2007 Scottish Parliament election

2007 Scottish Parliament election

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All 129 seats to the Scottish Parliament
65 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
TurnoutConstituency - 53.9% Increase 4.2pp
Regional - 54.0% Increase 4.3pp
  First party Second party Third party
 
Alex Salmond, First Minister of Scotland (cropped).jpg
Jack McConnell Official Portrait 2001.jpg
AnnabelGoldieMSP20110510.JPG
Leader Alex Salmond Jack McConnell Annabel Goldie
Party SNP Labour Conservative
Leader's seat Gordon Motherwell and Wishaw West of Scotland
Last election 27 seats 50 seats 18 seats
Seats won 47 46 17
Seat change Increase20 Decrease4 Decrease1
Constituency vote 664,227 648,374 334,743
% and swing 32.9% Increase9.1% 32.1% Decrease2.5% 16.6% Steady
Regional vote 633,611 595,415 284,035
% and swing 31.0% Increase10.1% 29.2% Decrease0.2% 13.9% Decrease1.6%

  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
Nicol Stephen.jpg
RobinHarper.jpg
Colin Fox - National co-spokesperson of the SSP - September 2015.jpg
Leader Nicol Stephen Robin Harper /
Shiona Baird
Colin Fox
Party Liberal Democrats Scottish Green Scottish Socialist
Leader's seat Aberdeen South Lothians /
North East Scotland (defeated)
Lothians (defeated)
Last election 17 seats 7 seats 6 seats
Seats won 16 2 0
Seat change Decrease1 Decrease5 Decrease6
Constituency vote 326,232 2,971 525
% and swing 16.2% Increase0.8% 0.1% Increase0.1% 0.0% Decrease6.2%
Regional vote 230,651 82,577 13,096
% and swing 11.3% Decrease0.5% 4.0% Decrease2.9% 0.6% Decrease6.1%

The map shows the election results in single-member constituencies. The additional member MSPs in the 8 regions are shown around the map.

First Minister before election

Jack McConnell
Labour

First Minister after election

Alex Salmond
SNP

The 2007 Scottish Parliament election was held on Thursday 3 May 2007 to elect members to the Scottish Parliament. It was the third general election[1] to the devolved Scottish Parliament since it was created in 1999. Local elections in Scotland fell on the same day.

The Scottish National Party emerged as the largest party with 47 seats, closely followed by the incumbent Scottish Labour Party with 46 seats. The Scottish Conservatives won 17 seats, the Scottish Liberal Democrats 16 seats, the Scottish Greens 2 seats and one Independent (Margo MacDonald) was also elected. The SNP initially approached the Liberal Democrats for a coalition government, but the Lib Dems turned them down.[2] Ultimately, the Greens agreed to provide the numbers to vote in an SNP minority government, with SNP leader Alex Salmond as First Minister.[3]

The Scottish Socialist Party and the Scottish Senior Citizens Unity Party, which won seats in the 2003 election, lost all of their seats. Former MSP Tommy Sheridan's new party, Solidarity, also failed to win any seats. Campbell Martin and Dr Jean Turner both lost their seats, and Dennis Canavan and Brian Monteith retired.

  1. ^ "Scotland Act 1998 – Part I – Section 2 – General elections". opsi.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 19 May 2007. Retrieved 19 September 2006.
  2. ^ "Lib Dems rule out SNP coalition". BBC News. 7 May 2007. Archived from the original on 23 September 2007.
  3. ^ "SNP and Greens sign working deal". BBC News. 11 May 2007. Archived from the original on 9 October 2007.