Holyrood voting system 'hard to understand' says top official

The system used to elect MSPs has been called into question by the head of the Scottish Parliament who admits its "hard to understand."

The system used to elect MSPs is "hard to understand"

Sir Paul Grice, Holyrood's chief executive, also suggested there should be a more collegiate approach between political parties under the hybrid PR/first past the post system which is used.

"It's a complicated system," Sir Paul told the Herald."Do people really understand? It is hard to understand d'Hondt (the system which allocates list seats.)

The system used to elect MSPs is "hard to understand"

"It works in the sense that it retains the constituency link, which I think was felt to be important. But it's naturally a hybrid. It's not pure proportional representation (PR). So that complexity is a question mark over it still, I think."

He added: "I genuinely think it'll take time to bed down or there will be a bit of a different electoral system. What I don't think will happen is that we'll give up and think `Well actually let's just go back to winner-takes-all first-past-the-post.'"