Section 4: General election for Scottish Parliament not to fall on same date as parliamentary general election under section 1(2)
33.Section 4 provides that the general elections for the Scottish Parliament which were scheduled to take place on 7 May 2015 will instead be scheduled to take place on 5 May 2016. Subsequent ordinary general elections will be scheduled to be held on the first Thursday in May in the fourth calendar year after the May 2016 general elections.
34.The provisions under the Scotland Act 1998 which relate to setting and varying the date of ordinary and extraordinary general elections still apply.