2004 Scottish National Party leadership election

2004 Scottish National Party leadership election

← 2003 22 June – 3 September 2004 (2004-06-22 – 2004-09-03) 2014 →
Turnout	79.23%
Candidate Alex Salmond Roseanna Cunningham Mike Russell Popular vote 4,952 953 631 Percentage 75.8% 14.6% 9.7%
Leader before election John Swinney Elected Leader Alex Salmond

The 2004 Scottish National Party leadership election was held following the resignation of John Swinney as leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP). Nominations opened on 22 June, with three candidates nominated, and voting began on 13 August. This was the first election where all party members could vote. The results were announced on 3 September; Alex Salmond defeated Roseanna Cunningham and Michael Russell, with more than 75% of votes.^[1][2][3]

In 2003, Swinney's leadership was challenged by SNP activist, Bill Wilson, who claimed the party needed a change in direction following a poor performance at the 2003 Scottish Parliament election. Despite Swinney winning overwhelming support form party delegates, he would lead the party through, yet another, poor election result in the 2004 European Parliament election. The SNP began privately briefing against Swinney and on 18 June 2004 he resigned as leader.

Cunningham was the first to launch her bid for leader, and she was shortly followed by Nicola Sturgeon and then Russell. Speculation arose as to whether Alex Neil, who ran in the 2000 leadership contest against Swinney, and Salmond, former SNP leader, would run in the election. Neil declined and while Salmond did too, a month later, he launched his bid. As a result, Sturgeon withdrew to support him and she instead ran for Depute Leader on a joint ticket.

An election for Depute Leader of the SNP was held at the same time, with Sturgeon defeating Fergus Ewing and Christine Grahame.