THERE are more foreign nationals registered to vote in Scottish elections than ever before, newly published data from the National Records of Scotland has revealed.
The NRS figures have also revealed the Holyrood constituencies with the highest and lowest proportion of foreign nationals who are able to vote.
In total, the data recorded 4,243,800 people in Scotland who are registered to vote in Scottish Parliament or local elections. This is slightly higher than the 4,012,700 people who are registered to vote in Scottish constituencies at Westminster General Elections.
For Holyrood and local elections, 4.3% of the total Scottish electorate are foreign nationals – a rise of 5.5% on the previous year. This translates to some 181,500 people from abroad who have registered to vote in Scotland.
The NRS also revealed the ten Scottish parliamentary constituencies that have the highest and lowest number of foreign nationals registered to vote.
Top of the list was Edinburgh North and Leith, where 15.6% of registered voters are foreign nationals. This was followed by Aberdeen Central (14.2%), and Edinburgh Central (14.0%).
Bottom of the list was Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley (0.8%), followed by Cunninghame South (1.0%), Clydesdale (1.0%), and Greenock and Inverclyde (1.0%).
The council areas with the highest proportion of foreign nationals in the electorate in December 2022 were City of Edinburgh (10.9%), Aberdeen City (10.0%), and Glasgow City (6.7%).
The council areas with the lowest proportion of foreign nationals in the electorate were Inverclyde (1.0%), East Ayrshire (1.1%), North Ayrshire (1.1%), and South Ayrshire (1.3%).
The NRS figures further show that, in December 2022, a total of 955,300 registered voters for Scottish Parliament and local government elections (22.5% of the total electorate) had opted for a postal vote.
There were 76,600 registered voters aged 16 or 17. This was a decrease of 1000 (1.3%) compared with the previous year.
