Polls have closed in Scotland as the country begins its wait for the results of the Holyrood election.
Polling stations across Scotland shut their doors at 10pm on Thursday, having opened at 7am.
Party leaders have thanked their campaigners for their work over the past six weeks.
Unlike in previous elections – other than in 2021 because of the Covid pandemic – there will be no overnight count and counting will instead begin on Friday morning.
Ballot boxes will be opened at 9am and the first constituency results are expected around midday, with further declarations coming in the afternoon and evening.
Earlier on Thursday, the leaders of the main political parties arrived at their local polling stations.
SNP leader John Swinney voted in Burrelton in Blairgowrie with his wife Elizabeth by his side.
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar voted at Pollokshields Burgh Hall in Glasgow, accompanied by his wife Furheen and their two sons.
Malcolm Offord, Reform UK’s Scottish leader, cast his ballot at St James’s Church in Edinburgh.
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton was at Davidson’s Mains Parish Church in Edinburgh, accompanied by his wife Gill and dog Bramble.
Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay arrived by bicycle at the polling station in Cleveden Secondary School in Glasgow.
Gillian Mackay, co-leader of the Scottish Greens, voted at Laurieston Community Hall near Falkirk, accompanied by her partner Alex and their son.
Under the Scottish Parliament’s electoral system, voters elect 73 constituency representatives and a further 56 MSPs via eight regional lists.
As polls closed at 10pm, leaders of the parties released statements thanking their campaigners.
Mr Swinney said: “I am incredibly proud of the positive, ambitious campaign the SNP has run over the last six weeks.
“And I am proud that we are the only party to have run a truly national campaign – we have been active and campaigning in every part of Scotland.”
Scottish Labour’s deputy leader Jackie Baillie said: “We ran an ambitious campaign and we are proud of it.
“We have championed a serious plan and have put forward a serious and credible candidate for First Minister, Anas Sarwar.”
Mr Findlay said: “As the polls close, I want to thank all the Scottish Conservative candidates, activists and volunteers who have worked tirelessly across Scotland to get our message out over this campaign.
“I am proud of our manifesto we produced which was full of ambitious policies to get Scotland working again after two decades of SNP failure.”
Ms Mackay said: “The Scottish Greens are grateful to everyone who has put their trust in us and backed our positive and hopeful vision for Scotland.
“We are also grateful to everyone who has made this election possible, including everyone who will be working and volunteering at the counts.”
Mr Cole-Hamilton said: “As polls close I would like to thank all of the Scottish Liberal Democrat candidates and activists who have worked so hard to deliver a positive and energetic campaign from the Borders to the Highlands and Islands.
“Together, we’ve been relentlessly knocking on doors, hearing what isn’t working and fixing things.”
Mr Swinney’s SNP has led the polls throughout the campaign.
He has told voters a majority for his party – a rarity in the Holyrood voting system – will allow him to put more pressure on Westminster to grant a second referendum on independence.
Before polls opened, he said the election was “Scotland’s opportunity to choose a better future by voting SNP for real action on the cost of living, to lock Nigel Farage out of power, and to secure a fresh start with independence”.
One of the unknowns ahead of Friday’s results is the fate of Reform UK.
The party has been polling well for the first time at Holyrood and looks poised to win at least a dozen seats, with one of the key battles being between Lord Offord’s party and Labour for second place.
Mr Sarwar however has insisted the polls – some of which put Labour in third place – were wrong and his party will defy the pollsters and pundits on Thursday, but it is a far cry from the success Labour experienced at the 2024 general election in Scotland.
The Scottish Labour leader cut ties with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in February, calling for him to stand down in the wake of the Peter Mandelson scandal, severing an alliance which had held since the two took over their respective parties north and south of the border.
The Scottish Greens and the Lib Dems look set for gains on Thursday, according to the polls, with the Greens forecast to be in the running to win their first-ever local constituency.
Meanwhile, forecasts suggest the Scottish Tories’ recent history of defying political gravity – initially engineered by former leader Baroness Ruth Davidson – which saw them grasp the unionist vote in Scotland and sit in second place for the past decade, could be over, with Russell Findlay’s party projected to shed votes and seats.
