A small "tented village" has sprung up outside the Holyrood parliament over the last week so the broadcast media can bring you all the latest reaction as the results start to come in.

Rajdeep Sandhu and Sally Magnusson will be reporting live for BBC Scotland from outside the Scottish Parliament, as Election 2021 Scotland gets under way from 12:00.

Some media were already outside the parliament before 06:00 this morning as preparations began for two days of results and reaction.

What will be the demand for indyref2?published at 07:53 British Summer Time 7 May 2021

07:53 BST 7 May 2021

Douglas Fraser
Scotland business & economy editor on Good Morning Scotland

Image source, Getty Images

Will a second referendum on Scottish independence be inevitable after the Holyrood election?

It depends on the results. A majority of pro-independence MSPs looks likely going by the opinion polls, even if the SNP itself doesn't get a majority.

But that will require skilful political management. First to manage their own side's expectations and momentum that could come out of this result, because the polls were making the outcome of a referendum a lot less certain than the Yes side thought a few weeks ago.

There will need to be skilful management of the legislative process with Westminster. It's clear a pro-independence majority will mean a demand for a referendum going to Downing Street. Is that then "wait and see" or can Nicola Sturgeon maintain the initiative somehow?

Image source, Getty Images

Which local contests in this Scottish Parliament election might give us an indication of the national picture?

From Aberdeenshire West to Airdrie and Shotts, Edinburgh Central to Eastwood, our political correspondent Phil Sim has looked at what could be the most closely contested seats.

Which parties are targeting them and which candidates might emerge victorious?

Find out more about the 10 seats to watch by clicking on this link.

What happens after the results?published at 07:21 British Summer Time 7 May 2021

07:21 BST 7 May 2021

Douglas Fraser
Scotland business & economy editor on Good Morning Scotland

Image source, Getty Images

Let's make the bold assumption that Nicola Sturgeon will be first minister.

The first thing that happens as the results come in is political management of the results; each party wants to tell its own story and that of the others.

If there is no SNP majority, and that looks to be on a knife-edge in the polls, then there's a question over whether to cut a coalition deal, which we haven't had for 18 years. It's been avoided by the SNP with two minority administrations in the past 14 years.

Once that's clear, Nicola Sturgeon will have to appoint a new ministerial team which has quite a few holes in it through voluntary departures and maybe some involuntary ones. The Covid crisis requires immediate and daily attention.

We're told Nicola Sturgeon hasn't had a full day off since March last year. It's probably in everyone's interest, but especially hers, that she has at least one day off soon.

Scotland's newspapers are - just like the rest of us - stuck in election limbo, with no results declared until later today.

With that in mind, there are no dramatic predictions on Friday's front pages. The wait goes on...

See our newspaper review here.

Good Morning Scotland
BBC Radio Scotland

South Lanarkshire returning officer Cleland Sneddon explains to the BBC's Good Morning Scotland programme how the timing of the counts will work, and how a daytime count may be an advantage to those totting up the numbers.

He said: "We've done a bit of modelling around the timing. We're going to run two constituencies today and two constituencies on Saturday, and we'll run those to a full completion.

"We anticipate we'll have a declaration for the two constituencies mid-to-late afternoon on both days if everything goes to plan."

He adds: "It's a daytime count so it means people are not particularly tired - it's very difficult when you're trying to do a count in those circumstances. It's also an opportunity to introduce a whole range of new procedures to the counting process."

BBC Scotland will bring you comprehensive results coverage across online, social media, TV and radio.

We will be broadcasting from 25 live locations once the counts get under way at 09:00 on Friday.

As well as reporting every declaration, we will bring you analysis, background, reaction and debate.

Unlike previous elections, there will be no overnight counting. The winners of the 129 Holyrood seats will emerge throughout Friday and Saturday.

Election 2021 Scotland will be on air on Friday from 12:00 until 20:00 on BBC One Scotland and will also be on the BBC Scotland channel from 18:00 to 18:30.

BBC Radio Scotland will simulcast the election programme from lunchtime on Friday, with a separate half-hour election news programme at 13:00 and hour-long news programme at 18:00.

Read more about the BBC coverage here.

Image source, PA Media

This Holyrood election was like no other. When polls closed at 10pm on Thursday, an overnight count did not happen.

The results centres only begin operating at 9am today - nearly 12 hours after voting ends.

The Covid pandemic has prompted a new way of working and because we have never had a day-time count before, there can only be a rough guess on declaration times.

But we do know, courtesy of the Electoral Management Board for Scotland,, external which of the 73 constituency first-past-the-post seats will be declared on which day.

So, will your result be declared on Friday or Saturday? Find out here.

Image source, Getty Images

Good morning and welcome to BBC Scotland’s live coverage of the Scottish Parliament election results.

We’ll be bringing you the results of all 129 seats as they are announced across today and tomorrow, with detailed analysis and reaction from around Scotland.

Of course we’d normally be discussing the result by now, on the Friday after an election.

But nothing about this election has been normal due to the pandemic.

So stick with us as the counts get under way and continue around the country over the next two days.