The Highlands and Islands is one of the eight electoral areas for the Scottish Parliament through which 7 of the 56 Additional Members System MSPs are elected.
It covers an area including all of the Highland, Shetland, Orkney and Western Isles local authority areas, as well as most of the Argyll and Bute and Moray local authority areas.
It is the largest of the 8 electoral areas in terms of size, but the smallest in terms of population and electorate.
Scottish Parliament Vote, 1999
| Political Party | Votes | Share of Vote (%) | % Change | List Seats Won |
| SNP | 55,593 | 27.73 | N/A | 2 |
| Labour | 51,371 | 25.47 | N/A | 3 |
| Lib-Dems | 43,226 | 21.43 | N/A | 0 |
| Conservatives | 30,122 | 14.94 | N/A | 2 |
| Greens | 7,560 | 3.75 | N/A | 0 |
| I Noble (Independent) | 3,522 | 1.75 | N/A | 0 |
| SLP | 2,808 | 1.39 | N/A | 0 |
| HIA | 2,607 | 1.29 | N/A | 0 |
| SSP | 1,770 | 0.88 | N/A | 0 |
| Robbie the Pict (Independent) | 1,151 | 0.57 | N/A | 0 |
| J Campbell (Independent) | 712 | 0.35 | N/A | 0 |
| NLP | 536 | 0.27 | N/A | 0 |
| A Robertson (Independent) | 354 | 0.18 | N/A | 0 |
MSPs Elected:
- Conservative - Jamie McGrigor, Mary Scanlon
- Labour- Peter Peacock, Maureen MacMillan, Rhoda Grant
- SNP - Winnie Ewing, Duncan Hamilton
See also:
Scottish Parliament Vote, 2003
| Political Party | Votes | Share of Vote (%) | % Change | List Seats Won |
| SNP | 39,497 | 23.43 | -4.30 | 2 |
| Labour | 37,605 | 22.31 | -3.16 | 2 |
| Lib-Dems | 31,655 | 18.78 | -2.65 | 0 |
| Conservatives | 26,989 | 16.01 | +1.07 | 2 |
| Greens | 13,935 | 8.27 | +4.52 | 1 |
| SSP | 9,000 | 5.34 | +4.46 | 0 |
| UKIP | 1,947 | 1.16 | N/A | 0 |
| Robbie the Pict (Independent) | 1,822 | 1.08 | +0.51 | 0 |
| CP | 1,768 | 1.05 | N/A | 0 |
| SLP | 1,617 | 0.96 | -0.43 | 0 |
| SPA | 793 | 0.47 | N/A | 0 |
| A Robertson (Independent) | 353 | 0.21 | +0.03 | 0 |
| Rural Party | 177 | 0.11 | N/A | 0 |
MSPs elected:
- Conservative - Jamie McGrigor, Mary Scanlon
- Labour - Peter Peacock, Maureen MacMillan
- Green - Eleanor Scott
- SNP - Jim Mather, Rob Gibson
See also:
The Highlands and Islands is also a colloquial term used to describe the Scottish highlands along with the islands off their coast.
Highlands and Islands Enterprise, for example, exists to stimulate the economy of the whole Highland and Islands region and to support local companies in the area.