Bill Walker will be sentenced in court later this month, following his conviction at trial
MSP Bill Walker has resigned after being convicted last month of a series of domestic abuse offences.
Walker, 71, had been facing pressure to step down from the Scottish Parliament over the offences committed against three of his ex-wives.
More than half of Scotland's 129 MSPs had backed a motion calling for him to go.
The independent MSP for Dunfermline said a "media onslaught" had made it impossible for him to continue.
Walker, from Alloa in Clackmannanshire, is due to be sentenced in late September.
He had been found guilty of 23 charges spanning almost three decades, following a trial at Edinburgh Sheriff Court.
Maximum sentence
The attacks had been carried out against his ex-wives and a stepdaughter between 1967 and 1995.
The former SNP MSP, who was ejected from the party when the allegations surfaced, denied the charges.
The law states that any elected member jailed for more than one year will be disqualified.
But in summary cases heard in sheriff courts in Scotland, the maximum sentence that can be handed down is one year, which would have allowed Walker to remain as an MSP even if he is jailed.
In a statement, Walker said he had submitted his resignation to the Scottish Parliament as MSP for Dunfermline.
He added: "It has been increasingly difficult for my wife and my staff to deal with the media interest in my case. That same media onslaught has also made it impossible to properly represent my constituents and their interests.
"My trial process on domestic abuse charges still continues at Edinburgh Sheriff Court with the sentence not due to be announced until September 20 after the receipt of the reports ordered by the court.
"However, circumstances have made it very difficult to continue as [an] MSP, hence my decision to withdraw now."
Earlier, Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond called for Holyrood to be given power over the disqualification of MSPs.
Mr Salmond has written to UK Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg arguing that the Scottish Parliament should have the ability to decide the arrangements in such cases.
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