The Scottish Parliament (Elections etc.) Order 2010

Savings as to Scottish parliamentary elections

81.—(1) Where a person has been declared by others to be a candidate at a Scottish parliamentary election without that person’s consent, nothing in this Part shall be construed to impose any liability on that person, unless that person has afterwards given assent to the declaration or has been nominated.

(2) Nothing in this Part makes it illegal for an employer to permit any elector or proxy to take a leave of absence from employment for a reasonable time for the purpose of voting at the poll at a Scottish parliamentary election without having any deduction from their salaries or wage on account of their absence, if the permission—

(a) is (so far as practicable without injury to the employer’s business) given equally to all persons alike who are at the time in the employer’s employment;

(b) is not given with a view to inducing any person to record that person’s vote for any particular candidate or, as the case may be, registered party at the election; and

(c) is not refused to any person for the purpose of preventing that person from recording that person’s vote for any particular candidate or, as the case may be, registered party,

but this paragraph shall not be construed as making illegal any act which would not be illegal apart from this paragraph.