The Scottish Parliament election is due to be held on Thursday 7 May 2026.
The formal election timetable starts with the dissolution of The Scottish Parliament. The current five-year session of Parliament will end at 23:59 on Wednesday 8 April 2026 and dissolution will begin immediately thereafter on Thursday 9 April 2026.
While Members will continue to be MSPs up to the date of dissolution, some restrictions on use of parliamentary resources, and use of the title ‘MSP’, will apply during the pre-election recess period. The pre-election recess and dissolution are referred to as the “campaign period”. Most restrictions will apply to this whole period, including the date of the election. i.e. from 26 March 2026 to 7 May 2026 inclusive.
For SPICe, this means that we won’t be publishing anything, or posting from our X account @SPICe_Research, from Thursday 26 March, right through to Thursday 7 May 2026.
However, during this time, we will be working on a wide range of briefings, blogs, Fact Sheets, results, and more to help inform the new Parliament.
The main things to look out for are our Election 2026 Spotlight blog which will be published on the evening of Friday 8 May and will provide a concise overview of election results.
Our Election 2026 SPICe Briefing will be published the following Tuesday and provides detailed analysis of election results. This will be published alongside our “Key Issues for Session 7” publication, which sets out a range of challenges and opportunities for the seventh session of the Parliament.
In the subsequent weeks we will be publishing a series of blogs to set the scene for the start of Session 7 business. This includes content on how a new Presiding Officer is chosen and how a candidate for First Minister is selected.
We are also working on a wide range of “subject profiles” – these are more detailed policy deep-dives on all devolved subject areas.
Finally, thanks to everyone who has read and shared our SPICe briefings, blogs and more over Session 6.
Emma Robinson, SPICe.