Current Polling projects the SNP is on 52% Constituencies (48.85% in 2016) and 44% Regional (44.65% in 2016). The difference between the SNP vote in Constituencies and Regions is historic and usual because voters have more choice to express opinion on the Regional Ballot.
Based on current polling the SNP is now projected to win 10 Constituency Seats in NE Scotland in 2021 meaning that their Regional Vote would be divided by 10 + 1 (D’Hondt) = 11. Using 2016 as a benchmark, the SNP would need 188,881 Regional votes (an extra 51,795 votes) to win a Regional Seat in NE Scotland in 2021. Yes you are reading that right 51,795 extra votes.
This is calculated as follows: (137,086 + 51,795 = 188,881 regional votes – 188,881 regional votes ÷ 11 (10 Constituency Seats + 1 (D’Hondt) = 17,171 regional votes)
In 2016 ‘BothVotesSNP’ did not work and given current polling it will certainly not work in 2021 either. If SNP Votes transfer to other Independence Parties, then Independence MSP’s will get elected instead of Unionists.
If all Independence voters voted for the SNP in the Constituencies, and the SNP withdrew candidates from the Regional Vote, Independence and not an individual Party would be the winner.