Ahead of Thursday’s Scottish Parliament election, polling expert Professor Sir John Curtice says the Scottish National Party (SNP) is unlikely to secure an outright Holyrood majority. Reporting from Belfast Telegraph and the Evening Standard, Curtice provides his latest assessment on the eve of the vote, characterizing the task as “odds against” for the SNP under First Minister John Swinney. The articles frame Curtice’s comments as an update to his wider election analysis rather than a prediction with certainty, suggesting the result may hinge on how votes translate into seats in the Scottish Parliament. While both outlets highlight Curtice’s view that an SNP majority is difficult to achieve, they do not attribute a single uniform figure or specific seat count in the material provided. Overall, the coverage focuses on the likelihood of coalition or other arrangements after the election, based on the polling expert’s assessment that winning an outright majority is not the most probable outcome.