Your Questions Answered on the Scottish election

As voters prepare to elect a fresh batch of MSPs to Holyrood on 6 May, BBC Scotland's political editor Glenn Campbell has been answering their questions about the vote.

Given the health protection measures in place, how long will it take to get the results in after polling day?

Traditionally, the count starts as soon as the polls close and continues overnight until all the results are known.

This year the count won't start until the next morning and will be spread over the two days that follow the election on Thursday 6 May.

A total of 47 constituencies are expected to declare on Friday and the remaining 26 on Saturday which is also when the regional results will be announced.

You can see which day your local result is expected here.

The closer the election outcome, the later in that process it will be before the BBC and others forecast the total number of seats each party is likely to get.

The final results are expected on Saturday evening.

What are the long term visions of a future Scotland for each of the parties? Independence or part of a federal UK or the current status quo? Or are there other constitutional futures?

The independence debate tends to be very polarised into yes and no but there is diversity of opinion beyond that.

Yes supporting parties like the SNP and Greens have some very different ideas about how an independent Scotland should operate.

For example, Greens want to drop the monarchy while the SNP officially supports keeping the Queen as head of state.

On the no side, the Conservatives say they want to make the existing arrangements work better.

Labour favours further devolution to Scotland and a UK wide review of how power is shared between the nations and regions, although progress on that seems to have stalled since Sir Keir Starmer promised to set up a commission in December.

The Liberal Democrats have already set out plans for a more federal UK.

Please can you explain the way in which the regional seats are allocated?

This is quite tricky.

As well as 73 local constituency MSPs, the Scottish Parliament is "topped up" with a further 56 members - seven from each of eight electoral regions.

These regional MSPs are elected using a formula designed to ensure parliament better reflects the proportion of public support that exists for different parties.

The system is weighted so that the more constituency seats a party wins, the higher the level of support they need in the regional vote to pick up extra seats.

That also makes it easier for smaller parties to get regional members elected.

There is a more detailed explanation with the formula and worked examples here.

Since we know all the parties' position on the union or independence and those aren't going to change anytime soon, how do we steer the debate away from that? And what will be the biggest issues that will convince people who to vote for?

That's different for different people but being for or against independence is a big motivator for many. The constitution remains the major dividing line in our politics.

I promise, however, that we will have a much wider discussion in the final leaders' debate of the Holyrood campaign on BBC1 Scotland from 19:50 on Tuesday 4 May.

That's a chance to compare those who aspire to lead the Scottish government or the opposition to it and their policy plans to help Scotland recover from the pandemic.

The parties do share some similar ideas but there are differences in the detail which might help you make up your mind.

You can see where the parties stand on the issues that matter to you here.

The leaflets parties deliver direct to your door might give you a clearer idea of what they would do to address local issues.

How divided are the parties regarding reform of the Gender Recognition Act and women's rights?

All five Holyrood parties committed in principle to reform at the last Holyrood election but it hasn't happened because the issue has become so divisive.

At this election, there's more caution. The SNP, Labour and the Liberal Democrats remain committed to making it easier for trans people to change their gender in law.

The SNP - who've lost members on both sides of this debate - stress the need to ensure any changes respect the rights of women. Exactly how they'd strike that balance is unclear.

The Greens are more explicit in calling for a system of statutory self-declaration that recognises all genders. While the Conservatives do not have a specific policy beyond recognising the need for what they call an "adult conversation".

Young people's education has been affected by the pandemic, and this is having a knock-on effect on their future employability. Have the parties unveiled any plans to overcome the hurdles that the pandemic has placed on education?

Yes. The Holyrood parties tend to support a big expansion by 3,000 or more in the number of teachers and/or classroom assistants to help young people catch up on lost learning.

Some propose tailored packages of support for individual pupils and others offer to guarantee further education, training or work opportunities for young people.

There's also broad support for the expansion of free school meals especially for primary children, which it is argued will help give less well off pupils the nourishment they need to learn.

You can compare party policies on education, work and benefits here.

Do you have a question about the Scottish Parliament election? Use the form below to send us your questions and we could be in touch.

In some cases your question will be published, displaying your name, and location as you provide it, unless you state otherwise. Your contact details will never be published. Please ensure you have read the terms and conditions.

If you are reading this page on the BBC News app, you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question on this topic.