Alex Salmond has announced he will run for the Scottish parliament, at the head of a new party, Alba, which will stand for the regional list system but not for the constituency vote. His expressed aim? To assist in the creation of a “supermajority” of pro-independence parties.
Elections to the Scottish parliament use the additional member system, in which people have two votes: one to the constituency, in a way that works exactly like first-past-the-post elections to the Westminster parliament, and one to the regional list. Winners are declared in two stages: first, the winner of the constituency vote is decided, then the winners of the list vote are elected in a way designed to minimise the disproportionality of the constituency vote.
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