 The next item of business is the election of two deputy Presiding Officers. As previously announced, I have received four valid nominations in alphabetical order, the nominations are Linda Fabiani, Kenneth Gibson, Christine Grahame and Margaret Mitchell. The election shall again proceed in accordance with rule 11.9 of standing orders, with voting procedures the same as those used in the election of the Presiding Officer. If no member receives an overall majority in the first round of voting, there will be subsequent rounds. This procedure will also be followed for the election of the second deputy Presiding Officer. When the first deputy Presiding Officer is elected, voting rounds will begin for the second deputy Presiding Officer, involving all candidates who are unsuccessful in the election of the first deputy Presiding Officer. I hope that you follow that. I now declare the election of the first deputy Presiding Officer open. Members should now proceed to the appropriate desk to collect their ballot papers. Voting for this round of the deputy Presiding Officer election is now closed. I would now invite any scrutineers appointed by the candidates to the back of the chamber to observe the counting of ballot papers. Candidates may also observe the count. In the first round of voting in the election of the deputy Presiding Officer, the number of votes cast for each candidate was as follows. Linda Fabiani, 52 votes. Kenneth Gibson, 14 votes. Christine Grahame, 19 votes. Margaret Mitchell, 36 votes. Accordingly, as no candidate has received an overall majority of the votes cast and as Kenneth Gibson received the fewest votes, he is eliminated from the election and a further round will take place with the following candidates. Linda Fabiani, Christine Grahame and Margaret Mitchell. There will now be a short break while new ballot papers are printed and now suspend this meeting for five minutes. Members, you'll be pleased to hear the voting period is now open and using the same voting procedure as before. Can I just remind members that you're only voting for one candidate? There's one X, please. I can also say to members that a number of members are missing, so there are 121 votes cast plus one spoil paper last time. Members, voting for this round of the deputy Presiding Officer election is now closed. I would invite the scrutineers to proceed to the back of the chamber for the count. Again, candidates may also observe the count. In this round of voting in the election of the deputy Presiding Officer, the number of votes cast for each candidate was as follows. For Linda Fabiani, 59 votes. For Christine Grahame, 19 votes. For Margaret Mitchell, 46 votes. 124 votes cast in total. No overall candidate has received an overall majority, so I'm going to invite the lowest number of votes for Christine Grahame. It means that Christine Grahame will be eliminated from the next round of voting. I'm now going to suspend Parliament for five minutes while we print off new ballot papers for the last two candidates. I suspend the Parliament for five minutes. Thank you for voting for this round of the deputy Presiding Officer election is now closed. I would invite the scrutineers to proceed to the back of the chamber for the count. Candidates may also observe the count. I'll threaten you with a new election. I declare the election for the second deputy Presiding Officer open. Voting procedures are the same as before. Please proceed to the back of the chamber. Voting for this round of the deputy Presiding Officer election is now closed. I invite the candidates and the scrutineers to make their way to the back of the chamber. Thank you. In this round of voting in the election of the deputy Presiding Officer, the number of votes cast for each candidate was as follows. Linda Fabiani, 72 votes. Margaret Mitchell, 52 votes. Accordingly, as Linda Fabiani received more votes than the total number of votes received by the other candidate and as more than 25 per cent of members voted, Linda Fabiani is elected as deputy Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament. I also offer my congratulations to our new deputy Presiding Officer, and I look forward to working together over the next five years. Members will be delighted to hear that voting rounds will now begin for the second deputy Presiding Officer, involving all the candidates who are unsuccessful in the election of the first deputy Presiding Officer. There will be a short break while ballot papers are printed. I suspend the meeting for a few minutes. I declare the election for the second deputy Presiding Officer open. Voting procedures are the same as before. Members may now proceed to the back of the chamber to collect their papers. In the first round of voting in the election of the second deputy Presiding Officer, the number of votes cast for each candidate was as follows. Kenneth Gibson, 24 votes, Christine Grahame, 43 votes, Margaret Mitchell, 57 votes. Accordingly, as no candidate received an overall majority of the votes cast and as Kenneth Gibson received the fewest votes, he is eliminated from the election and a further round will take place with the following candidates, Christine Grahame and Margaret Mitchell. There will now be a short break while ballot papers are printed for the next round. I suspend the meeting for a few minutes. The voting period is now open and members may proceed to the back of the chamber to collect their ballot papers. In the second round of voting in the election for the second deputy Presiding Officer, the number of votes cast for each candidate was as follows. Christine Grahame, 65 votes, Margaret Mitchell, 58 votes and there is one abstention. Accordingly, as Christine Grahame received more votes than the total number of votes received by the other candidate and as more than 25 per cent of members voted, Christine Grahame is elected as the second deputy Presiding Officer. I also offer my congratulations and I look forward to working with both deputies as a team. Can I offer my thanks to all the candidates who have put their names forward today and in fact can I thank all members for their patience and fortitude? I would reassure members that this is a unique voting system once every five years. However, colleagues may wish to note that the next meeting of the Parliament will be at 2 o'clock on Tuesday 17 May to select a nominee for the appointment of a First Minister and voting will be by electronic ballot. The nomination period will begin at 9.30 am on Tuesday 17 May. I now close this first meeting of the fifth session of the Scottish Parliament.