MORE foreign nationals were registered voters in Scotland for UK Parliamentary elections than ever before at the end of last year, according to data from the National Records of Scotland (NRS).
There were 4,007,200 people registered to vote in a UK General Election in December 2023, down 0.1% on the previous year.
The NRS report is the first to show breakdowns for the new UK Parliament constituency boundaries which came into force last year.
Eligibility is different for Scottish Parliamentary and local government elections and the number of electors is higher at 4,241,800. That figure fell by 0.05%.
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Resident EU and other foreign nationals (apart from citizens of the Republic of Ireland and qualifying Commonwealth citizens) do not have the right to vote in UK Parliamentary elections, but can vote in Scottish Parliamentary and local government elections.
There were nearly 189,500 foreign nationals registered to vote in Scottish Parliamentary and local government elections, an increase of 4.4% on the previous year.
This group represents 4.5% of the total electorate and is the highest number ever recorded.
Nearly a million people, or 22.2% of the electorate, are registered for postal voting in UK Parliamentary elections – a decrease from the 23.1% recorded for the previous December.
Similarly, 21.7% of the total electorate is registered for a postal vote in Scottish Parliamentary and local government elections, which was slightly down on the 22.5% recorded for the previous year.
Sandy Taylor, head of Electoral Statistics, said: “The number of people registered to vote in UK, Scottish Parliamentary and local elections has remained stable in the last year.
“Almost a quarter of the electorate is currently registered to vote by post. Our analysis shows registering for postal voting was generally higher in more rural or remote constituencies.”
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