AS many as 300 candidates are vying for votes across Scotland as polling day draws nearer.
Full candidate lists have now been published for all of the country’s 59 Westminster constituencies.
Details were finalised on Thursday as the official deadline arrived.
Four parties – the SNP, Tories, Labour and LibDems – have put up candidates in every area, while the Scottish Greens will challenge in 22.
Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party has announced 15 runners, while his former party Ukip has just seven.
In some areas, the public will face a choice between as many as eight candidates, including independents and members of the Scottish Family Party, Social Democratic Party, Scottish Libertarian Party and the Veterans and People’s Party.
Centrist party Renew, the Christian Peoples Alliance and the Scottish Christian Party will also appear on ballot papers in some areas.
While the Scottish Greens list has a 50-50 male to female ratio, the same cannot be said for other parties.
Around 30% of LibDem and SNP candidates are women. This is not far from the Tories’ 40% but much lower than the 60% running for Labour.
Regardless of local results, the overall Westminster parliament is expected to be more male-dominated than in its last iteration as a result of the move by a number of female MPs to quit politics.
While only 32% of members were women last time round, that represented a UK record.
Talat Yaqoob, chair of equal representation campaign Women 50:50, said women leaving political roles “are more likely to cite abuse and toxic political culture in their reasons for standing down”.
Raising concerns about the impact of the shift, she told The National’s sister paper, The Herald, that “lived experience” is important when choosing candidates.
She said: “Evidence tells us that diversity makes for better decisions, and surely we want our politicians making the best decisions which will create a better society for those who need the most?
“Lived experience is crucial to this, and we need that lived experience around the decision-making table.
“The status quo is not working for women, both in terms of representation and, crucially, in terms of decisions being made.”
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