After a lengthy period of voting on paper ballots and 10 candidates for the roles, MSP’s have elected the next deputy presiding officers for this parliamentary term.
After 4 hours, Annabelle Ewing , the constituency SNP MSP for Cowdenbeath and a member of the Scottish Parliament since 2011 has been elected as one of the two deputy presiding officers for this parliamentary term at the fourth round of voting receiving 64 votes in favour of her candidacy.
Liam McArthur, Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP for Orkney since 2007 is the second deputy presiding officer as he received 74 votes in favour of his candidacy after several rounds of voting
Unlike the Presiding Officer, the deputy presiding officers are permitted to retain their party affiliation and can participate in debates in the chamber if they are not required to act as chair in the absence of the presiding officer.
Feature image credit: https://twitter.com/aewing4Cbeath/
There is no obligation on the PO to resign their party affiliation, it is done by convention.