2016 Scottish Parliament election

The 2016 Scottish parliament election was held on Thursday, 5 May 2016^[1] to elect 129 members to the Scottish Parliament. It was the fifth election held since the devolved parliament was established in 1999. It was the first parliamentary election in Scotland in which 16 and 17 year olds were eligible to vote, under the provisions of the Scottish Elections (Reduction of Voting Age) Act.^[2][3] It was also the first time the three largest parties were led by women.

2016 Scottish Parliament election

← 2011 5 May 2016 (2016-05-05) 2021 →
← outgoing members elected members →
All 129 seats to the Scottish Parliament 65 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Turnout	Constituency – 55.8% 5.3 pp Regional – 55.8% 5.3pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader Nicola Sturgeon Ruth Davidson Kezia Dugdale Party SNP Conservative Labour Leader since 14 November 2014 4 November 2011 15 August 2015 Leader's seat Glasgow Southside Edinburgh Central Lothian Last election 69 seats 15 seats 37 seats Seats before 64 15 38 Seats won 63 31 24 Seat change 6 16 13 Constituency vote 1,059,898 501,844 514,261  % and swing 46.5% 1.1% 22.0% 8.1% 22.6% 9.2% Regional vote 953,587 524,222 435,919  % and swing 41.7% 2.3% 22.9% 10.6% 19.1% 7.2%   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader Patrick Harvie / Maggie Chapman Willie Rennie Party Scottish Green Liberal Democrats Leader since 22 November 2008 / 25 November 2013 17 May 2011 Leader's seat Glasgow / Contested North East Scotland  North East Fife Last election 2 seats 5 seats Seats before 2 5 Seats won 6 5 Seat change 4 Constituency vote 13,172 178,238  % and swing 0.6% 0.6% 7.8% 0.1% Regional vote 150,426 119,284  % and swing 6.6% 2.2% 5.2%
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 Nicola Sturgeon SNP First Minister after election Nicola Sturgeon SNP

Parliament went into dissolution on 24 March 2016, allowing the official period of campaigning to get underway. Five parties had MSPs in the previous parliament: Scottish National Party (SNP) led by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, Scottish Labour led by Kezia Dugdale, Scottish Conservatives led by Ruth Davidson, Scottish Liberal Democrats led by Willie Rennie, Scottish Greens, led by their co-conveners Patrick Harvie and Maggie Chapman. Of those five parties, four changed their leader since the 2011 election.

During the campaign, a series of televised debates took place, including party leaders of the elected parties. BBC Scotland held the first leaders' debate on 24 March, STV broadcast the next on 29 March, and BBC Scotland hosted the final debate on 1 May.

The election resulted in a hung parliament with the Scottish National Party winning a third term in government, but falling two seats short of securing a second consecutive overall majority.^[4][5] The Conservatives saw a significant increase in support and replaced the Labour Party as the second-largest party and main opposition in the Scottish Parliament. This was the first time that Labour had finished in third place at a Scottish election in 98 years.^[4][5] The Scottish Greens won six seats on the regional list and overtook the Liberal Democrats, who remained on five seats.^[4][5]

Although the SNP had lost their majority, it was still by far the largest single party in the Scottish Parliament, with more than double the seats of the Conservatives. Accordingly, Sturgeon announced she would form a minority SNP government. She was voted in for a second term as First Minister on 17 May.^[6]

Date

Under the Scotland Act 1998, an ordinary election to the Scottish Parliament would normally have been held on the first Thursday in May four years after the 2011 election, i.e. in May 2015.^[7] In May 2010, the new UK Government stated in its coalition agreement that the next general election would also be held in May 2015.^[8] This proposal was criticised by the Scottish National Party and Labour, as it had been recommended after the 2007 election that elections with different voting systems should be held on separate days: a recommendation which all of the political parties had then accepted.^[9] In response to this criticism, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg offered the right to vary the date of the Scottish Parliament election by a year either way.^[10] All the main political parties then stated their support for delaying the election by a year.^[11][12] The Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011, a statute of the UK Parliament, moved the date of the Scottish Parliament election to 5 May 2016.^[1]

The date of the poll may be varied by up to one month either way by the monarch, on the proposal of the Presiding Officer.^[7]

If Parliament itself resolves that it should be dissolved, with at least two-thirds of the Members (i.e. 86 Members) voting in favour, the Presiding Officer proposes a date for an extraordinary election and the Parliament is dissolved by the monarch by royal proclamation.

It does not necessarily require a two-thirds majority to precipitate an extraordinary election, because under the Scotland Act Parliament is also dissolved if it fails to nominate one of its members to be First Minister within certain time limits, irrespective of whether at the beginning or in the middle of a parliamentary term. Therefore, if the First Minister resigned, Parliament would then have 28 days to elect a successor (s46(2)b and s46(3)a). If no new First Minister was elected then the Presiding Officer would ask for Parliament to be dissolved under s3(1)a. This process could also be triggered if the First Minister lost a vote of confidence by a simple majority (i.e. more than 50%), as they must then resign (Scotland Act 1998 s45(2)). To date the Parliament has never held a vote of no confidence in a First Minister.

No extraordinary elections have been held to date. Any extraordinary elections would be in addition to ordinary elections, unless held less than six months before the due date of an ordinary election, in which case they supplant it. The subsequent ordinary election reverts to the first Thursday in May, a multiple of four years after 1999.^[13]

It was envisaged that the election would still have taken place as scheduled if Scotland had voted in favour of independence in 2014.^[14]

Retiring MSPs

Constituency/Region	Departing MSP	Party
Edinburgh Central	Marco Biagi[15]		Scottish National Party
Cunninghame South	Margaret Burgess[16]
Caithness, Sutherland and Ross	Rob Gibson[17]
Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley	Adam Ingram[18]
Edinburgh Eastern	Kenny MacAskill[19]
Strathkelvin and Bearsden	Fiona McLeod[20]
Aberdeenshire East	Alex Salmond[21]
Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch	Dave Thompson[22]
North East Scotland	Richard Baker[23]		Scottish Labour
Edinburgh Northern and Leith	Malcolm Chisholm[24]
Renfrewshire South	Hugh Henry[25]
West Scotland	Margaret McDougall[26]
Greenock and Inverclyde	Duncan McNeil[27]
South Scotland	Graeme Pearson[28]
Mid Scotland and Fife	Richard Simpson[29]
Glasgow	Drew Smith[30]
Lothian	Gavin Brown[31]		Scottish Conservatives
	Cameron Buchanan[32]
Galloway and West Dumfries	Alex Fergusson[33]
West Scotland	Annabel Goldie[34]
Highlands and Islands	Jamie McGrigor[35]
North East Scotland	Nanette Milne[33]
Highlands and Islands	Mary Scanlon[36]
Mid Fife and Glenrothes	Tricia Marwick[37]		Presiding Officer

Deselected MSPs

Changes to the SNP's selection procedures the previous year in order to ensure gender balance of candidates meant that any incumbent constituency MSP who chose to retire would have their replacement selected from an all-woman shortlist. The only ways for a new male candidate to receive a constituency nomination would be to stand in a constituency currently held by an opposition MSP or to run a de-selection campaign against a sitting MSP. For that reason there were far more challenges than normal within the SNP, but only two were successful:

Constituency	Selected candidate	Deselected MSP	Party		Retained position on regional list
Angus North and Mearns	Mairi Evans	Nigel Don[38]		Scottish National Party	Yes (North East Scotland)
Edinburgh Western	Toni Giugliano	Colin Keir[39]			No

Election system, seats, and regions

Main article: List of Scottish Parliament constituencies and electoral regions (2011–present)

The total number of Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) elected to the Parliament is 129.

The First Periodical Review of the Scottish Parliament's constituencies and regions by the Boundary Commission for Scotland, was announced on 3 July 2007. The Commission published its provisional proposals for the regional boundaries in 2009.

The Scottish Parliament uses an Additional Members System, designed to produce approximate proportional representation for each region. There are 8 regions, each sub-divided into smaller constituencies. There are a total of 73 constituencies. Each constituency elects one MSP by the plurality (first past the post) system of election. Each region elects 7 additional MSPs using an additional member system. A modified D'Hondt method, using the constituency results, is used to elect these additional MSPs.^[40][41]

The Scottish Parliament constituencies have not been coterminous with Scottish Westminster constituencies since the 2005 general election, when the 72 former UK Parliament constituencies were replaced with a new set of 59, generally larger, constituencies (see Scottish Parliament (Constituencies) Act 2004). The boundaries used for the Scottish Parliament elections were then revised for the 2011 election. The Boundary Commission also recommended changes to the electoral regions used to elect "list" members of the Scottish Parliament,^[42] which were also implemented in 2011.

Campaign

On 29 February 2016, BBC Scotland's Scotland 2016 current affairs programme held a debate focusing on education featuring the Education Minister Angela Constance and three party leaders: Kezia Dugdale, Ruth Davidson and Willie Rennie.^[43]

On 24 March 2016, BBC Scotland held a debate in Glasgow which was televised that featured Dugdale, Davidson, Rennie, Nicola Sturgeon, Patrick Harvie and David Coburn.^[44]

On 29 March 2016, STV hosted a televised leaders' debate, featuring the five leaders of the parties which held seats in the last Parliament.^[45]

From 5–26 April 2016, Scotland 2016 also held a series of weekly subject debates on Tuesday nights. The subjects were Tax, Health, Energy & Environment, and Housing.^[46] Of these, six parties (SNP, Labour, Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, the Scottish Greens and UKIP) were invited to the Tax debate.^{[citation needed]}

Parties contesting the election

The official nomination period closed on 1 April 2016, lists of candidates were then published by local councils once the applications had been processed.^[47]

In March 2015, the Scottish Greens balloted their members to select candidates for their regional lists.^[48] The SNP released their regional candidate list in October 2015.^[49] The Conservative regional candidate list followed in December.^[50] In January 2016, RISE – Scotland's Left Alliance announced list candidates for all regions except the North East.^[51] Labour had announced a new selection process for regional candidates in November 2013,^[52] then revealed their full list of regional candidates in February 2016.^[53] UKIP's regional candidates were picked by their executive committee, prompting one prospective candidate to resign his party membership.^[54]

Contesting constituency and regional ballot

The SNP, the Scottish Labour, the Scottish Conservatives and the Scottish Liberal Democrats fielded candidates in all 73 constituencies.^[55]

•   Scottish National Party (SNP)
•   Scottish Labour
•   Scottish Conservatives
•   Scottish Liberal Democrats
•   Scottish Greens – contesting all regions and Coatbridge and Chryston, Edinburgh Central and Glasgow Kelvin constituencies.
•   Scottish Libertarian Party − contesting West of Scotland,^[56] Mid Scotland Fife, North East Scotland region only^[57] and Edinburgh Central constituency^[58]

Contesting regional ballot only

•   Clydesdale and South Scotland Independent – contesting South Scotland^[59]
•   Communist Party – contesting North East Scotland^[57]
•   National Front – contesting North East Scotland only^[57]
•   RISE – Respect, Independence, Socialism and Environmentalism – contesting all regions
•   Scottish Christian Party "Proclaiming Christ’s Lordship" – contesting Highlands and Islands^[60] and North East^[57]
•   Solidarity – Scotland's Socialist Movement – contesting all regions^[61]
•   UK Independence Party – contesting all regions^[62]
•   Women's Equality Party – contesting Lothian^[58] and Glasgow^[63]

Contesting constituency ballot only

•   Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC): Glasgow Cathcart, Glasgow Pollok, Glasgow Shettleston, Renfrewshire North and West, Dundee City East and Dundee City West^[64]
•   Independent candidates

Opinion polling

Main article: Opinion polling for the 2016 Scottish Parliament election

The chart shows the relative state of the parties since polling began from 2012, until the date of the election. The constituency vote is shown as semi-transparent lines, while the regional vote is shown in full lines.

Average 30 day trend line of poll results for the 2016 Scottish Parliament election. Results from 29 January 2012 to 4 May 2016

Result

↓

63	31	24	6	5
SNP	Conservative	Labour	Green	LD

Election result with constituency names labeled

← 2016 Scottish Parliament election^[65] →

Party		Constituencies					Regional additional members					Total seats
		Votes	%	±	Seats	±	Votes	%	±	Seats	±	Total	±	%
	SNP	1,059,898	46.5	1.1	59	6	953,587	41.7	2.3	4	12	63	6	48.8
	Conservative	501,844	22.0	8.1	7	4	524,222	22.9	10.6	24	12	31	16	24.0
	Labour	514,261	22.6	9.2	3	12	435,919	19.1	7.2	21	1	24	13	18.6
	Scottish Green	13,172	0.6	0.6	0		150,426	6.6	2.2	6	4	6	4	4.7
	Liberal Democrats	178,238	7.8	0.1	4	2	119,284	5.2		1	2	5		3.9
	UKIP	—	—	—	—	—	46,426	2.0	1.1	0		0		0.0
	Solidarity	—	—	—	—	—	14,333	0.6	0.5	0		0		0.0
	Scottish Christian	1,162	0.1		0		11,686	0.5	0.3	0		0		0.0
	RISE	—	—	—	—	—	10,911	0.5	new	0	new	0	new	0.0
	Women's Equality	—	—	—	—	—	5,968	0.3	new	0	new	0	new	0.0
	BUP	—	—	—	—	—	2,453	0.1	new	0	new	0	new	0.0
	Clydesdale and South Scotland Independent	909	0.0	new	0	new	1,485	0.1	new	0	new	0	new	0.0
	Animal Welfare	—	—	—	—	—	1,819	0.1	new	0	new	0	new	0.0
	Scottish Libertarian	119	0.0	new	0	new	1,686	0.1	new	0	new	0	new	0.0
	National Front	—	—	—	—	—	617	0.0	0.0	0		0		0.0
	Communist	—	—	—	—	—	510	0.0	0.0	0		0		0.0
	TUSC	3,540	0.1	new	0	new	—	—	—	—	—	0	new	0.0
	Independent	6,011	0.3	0.3	0		4,420	0.2		0	1	0	1	0.0
Valid votes		2,279,154	99.6	0.1			2,285,752	99.8	0.1
Spoilt votes		9,215	0.4	0.1			3,812	0.2	0.1
Total		2,288,369	100		73	–	2,289,564	100		56	–	129	–	100
Electorate/Turnout		4,099,907	55.8	5.3			4,099,907	55.8	5.3

Votes summary

Popular Vote (Constituency) SNP   46.5% Labour   22.6% Conservative   22.0% Liberal Democrats   7.8% Green   0.6% Other   0.5%

Popular Vote (Regional) SNP   41.7% Conservative   22.9% Labour   19.1% Green   6.6% Liberal Democrats   5.2% UKIP   2.0% Other   2.5%

Parliament seats SNP   48.8% Conservative   24.0% Labour   18.6% Green   4.7% Liberal Democrats   3.9%

Central Scotland

Scottish Parliament election, 2016: Central Scotland

Constituency		Elected member	Result
	Airdrie and Shotts	Alex Neil	SNP hold
	Coatbridge and Chryston	Fulton MacGregor	SNP gain from Labour
	Cumbernauld and Kilsyth	Jamie Hepburn	SNP hold
	East Kilbride	Linda Fabiani	SNP hold
	Falkirk East	Angus MacDonald	SNP hold
	Falkirk West	Michael Matheson	SNP hold
	Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse	Christina McKelvie	SNP hold
	Motherwell and Wishaw	Clare Adamson	SNP gain from Labour
	Uddingston and Bellshill	Richard Lyle	SNP gain from Labour

Scottish parliamentary election, 2016: Central Scotland

Party		Elected candidates	Seats	+/−	Votes	%	+/−%
	SNP		0	-3	129,082	47.7%	+1.3%
	Labour	Richard Leonard Monica Lennon Mark Griffin Elaine Smith	4	+1	67,103	24.8%	-10.5%
	Conservative	Margaret Mitchell Graham Simpson Alison Harris	3	+2	43,602	16.1%	+9.7%
	Scottish Green		0	0	12,722	4.7%	+2.3%

Glasgow

Scottish Parliament election, 2016: Glasgow

Constituency		Elected member	Result
	Glasgow Anniesland	Bill Kidd	SNP hold
	Glasgow Cathcart	James Dornan	SNP hold
	Glasgow Kelvin	Sandra White	SNP hold
	Glasgow Maryhill and Springburn	Bob Doris	SNP gain from Labour
	Glasgow Pollok	Humza Yousaf	SNP gain from Labour
	Glasgow Provan	Ivan McKee	SNP gain from Labour
	Glasgow Shettleston	John Mason	SNP hold
	Glasgow Southside	Nicola Sturgeon	SNP hold
	Rutherglen	Clare Haughey	SNP gain from Labour

Scottish parliamentary election, 2016: Glasgow

Party		Elected candidates	Seats	+/−	Votes	%	+/−%
	SNP		0	-2	111,101	44.8%	+4.9%
	Labour	Anas Sarwar Johann Lamont James Kelly Pauline McNeill	4	+1	59,151	23.8%	-11.1%
	Conservative	Adam Tomkins Annie Wells	2	+1	29,533	11.9%	+5.8%
	Scottish Green	Patrick Harvie	1	±0	23,398	9.4%	+3.5%

Highlands and Islands

Scottish Parliament election, 2016: Highlands and Islands

Constituency		Elected member	Result
	Argyll and Bute	Michael Russell	SNP hold
	Caithness, Sutherland and Ross	Gail Ross	SNP hold
	Inverness and Nairn	Fergus Ewing	SNP hold
	Moray	Richard Lochhead	SNP hold
	Na h-Eileanan an Iar	Alasdair Allan	SNP hold
	Orkney	Liam McArthur	Liberal Democrats hold
	Shetland	Tavish Scott	Liberal Democrats hold
	Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch	Kate Forbes	SNP hold

Scottish Parliament election, 2016: Highlands and Islands

Party		Elected candidates	Seats	+/−	Votes	%	+/−%
	SNP	Maree Todd	1	-2	81,600	39.7%	-7.8%
	Conservative	Douglas Ross Edward Mountain Donald Cameron	3	+1	44,693	21.8%	+10.1%
	Liberal Democrats		0	±0	27,223	13.3%	+1.1%
	Labour	Rhoda Grant David Stewart	2	±0	22,894	11.2%	-3.3%
	Scottish Green	John Finnie	1	+1	14,781	7.2%	+2.1%

Lothian

Scottish Parliament election, 2016: Lothian

Constituency		Elected member	Result
	Almond Valley	Angela Constance	SNP hold
	Edinburgh Central	Ruth Davidson	Conservative gain from SNP
	Edinburgh Eastern	Ash Denham	SNP hold
	Edinburgh Northern and Leith	Ben Macpherson	SNP gain from Labour
	Edinburgh Pentlands	Gordon MacDonald	SNP hold
	Edinburgh Southern	Daniel Johnson	Labour gain from SNP
	Edinburgh Western	Alex Cole-Hamilton	Liberal Democrats gain from SNP
	Linlithgow	Fiona Hyslop	SNP hold
	Midlothian North and Musselburgh	Colin Beattie	SNP hold

Scottish Parliament election, 2016: Lothian

Party		Elected candidates	Seats	+/−	Votes	%	+/−%
	SNP		0	0	118,546	36.2%	-2.9%
	Conservative	Miles Briggs Gordon Lindhurst Jeremy Balfour	3	+1	74,972	22.9%	+11.3%
	Labour	Kezia Dugdale Neil Findlay	2	-1	67,991	20.8%	-4.1%
	Scottish Green	Alison Johnstone Andy Wightman	2	+1	34,551	10.6%	+3.0%
	Independent		0	-1	—	—	-6.6%

Margo MacDonald had been elected on the Lothian regional list in 2011, as an Independent; she died in 2014.

Mid Scotland and Fife

Scottish Parliament election, 2016: Mid Scotland and Fife

Constituency		Elected member	Result
	Clackmannanshire and Dunblane	Keith Brown	SNP hold
	Cowdenbeath	Annabelle Ewing	SNP gain from Labour
	Dunfermline	Shirley-Anne Somerville	SNP hold
	Kirkcaldy	David Torrance	SNP hold
	Mid Fife and Glenrothes	Jenny Gilruth	SNP hold
	North East Fife	Willie Rennie	Liberal Democrats gain from SNP
	Perthshire North	John Swinney	SNP hold
	Perthshire South and Kinross-shire	Roseanna Cunningham	SNP hold
	Stirling	Bruce Crawford	SNP hold

Scottish Parliament election, 2016: Mid Scotland and Fife

Party		Elected candidates	Seats	+/−	Votes	%	+/−%
	SNP		0	-1	120,128	41.3%	-3.9%
	Conservative	Murdo Fraser Liz Smith Alexander Stewart Dean Lockhart	4	+2	73,293	25.2%	+11.0%
	Labour	Claire Brennan-Baker Alex Rowley	2	-1	51,373	17.6%	-7.4%
	Liberal Democrats		0	-1	20,401	7.0%	+1.2%
	Scottish Green	Mark Ruskell	1	+1	17,860	6.1%	+1.9%

North East Scotland

Scottish Parliament election, 2016: North East Scotland

Constituency		Elected member	Result
	Aberdeen Central	Kevin Stewart	SNP hold
	Aberdeen Donside	Mark McDonald	SNP hold
	Aberdeen South & North Kincardine	Maureen Watt	SNP hold
	Aberdeenshire East	Gillian Martin	SNP hold
	Aberdeenshire West	Alexander Burnett	Conservative gain from SNP
	Angus North & Mearns	Mairi Evans	SNP hold
	Angus South	Graeme Dey	SNP hold
	Banffshire & Buchan Coast	Stewart Stevenson	SNP hold
	Dundee City East	Shona Robison	SNP hold
	Dundee City West	Joe Fitzpatrick	SNP hold

Scottish Parliament election, 2016: North East Scotland

Party		Elected candidates	Seats	+/−	Votes	%	+/−%
	SNP		0	-1	137,086	44.7%	-8.1%
	Conservative	Alex Johnstone Ross Thomson Peter Chapman Liam Kerr	4	+2	85,848	28.0%	+13.9%
	Labour	Jenny Marra Lewis MacDonald	2	-1	38,791	12.6%	-3.8%
	Liberal Democrats	Mike Rumbles	1	±0	18,444	6.0%	-0.8%
	Scottish Green		0	±0	15,123	4.9%	+1.0%

South Scotland

Scottish Parliament election, 2016: South Scotland

Constituency		Elected member	Result
	Ayr	John Scott	Conservative hold
	Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley	Jeane Freeman	SNP hold
	Clydesdale	Aileen Campbell	SNP hold
	Dumfriesshire	Oliver Mundell	Conservative gain from Labour
	East Lothian	Iain Gray	Labour hold
	Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire	John Lamont	Conservative hold
	Galloway and West Dumfries	Finlay Carson	Conservative hold
	Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley	Willie Coffey	SNP hold
	Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale	Christine Grahame	SNP hold

Scottish Parliament election, 2016: South Scotland

Party		Elected candidates	Seats	+/−	Votes	%	+/−%
	SNP	Joan McAlpine Emma Harper Paul Wheelhouse	3	-1	120,217	38.3%	-2.7
	Conservative	Rachael Hamilton Brian Whittle	2	+2	100,753	32.1%	+12.6
	Labour	Claudia Beamish Colin Smyth	2	0	56,072	17.8%	-7.5
	Scottish Green		0	0	14,773	4.7%	+1.6
	Liberal Democrats		0	-1	11,775	3.7%	-1.7

West Scotland

Scottish Parliament election, 2016: West Scotland

Constituency		Elected member	Result
	Clydebank and Milngavie	Gil Paterson	SNP hold
	Cunninghame North	Kenneth Gibson	SNP hold
	Cunninghame South	Ruth Maguire	SNP hold
	Dumbarton	Jackie Baillie	Labour hold
	Eastwood	Jackson Carlaw	Conservative gain from Labour
	Greenock and Inverclyde	Stuart McMillan	SNP gain from Labour
	Paisley	George Adam	SNP hold
	Renfrewshire North and West	Derek Mackay	SNP hold
	Renfrewshire South	Tom Arthur	SNP gain from Labour
	Strathkelvin and Bearsden	Rona Mackay	SNP hold

Scottish Parliament election, 2016: West Scotland

Party		Elected candidates	Seats	+/−	Votes	%	+/−%
	SNP		0	-2	135,827	42.2%	+0.6%
	Labour	Mary Fee Neil Bibby Ken Macintosh	3	±0	72,544	22.5%	-10.2%
	Conservative	Jamie Greene Maurice Golden Maurice Corry	3	+1	71,528	22.2%	+9.5%
	Scottish Green	Ross Greer	1	+1	17,218	5.3%	+2.4%

Target seats

Below are listed all the constituencies which required a swing of less than 5% from the 2011 result to change hands.

SNP targets

Rank	Constituency	Winning party 2011		Swing to gain	SNP's place 2011	Result
1	East Lothian		Labour	0.24	2nd		Labour Hold
2	Greenock & Inverclyde		Labour	0.91			SNP Gain
3	Edinburgh Northern & Leith		Labour	0.97
4	Motherwell & Wishaw		Labour	1.21
5	Uddingston & Bellshill		Labour	1.43
6	Galloway & West Dumfries		Conservative	1.44			Conservative Hold
7	Ayr		Conservative	1.67
8	Glasgow Pollok		Labour	1.36			SNP Gain
9	Cowdenbeath		Labour	2.43
10	Dumbarton		Labour	2.87			Labour Hold
11	Glasgow Maryhill & Springburn		Labour	3.15			SNP Gain
12	Rutherglen		Labour	3.28
13	Renfrewshire South		Labour	4.81

Labour targets

Rank	Constituency	Winning party 2011		Swing to gain	Labour's place 2011	Result
1	Glasgow Anniesland		SNP	0.02	2nd		SNP Hold
2	Kirkcaldy		SNP	0.33
3	Edinburgh Central		SNP	0.41			Conservative Gain
4	Paisley		SNP	0.49			SNP Hold
5	Edinburgh Southern		SNP	1.03			Labour Gain
6	Aberdeen Central		SNP	1.23			SNP Hold
7	Clydebank & Milngavie		SNP	1.26
8	Glasgow Shettleston		SNP	1.39
9	Glasgow Kelvin		SNP	1.80
10	Strathkelvin & Bearsden		SNP	2.67
11	Renfrewshire North & West		SNP	2.85
12	Glasgow Cathcart		SNP	3.04
13	East Kilbride		SNP	3.26
14	Edinburgh Eastern		SNP	3.64
15	Airdrie and Shotts		SNP	4.19
16	Hamilton, Larkhall & Stonehouse		SNP	4.37
17	Carrick, Cumnock & Doon Valley		SNP	4.50

Conservative targets

Rank	Constituency	Winning party 2011		Swing to gain	Con place 2011	Result
1	Edinburgh Pentlands		SNP	2.93	2nd		SNP Hold
2	Eastwood		Labour	3.16	2nd		Conservative Gain
3	Dumfriesshire		Labour	4.97	2nd

Liberal Democrat targets

Rank	Constituency	Winning party 2011		Swing to gain	LD's place 2011	Result
1	Edinburgh Southern		SNP	2.45	3rd		Labour Gain
2	Edinburgh Western		SNP	4.02	2nd		Lib Dem Gain
3	North East Fife		SNP	4.37	2nd

Incumbents defeated

Constituency/Region	MSP	Party		MSP Since	Office previously held
Uddingston and Bellshill	Michael McMahon		Labour	1999	Shadow Minister for Community
Central Scotland	Siobhan McMahon			2011	Shadow Minister for Public Services and Wealth Creation
	Margaret McCulloch			2011
Motherwell, Wishaw and Hamilton	John Pentland			2011	Shadow Minister for Opportunity
Glasgow Maryhill and Springburn	Patricia Ferguson			1999
Glasgow Provan	Paul Martin			1999
Glasgow	Hanzala Malik			2011
	Anne McTaggart			2011	Shadow Minister for Democracy
Lothian	Sarah Boyack			1999	Spokesperson for Environmental Justice
Dunfermline	Cara Hilton			2013	Shadow Minister for Opportunity
Mid Scotland and Fife	Jayne Baxter			2012	Shadow Minister for Community
Dumfriesshire	Elaine Murray			1999	Shadow Minister for Justice
North East Scotland	Lesley Brennan			2016
Highlands and Islands	Mike MacKenzie		Scottish National Party	2011
North East Fife	Roderick Campbell			2011
Edinburgh Southern	Jim Eadie			2011
Aberdeenshire West	Dennis Robertson			2011
Angus North and Mearns (stood for North East Scotland)	Nigel Don			2007	Convener of the Scottish Parliament Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee
North East Scotland	Christian Allard			2013
South Scotland	Aileen McLeod[66]			2011	Minister for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform
	Chic Brodie			2011
West Scotland	Stewart Maxwell			2003	Convener of the Scottish Parliament Education and Culture Committee
North East Scotland	Alison McInnes		Liberal Democrats	2007
South Scotland	Jim Hume			2007
Central Scotland	John Wilson		Scottish Greens*	2007
Highlands and Islands	Jean Urquhart		RISE*	2011

* Formerly SNP

See also

Other elections in the UK being held on the same day

• 2016 London Assembly election
• 2016 London mayoral election
• 2016 National Assembly for Wales election
• 2016 Northern Ireland Assembly election
• 2016 United Kingdom local elections

UK parliamentary by-elections

• 2016 Ogmore by-election
• 2016 Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough by-election

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External links

• McNeill and Stone's Guide to candidates
• report on 2016 election by Electoral Commission

Party manifestos

• RISE – Scotland's Left Alliance: Another Scotland is possible
• Scottish Conservatives: A strong opposition – A stronger Scotland
• Scottish Green Party: A better Scotland needs a bolder Holyrood
• Scottish Liberal Democrats: Be the best again
• Scottish National Party: The next steps to a better Scotland
• UK Independence Party: Shake up Holyrood
• Women's Equality Party: Scotland Manifesto