Scottish council election: Voters to elect local councillors

Voters in Scotland are due to go to the polls in an election to decide who runs the country's 32 local authorities.

Polling stations throughout the country will be open from 07:00 to 22:00.

All 1,223 Scottish council seats, which were last up for grabs in 2007, will be contested in the election.

The proportional representation system of single transferable vote (STV) is being used, meaning voters should number candidates in order of preference.

Votes will be counted electronically during the day on Friday, rather than through the night.

BBC Scotland news will deliver all the results live online and in radio broadcasts.

This is the first time since 1995 that there have been stand-alone council elections in Scotland. In the recent past, the local authority poll has been held at the same time as voting for MSPs to Holyrood.

Elections will be taking place elsewhere in the UK, including a proportion of council seats in England and Wales and the London Mayoral election.