How can you have a mandate when voter turnout was so low?

However, at what point can you really say you have the mandate of the people when only half the electorate bothered to go out and vote?

This is not to take away from the achievements of the MSPs who have been elected, but it is a damning indictment of how parties of all colours failed to ignite the public’s enthusiasm.

Turnout overall was 53.2 per cent. This is not the lowest it has been since devolution, but is down by over 10 per cent on the turnout in 2021.

Yes, 2021 was unprecedented times and people were more engaged with Scottish politics because a lot of the pandemic response was devolved, but it is still not a good statistic for society at large.

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The highest voter turnout was in Eastwood with 65.6 per cent, where ex-SNP MP Kirsten Oswald took a seat off of veteran Conservative incumbent Jackson Carlaw.

The lowest turnout was in Glasgow Easterhouse and Springburn, where just 43.3 per cent of the electorate went to the polls. This was followed by Glasgow Central on just 44.9 per cent.

In fact, in several constituencies less than half the voting population bothered to play their part in our democracy, including: Aberdeen Central; Aberdeen Donside; Airdrie; Banffshire and Buchan Coast; Bathgate; Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley; Coatbridge and Chryston; Cowdenbeath; Cunninghame South; Glasgow Baillieston and Shettleston; Glasgow Cathcart and Pollok; Kirkcaldy; Dundee City East; Dundee City West; Mid Fife and Glenrothes; Motherwell and Wishaw; Uddingston and Bellshill;

I do always feel a pang of sadness when I see low turnouts, because sometimes the smallest of voices can make the loudest of differences in politics. This is particularly amplified when women do not go out and vote, ignoring the fact that women literally died to give us that right that clearly we are now taking for granted.

All of this does present problems for the new intake of MSPs. The electorate are already not happy, and the fact that so many of them did not vote for the ones now representing them will only further muddy the waters.

This is all before we talk about the idea of a second independence referendum as well - yes there is a pro-independence majority in Holyrood, and yes polling regularly shows 50 per cent support for Scotland leaving the UK, but it is difficult to prove this in actuality when so little chose to vote in the election.

Perhaps every single MSP who was elected on Friday can make it their mission to turn more people on to politics and to participate in the democratic process. It has happened before - look at how engaged the entire country was in the run-up to the 2014 independence referendum.

The more people go out and vote in elections, the better our political system is, regardless of which party wins. Hopefully if everyone in parliament makes it a mission to please more of the public in the next five years, we will not have the same problem at the 2031 Holyrood election.