Stirling (Sruighlea in Gaelic) is one of 32 unitary council areas in Scotland with a population of about 85,000. It covers most of the former county of Stirlingshire (except Falkirk) and the south-western portion of the former county of Perthshire. The administrative centre of the region is the City of Stirling itself.
Stirling is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood). It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the plurality (first past the post) method of election. Also, however, it is one of nine constituencies in the Mid Scotland and Fife electoral region, which elects seven additional members, in addition to nine constituency MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.