The Tories are scrambling to find candidates five days after Rishi Sunak fired the election starting gun and headed to the Highlands.
The party admits it had not found a candidate for every constituency in time – including the one chosen by the prime minister in his first campaign stop north of the border.
The Tories say every seat in Scotland will have a candidate, but it underlines the chaotic nature of the election announcement, which took party activists by surprise.
More than 150 constituencies across the UK were still without Conservative candidates as of Monday, with just 12 days to go until the deadline of June 7.
Mr Sunak faced awkward questions over the Tory vacancy in the Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross seat during his first campaign stop in Scotland.
He visited bosses at Port of Nigg, near Inverness, which lies in the constituency.
As well as in the Highlands, there is still no Conservative candidate in the Western Isles.
A party spokesman promised both positions will be filled by the end of the week.
A total of 44 candidates out of 57 seats are now in place with the other selections in the “final stages”.
He said: “The Scottish Conservatives will have all candidate selections finalised this week, including in these seats.
“In key seats up and down Scotland, only the Scottish Conservatives can beat the SNP and ensure the focus moves onto people’s real priorities such as delivering lifeline ferry services, meeting rural housing needs and growing the economy.”
Home Secretary James Cleverly was asked about the large number of candidates who have not yet been chosen on Sky News on Sunday.
He said: “The selection process has been going on. There will be lots of places where the selections were just on the verge of happening.
“I’ve been chairman of the party, you always have to do selections right up until the last minute. There is nothing particularly unusual about that. We’ve got plenty that we need to select. We’ve got a terrific pool of candidates.”
What about other parties?
Meanwhile, the SNP and Labour have got candidates in all Scottish seats now.
The Liberal Democrats are yet to announce who is standing in Aberdeen South.
The party declined to comment on how many candidates it has yet to find across Scotland and said a full list of candidates will be published on June 7.
The Greens have so far confirmed they are standing in seven out of 10 seats across the north and north-east, including both Aberdeen constituencies.
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