Can SNP advise voters not to vote for its regional list candidates
Executive summary
The SNP has historically urged supporters to use both constituency and regional “list” votes for the party, explicitly running a “Both Votes SNP” message in past Scottish Parliament contests [1]; reporting on the 2026 campaign shows the party continues to treat regional list contests as strategically important [2]. None of the provided sources, however, report on a legal prohibition against a party telling voters not to use its regional list candidates, nor do they document the SNP publicly advocating that approach — so any claim that the SNP can or cannot legally advise such a tactic is not settled by the supplied reporting [3] [1].
1. The electoral mechanics that matter: why regional lists exist and how parties treat them
Scotland’s Additional Member System (AMS) combines 73 constituency MSPs elected by first-past-the-post with 56 regional “list” MSPs allocated to eight regions to produce approximate proportionality, meaning the regional ballot is a deliberate corrective to constituency results and is politically consequential [3]. Parties — including the SNP — have for years recognised that success on the regional list can make the difference between governing and not governing: the SNP itself credited list seats for delivering a pro-independence majority in earlier Parliaments and has campaigned explicitly for supporters to give the party both votes [1] [4].
2. What the SNP’s own messaging shows: they encourage list votes, not the reverse
The SNP’s published materials have promoted “Both Votes SNP,” noting that regional list seats have been decisive in past returns and urging voters to support the party on the second ballot as well as the first [1]. The SNP’s candidate announcements for 2026 emphasise preparing a full team to contest both constituencies and regions, a practical argument consistent with campaigning for the list vote [5]. Recent reporting on campaign strategy likewise treats the party’s regional lists as a source of seats the SNP is keen to defend and win — described even as “hyper-competitive” — underlining why party messaging has historically encouraged, not discouraged, list voting [2].
3. Tactical voting pressures and alternative actors pushing voters away from lists
Outside the party, tactical-voting organisations and political opponents explicitly focus on the regional lists as targets for vote management or suppression; tactical-voting guides advise where list ballots could be used to block the SNP or to maximise other parties’ seats [6]. The Scottish Daily Express and other opposition-aligned commentary frame the 2026 contest as an opportunity to remove the SNP from power and urge voters to distribute their ballots accordingly, which is the political inverse of an SNP “don’t use our list” message [7]. These dynamics mean pressure exists from multiple directions on how to use the two votes [2].
4. What the supplied reporting does not answer: legality, party discipline, and internal strategy
None of the provided sources state whether party rules, electoral law, or the Electoral Commission forbid a party from telling voters to withhold their regional list vote for its own candidates; likewise, there is no coverage here of any SNP internal deliberation in favour of an anti-list public instruction [3] [8]. The reporting does show internal anxiety about electoral prospects and calls for a strategic rethink [9], but it does not document any official or legal barrier to a hypothetical instruction, nor a precedent of the SNP officially asking supporters not to use its own list candidates.
5. Reasoned conclusion from the evidence provided
Based on the supplied reporting, the SNP’s public stance has been to urge both votes and to prize regional list seats; campaign coverage treats list seats as strategically vital and contested [1] [2]. The sources do not report the SNP ever advising supporters not to vote for its regional list candidates, nor do they supply information about legal prohibitions that would prevent such an instruction [5] [3]. Therefore, from the available material: politically and practically the SNP promotes list votes, and whether it could legally or tactically advise the opposite is not addressed in the provided reporting [1] [3].