The shape of local government in Scotland will become clear as votes are counted in Scotland's 32 councils.
Voters headed to the polls yesterday to elect 1,223 councillors, and staff at counting centres across the country will begin processing the ballot papers this morning.
Political parties and councils reported a "quiet" start to voting, despite fine weather in most parts of the country.
The vote is the first nationwide poll since the SNP won an outright majority in last year's elections to the Scottish Parliament and the first local elections not to coincide with a Holyrood vote since devolution.
The decision to split the votes followed the debacle of the 2007 election, which saw around 100,000 ballots spoilt.
The problems were blamed on the introduction of electronic counting and the confusion caused by using different voting systems.
The 1,223 councillors being chosen on Thursday are being elected on the Single Transferable Vote (STV) system, in which voters list candidates in order of preference.
Across Scotland a total of 2,490 people stood for election. Under STV, voters numbered the candidates in order of preference.
However, people in Dunoon will not vote until next Thursday because the death of a candidate led to the election there being postponed.
You can watch live coverage of the Scottish local elections at 4pm on STV as Scotland Decides.
Bernard Ponsonby will present results from across the country's 32 local authorities in this key test of public opinion with reaction and analysis from top level MSPs and MPs in the studio and around Scotland.
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