This 2021 election campaign has been unique in many ways – not least in the delay in counting the results which won't be known until Saturday.

But one other way in which Scottish elections may never be quite the same is to do with the uses and abuses of the list: the 56 seats that are elected on a regional basis.

Until Alex Salmond's political vehicle, Alba, came along, none of the larger parties seemed to have fully appreciated the significance of the list vote.


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