SCOTLAND awakes to a day that will set the course for the next five years of local governance as counting takes place across the country today.
Polling stations opened to bright sunshine yesterday as thousands of candidates sought a council place.
They had to endure a nervous night waiting for counts to begin this morning, and the impact of the vote will be felt from around 2pm, when results are expected from Inverclyde, Midlothian, East Lothian and Renfrewshire.
Late afternoon should also reveal where power lies in Dumfries and Galloway, the Scottish Borders, South Ayrshire and Aberdeenshire.
And by around 4pm the real story of the day is expected to emerge – whether the SNP has wrested control of Glasgow City Council, Scotland’s largest local authority, from Labour, where that party has held power since the council was established more than 20 years ago.
Yesterday First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and her husband Peter Murrell, the SNP chief executive, attended their local polling station in the city at around 8am.
Sturgeon, whose party put forward 625 candidates, was the first leader to cast their vote and urged the electorate to “vote SNP to stop Tory cuts, protect our public services and invest in our communities”.
Falling on the unofficial Star Wars Day, the date of the poll was not lost on one party leader, with Patrick Harvie of the Greens battling the Dark Side in a lightsaber bout against Darth Vader elsewhere in the city.
Nationwide, his party fielded a record 219 candidates against 247 LibDems, 380 Tories and 453 Labour hopefuls. A total of 499 independents and 148 from other parties have also registered.
Polls have suggested Labour could face “heavy losses” and, turning out to vote in Edinburgh, Kezia Dugdale tried to rally backers with the anti-indyref2 message used throughout the Labour campaign.
She said: “Today, voters can send the SNP a message that they do not want another divisive independence referendum.
“They have the chance to tell Nicola Sturgeon and Ruth Davidson that cutting local services to the bone is not just wrong, it is unacceptable.
“With Scottish Labour, people have the chance to elect a local champion who will stand up for communities and say no to a divisive second independence referendum.”
Despite predictions of a Tory revival, Davidson, voting in the capital, said she was “nervous”, and explained: “I always get really nervous at elections but our people have been working hard, so I hope very much that everyone comes out to vote.
“Obviously I hope very much that they vote Conservative but we’ll find out tomorrow.”
Turnout at the last contest in 2012 was just 39.1 per cent and the ballot got off to an unexpected start in Buckie, Moray, yesterday when election staff arrived to find their designated building locked.
When presiding officer Simone Evans was unable to gain access to the Royal British Legion branch at 7am, she stuck polling station notices on the windows of her Ford Galaxy, popping the ballot box in the front seat.
Two people used the improvised set-up before the building was unlocked, and Moira Patrick, Moray’s depute returning officer, said Evans had followed protocol, adding: “It is part of their training, but as far as I can recall this is only the second time it has ever had to be put into practice.”
Under the single transferable vote (STV) system, voters are asked to rank the candidates in order of preference, with three or four councillors being elected to serve any one ward.
However, it may be days before the real outcome of this election is known as groups without majorities attempt to secure alliances with rival sides in order to form administrations.
The process can result in complicated leadership arrangements between two or more bodies, and can see independents become kingmakers.
Voting has also taken place at council and mayoral levels in England and Wales, and the results will be seen as an important pointer ahead of the snap General Election on June 8.
Councils in Wales are set to declare from 3am, with updates to follow from all areas throughout the day.
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