2007 Scottish Parliament election

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.

2007 Scottish Parliament election

← 2003 3 May 2007 (2007-05-03) 2011 →
← outgoing members elected members →
All 129 seats to the Scottish Parliament 65 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Turnout	Constituency - 53.9% 4.2pp Regional - 54.0% 4.3pp
First party Second party Third party   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 20 4 1 Constituency vote 664,227 648,374 334,743  % and swing 32.9% 9.1% 32.1% 2.5% 16.6% Regional vote 633,611 595,415 284,035  % and swing 31.0% 10.1% 29.2% 0.2% 13.9% 1.6%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   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 1 5 6 Constituency vote 326,232 2,971 525  % and swing 16.2% 0.8% 0.1% 0.1% 0.0% 6.2% Regional vote 230,651 82,577 13,096  % and swing 11.3% 0.5% 4.0% 2.9% 0.6% 6.1%
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 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.

Background

The main issues during the campaign trail were healthcare, education, council tax reform, pensions, the Union, Trident (the submarines are based in Scotland), the Iraq War and more powers for the Scottish Parliament. Some parties proposed raise the school leaving age from 16 to 18 and raising the minimum age to purchase tobacco products from 16 to 18.

Jack McConnell, as First Minister, entered the election defending a small overall majority of five seats via a coalition of Labour and the Liberal Democrats. The Lab-LD social liberal coalition had been in power, with three different First Ministers, since the first Scottish Parliament election in 1999. Opinion polls suggested its majority could be lost in 2007, due to falling support for the Labour Party and rising support for other parties, in particular the Scottish National Party (SNP). The polls suggested that no single party was likely to acquire an overall majority, nor was there an obvious alternative coalition ready to form a new Executive.

A TNS Poll in November 2006 gave Labour an 8% lead over the SNP which was second behind Labour in terms of numbers of Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs). As the election approached the SNP gained support while Labour's support declined. Based on pre-election projections, there could have been some possibility of an SNP–Liberal Democrat coalition, which might have extended to include the Scottish Green Party.^[4][5][6][7] The other parties represented in the Parliament before the election were the Scottish Conservative Party, the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP), Solidarity and the Scottish Senior Citizens Unity Party. (Solidarity is a new party, having broken away from the SSP in 2006.)

Other parties that campaigned for seats in Holyrood included the UK Independence Party (UKIP), the British National Party (BNP), the Scottish Unionist Party, the Scottish Socialist Labour Party, the Christian Peoples Alliance, the Scottish Christian Party.

Retiring MSPs

Labour

• Susan Deacon, Edinburgh East and Musselburgh^[8]
• John Home Robertson, East Lothian^[9]
• Janis Hughes, Glasgow Rutherglen^[10]
• Kate Maclean, Dundee West^[11][12]

Scottish National Party

• Bruce McFee, West of Scotland list^[12]
• George Reid, Ochil^[12]

Conservative

• Phil Gallie, South of Scotland list^[12]
• James Douglas-Hamilton, Lothians list^[12]

Liberal Democrats

• Donald Gorrie, Central Scotland list^[10]
• Jim Wallace, Orkney^[10]

Scottish Socialist Party

• Frances Curran, West of Scotland list^[13]

Independents

• Dennis Canavan, Falkirk West^[14]
• Brian Monteith (elected as a Conservative), Mid Scotland and Fife list^[15]

Defeated MSPs

Labour

• Gordon Jackson, Glasgow Govan
• Sylvia Jackson, Stirling
• Margaret Jamieson, Kilmarnock and Loudoun
• Maureen Macmillan, Highlands and Islands
• Christine May, Fife Central
• Alasdair Morrison, Western Isles
• Bristow Muldoon, Livingston
• Allan Wilson, Cunninghame North

Lib Dem

• Andrew Arbuckle, Mid Scotland and Fife
• Nora Radcliffe, Gordon
• Euan Robson, Roxburgh and Berwickshire
• George Lyon, Argyll and Bute

Conservative

• Dave Petrie, Highlands and Islands
• Murray Tosh, West of Scotland

Scottish Greens

• Shiona Baird, North East Scotland
• Chris Ballance, South of Scotland
• Mark Ballard, Lothians
• Mark Ruskell, Mid Scotland and Fife
• Eleanor Scott, Highlands and Islands

Scottish Socialist Party

• Colin Fox, Lothians
• Rosie Kane, Glasgow
• Carolyn Leckie, Central Scotland

Solidarity

• Rosemary Byrne, South of Scotland - originally elected as Scottish Socialist Party
• Tommy Sheridan, Glasgow - originally elected as Scottish Socialist Party

Scottish Senior Citizens Unity Party

• John Swinburne, Central Scotland

Independent

• Campbell Martin, West of Scotland - Former SNP MSP
• Jean Turner, Strathkelvin and Bearsden

Opinion polls

Further information: Opinion polling for the 2007 Scottish Parliament election

Election results

Election result with constituency names labeled

↓

47	46	17	16	2
SNP	Labour	Conservative	Lib Dems

← 2007 Scottish Parliament election^[16] →

Party		Constituencies					Regional additional members					Total seats
		Votes	%	±	Seats	±	Votes	%	±	Seats	±	Total	±	%
	SNP	664,227	32.9	9.1	21	12	633,611	31.0	10.1	26	8	47	20	37.0
	Labour	648,374	32.1	2.5	37	9	595,415	29.1	0.2	9	5	46	4	36.2
	Conservative	334,743	16.6		4	1	284,035	13.9	1.6	13	2	17	1	13.4
	Liberal Democrats	326,232	16.2	0.8	11	2	230,651	11.3	0.5	5	1	16	1	12.6
	Scottish Green	2,971	0.1	0.1	0		82,577	4.0	2.9	2	5	2	5	1.6
	Margo MacDonald	–	–	–	–	–	19,256	0.9	0.5	1	0	1		0.8
	Scottish Senior Citizens	1,702	0.1		0		39,038	1.9	0.4	0	1	0	1	0.0
	Scottish Christian	4,586	0.2	new	0	new	26,575	1.3	new	0	new	0	new	0.0
	Solidarity	–	–	–	–	–	31,096	1.5	new	0	new	0	new	0.0
	BNP	–	–	–	–	–	24,598	1.2	1.1	0		0		0.0
	CPA	–	–	–	–	–	14,745	0.7	new	0	new	0	new	0.0
	Socialist Labour	–	–	–	–	–	14,054	0.7	0.4	0		0		0.0
	Scottish Socialist	525	0.0	6.2	0	–	13,096	0.6	6.1	0	6	0	6	0.0
	UKIP	–	–	–	–	–	8,197	0.4	0.2	0		0		0.0
	Scottish Voice	2,827	0.1	new	0	new	3,339	0.2	new	0	new	0	new	0.0
	Publican Party	–	–	–	–	–	5,905	0.3	new	0	new	0	new	0.0
	Scottish Unionist	–	–	–	–	–	4,401	0.2	0.1	0		0		0.0
	Action to Save St John's Hospital	2,814	0.1	new	0	new	–	–	–	–	–	0	new	0.0
	Save Our NHS Group	–	–	–	–	–	2,682	0.1	new	0	new	0	new	0.0
	NHS First	–	–	–	–	–	1,955	0.1	new	0	new	0	new	0.0
	Free Scotland Party	575	0.0	new	0	new	664	0.0	new	0	new	0	new	0.0
	Had Enough Party	498	0.0	new	0	new	670	0.0	new	0	new	0	new	0.0
	Scottish Enterprise	409	0.0	new	0	new	616	0.0	new	0	new	0	new	0.0
	Adam Lyal's Witchery Tour Party	–	–	–	–	–	867	0.0	0.1	0		0		0.0
	Scottish Jacobite	309	0.0	new	0	0	446	0.0	new	0	new	0	new	0.0
	Scottish Voice / NHS	–	–	–	–	–	661	0.0	new	0	new	0	new	0.0
	Scotland Against Crooked Lawyers	–	–	–	–	–	615	0.0	new	0	new	0	new	0.0
	Peace	577	0.0	new	0	new	–	–	–	–	–	0	new	0.0
	Communist	251	0.0	new	0	new	260	0.0	new	0	new	0	new	0.0
	Independent Green Voice	–	–	–	–	–	496	0.0	0.1	0		0		0.0
	Anti-Trident Party	187	0.0	new	0	new	–	–	–	–	–	0	new	0.0
	Socialist Equality	–	–	–	–	–	139	0.0	new	0	new	0	new	0.0
	Equal Parenting Alliance	124	0.0	new	0	new	–	–	–	–	–	0	new	0.0
	Nine Per Cent Growth Party	–	–	–	–	–	80	0.0	new	0	new	0	new	0.0
	Independent	24,862	1.2	0.1	0	−2	2,064	0.1	0.1	0	2	0	2	0.0
	Others	185	0.0	1.4	0		–	–	1.5	0		0		0.0
Valid votes		2,016,978	95.9	3.5			2,042,804	97.1	2.3
Spoilt votes		85,631	4.1	3.5			62,038	2.9	2.3
Total		2,102,609	100		73	–	2,104,842	100		56	–	129	–	100
Electorate/Turnout		3,899,472	53.9	4.2			3,899,472	54.0	4.3

Popular Vote (Constituency) SNP   32.93% Labour   32.15% Conservative   16.60% Liberal Democrats   16.17% Other   2.15%

Popular Vote (Regional) SNP   31.02% Labour   29.16% Conservative   13.91% Liberal Democrats   11.30% Green   4.04% SSCUP   1.90% Other   8.67%

Parliament seats SNP   36.43% Labour   35.66% Conservative   13.18% Liberal Democrats   12.40% Green   1.55% Other   0.78%

Turnout in the election was 51.7% in the constituency vote and 52.4% in the regional vote up from 2003 where the turnout was 49.4% in both the constituency and regional vote^[17]

Notes: Independents contested 17 seats and three regions. Scottish Greens contested 1 seat, Scottish Socialist Party contested 1 seat, Scottish Christian Party, Scottish Voice etc. contested a small number of seats. A number of local issue parties also stood in single constituencies. The Nine Per Cent Growth Party stood candidates on the regional lists, and had a candidate for the local council elections of the same year.^[18] Standing in the Glasgow Regional List^[19] the party finished last of 23 candidates, receiving only 80 votes (0.04%), a record low.

Constituency and regional summary

Central Scotland

2007 Scottish Parliament election: Central Scotland

Constituency		Elected member	Result
	Airdrie and Shotts	Karen Whitefield	Labour hold
	Coatbridge and Chryston	Elaine Smith	Labour hold
	Cumbernauld and Kilsyth	Cathie Craigie	Labour hold
	East Kilbride	Andy Kerr	Labour hold
	Falkirk East	Cathy Peattie	Labour hold
	Falkirk West	Michael Matheson	SNP gain from Independent
	Hamilton North and Bellshill	Michael McMahon	Labour hold
	Hamilton South	Tom McCabe	Labour hold
	Kilmarnock and Loudoun	Willie Coffey	SNP gain from Labour
	Motherwell and Wishaw	Jack McConnell	Labour hold

Scottish Parliament election, 2007: Central Scotland

Party		Elected candidates	Seats	+/−	Votes	%	+/−%
	SNP	Alex Neil Linda Fabiani Jamie Hepburn Christina McKelvie John Wilson	5	+2	89,210	31.4%	+8.8%
	Conservative	Margaret Mitchell	1	±0	24,253	8.5%	−0.6%
	Liberal Democrats	Hugh O'Donnell	1	±0	14,648	5.2%	−0.7%

Glasgow

2007 Scottish Parliament election: Glasgow

Constituency		Elected member	Result
	Glasgow Anniesland	Bill Butler	Labour hold
	Glasgow Baillieston	Margaret Curran	Labour hold
	Glasgow Cathcart	Charles Gordon	Labour hold
	Glasgow Govan	Nicola Sturgeon	SNP gain from Labour
	Glasgow Kelvin	Pauline McNeill	Labour hold
	Glasgow Maryhill	Patricia Ferguson	Labour hold
	Glasgow Pollok	Johann Lamont	Labour hold
	Glasgow Rutherglen	James Kelly	Labour hold
	Glasgow Shettleston	Frank McAveety	Labour hold
	Glasgow Springburn	Paul Martin	Labour hold

Scottish Parliament election, 2007: Glasgow

Party		Elected candidates	Seats	+/−	Votes	%	+/−%
	SNP	Bashir Ahmad Sandra White Bob Doris Bill Kidd	4	+2	55,832	27%	+9.9%
	Liberal Democrats	Robert Brown	1	±0	14,767	7.2%	−0.1%
	Conservative	Bill Aitken	1	±0	13,751	6.7%	−0.8%
	Scottish Green	Patrick Harvie	1	±0	10,759	5.2%	−1.9%

Highlands and Islands

2007 Scottish Parliament election: Highlands and Islands

Constituency		Elected member	Result
	Argyll and Bute	Jim Mather	SNP gain from Liberal Democrats
	Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross	Jamie Stone	Liberal Democrats hold
	Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber	Fergus Ewing	SNP hold
	Moray	Richard Lochhead	SNP hold
	Orkney	Liam McArthur	Liberal Democrats hold
	Ross, Skye and Inverness West	John Farquhar Munro	Liberal Democrats hold
	Shetland	Tavish Scott	Liberal Democrats hold
	Western Isles	Alasdair Allan	SNP gain from Labour

Scottish Parliament election, 2007: Highlands and Islands

Party		Elected candidates	Seats	+/−	Votes	%	+/−%
	SNP	Rob Gibson David Thompson	2	±0	63,979	34.4%	+11.0
	Labour	Peter Peacock Rhoda Grant David Stewart	3	+1	32,952	17.7%	−4.6
	Conservative	Mary Scanlon Jamie McGrigor	2	±0	23,334	12.6%	−3.4

Lothians

2007 Scottish Parliament election: Lothians

Constituency		Elected member	Result
	Edinburgh Central	Sarah Boyack	Labour hold
	Edinburgh East and Musselburgh	Kenny MacAskill	SNP gain from Labour
	Edinburgh North and Leith	Malcolm Chisholm	Labour hold
	Edinburgh Pentlands	David McLetchie	Conservative hold
	Edinburgh South	Mike Pringle	Liberal Democrats hold
	Edinburgh West	Margaret Smith	Liberal Democrats hold
	Linlithgow	Mary Mulligan	Labour hold
	Livingston	Angela Constance	SNP gain from Labour
	Midlothian	Rhona Brankin	Labour hold

Scottish Parliament election, 2007: Lothians

Party		Elected candidates	Seats	+/−	Votes	%	+/−%
	SNP	Fiona Hyslop Ian McKee Stefan Tymkewycz	3	+1	76,019	26.5%	+10.2
	Labour	George Foulkes	1	+1	75,495	26.3%	+0.8
	Conservative	Gavin Brown	1	±0	37,548	13.1%	−2.0
	Scottish Green	Robin Harper	1	−1	20,147	7.0%	−5.0
	Independent	Margo MacDonald	1	±0	19,256	6.7%	−3.5

Mid Scotland and Fife

2007 Scottish Parliament election: Mid Scotland and Fife

Constituency		Elected member	Result
	Dunfermline East	Helen Eadie	Labour hold
	Dunfermline West	Jim Tolson	Liberal Democrats gain from Labour
	Fife Central	Tricia Marwick	SNP gain from Labour
	Fife North East	Iain Smith	Liberal Democrats hold
	Kirkcaldy	Marilyn Livingstone	Labour hold
	North Tayside	John Swinney	SNP hold
	Ochil	Keith Brown	SNP hold
	Perth	Roseanna Cunningham	SNP hold
	Stirling	Bruce Crawford	SNP gain from Labour

Scottish Parliament election, 2007: Mid Scotland and Fife

Party		Elected candidates	Seats	+/−	Votes	%	+/−%
	SNP	Chris Harvie	1	−1	90,090	33.0%	+10%
	Labour	John Park Claire Brennan-Baker Richard Simpson	3	+3	71,922	26.3%	+1.0%
	Conservative	Murdo Fraser Liz Smith Ted Brocklebank	3	±0	44,341	16.2%	−1.3%

North East Scotland

2007 Scottish Parliament election: North East Scotland

Constituency		Elected member	Result
	Aberdeen Central	Lewis Macdonald	Labour hold
	Aberdeen North	Brian Adam	SNP hold
	Aberdeen South	Nicol Stephen	Liberal Democrats hold
	Angus	Andrew Welsh	SNP hold
	Banff and Buchan	Stewart Stevenson	SNP hold
	Dundee East	Shona Robison	SNP hold
	Dundee West	Joe Fitzpatrick	SNP gain from Labour
	Gordon	Alex Salmond	SNP gain from Liberal Democrats
	West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine	Mike Rumbles	Liberal Democrats hold

Scottish Parliament election, 2007: North East Scotland

Party		Elected candidates	Seats	+/−	Votes	%	+/−%
	SNP	Maureen Watt Nigel Don	2	+1	105,265	40.5%	+13.2%
	Labour	Richard Baker Marlyn Glen	2	±0	52,125	20.0%	−0.1%
	Conservative	Alex Johnstone Nanette Milne	2	−1	37,666	14.5%	-2.9%
	Liberal Democrats	Alison McInnes	1	+1	40,934	15.7%	−3.1%

South of Scotland

2007 Scottish Parliament election: South of Scotland

Constituency		Elected member	Result
	Ayr	John Scott	Conservative hold
	Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley	Cathy Jamieson	Labour hold
	Clydesdale	Karen Gillon	Labour hold
	Cunninghame South	Irene Oldfather	Labour hold
	Dumfries	Elaine Murray	Labour hold
	East Lothian	Iain Gray	Labour hold
	Galloway and Upper Nithsdale	Alex Fergusson	Conservative hold
	Roxburgh and Berwickshire	John Lamont	Conservative gain from Liberal Democrats
	Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale	Jeremy Purvis	Liberal Democrats hold

Scottish Parliament election, 2007: South of Scotland

Party		Elected candidates	Seats	+/−	Votes	%	+/−%
	SNP	Christine Grahame Michael Russell Adam Ingram Alasdair Morgan Aileen Campbell	5	+2	77,053	27.8%	+9.4%
	Conservative	Derek Brownlee	1	−1	62,475	22.6%	−1.7%
	Liberal Democrats	Jim Hume	1	+1	28,040	10.1%	−0.1%

West of Scotland

2007 Scottish Parliament election: West of Scotland

Constituency		Elected member	Result
	Clydebank and Milngavie	Des McNulty	Labour hold
	Cunninghame North	Kenneth Gibson	SNP gain from Labour
	Dumbarton	Jackie Baillie	Labour hold
	Eastwood	Ken Macintosh	Labour hold
	Greenock and Inverclyde	Duncan McNeil	Labour hold
	Paisley North	Wendy Alexander	Labour hold
	Paisley South	Hugh Henry	Labour hold
	Strathkelvin and Bearsden	David Whitton	Labour gain from Independent
	West Renfrewshire	Patricia Godman	Labour hold

Scottish Parliament election, 2007: West of Scotland

Party		Elected candidates	Seats	+/−	Votes	%	+/−%
	SNP	Stewart Maxwell Gil Paterson Bill Wilson Stuart McMillan	4	+1	75,953	28.3%	+8.7%
	Conservative	Annabel Goldie Jackson Carlaw	2	±0	40,637	15.2%	−0.5%
	Liberal Democrats	Ross Finnie	1	±0	22,515	8.4%	−3.9%

Incidents

Scanners counting votes in Glasgow's SECC.

Delayed counts

Some counts in the Western Isles (Barra & the Uists) were delayed because the chartered helicopter sent to pick up the ballot boxes was delayed by bad weather. The boxes were instead transferred by sea and road to be counted in Stornoway. The votes were announced around 12.00 on Friday 4 May.

Vandalism

A man smashed ballot boxes with a golf club at a polling station at Carrick Knowe in Corstorphine in Edinburgh. About 100 ballots were damaged, some having to be taped back together. The man was arrested on the scene.^[20]

High number of rejected votes

The number of 'invalid' ballot papers (residual votes) in this election was significantly higher than usual, with a total of 146,099 ballot papers (regional: 60,455 or 2.88%; constituency: 85,644 or 4.075%) being rejected,^[21] with some constituencies such as Glasgow Shettleston having rejection rates as high as 12.1%.^[22] For comparison, the rejected ballot paper rate in 2003 was 0.65% for regional ballot papers and 0.66% for constituency ballot papers. In total there were 16 constituencies where the number of rejected ballots exceeded the winning candidate's majority.^[23] This led to calls for an independent enquiry into the implementation of the new voting system. The BBC Scotland Chief Political Editor, Brian Taylor, described the situation as "a disgrace" during their Election Night coverage.^[24]

There are several reasons for the unusually high levels of rejected ballots in the election. One primary reason is that both the regional and constituency ballots were placed on a single sheet of paper. A large-type instruction at the top indicated "you have two votes." Being told that they had two votes, far too many voters used both votes on parties in the regional list.^[25] Although a rough template of the ballot was provided to voters by VoteScotland prior to the election, many ballots in reality had subtle yet consequential differences. Taking the ballot from Glasgow Shettleston for example, although its layout is similar to the sample ballot it has many more parties on the regional ballot, giving the illusion that the list continues onto the next side (constituency ballot). Furthermore, instructions provided to voters using these sheets were abbreviated. While the brief written instructions remained, they were presented in a much smaller font size. The column headings moved above the bold lines defining the columns and the visual prompt of the split arrow leading to the two columns is completely missing.^[26] This misleading ballot was made more complicated by two additional features of the balloting: several small parties like the Green Party ran one or fewer candidates in the constituency seats and parties were able to choose to put the name of their leader instead of the name of the party in the label for the list seats (For example, the SNP was listed as "Alex Salmond for First Minister", rather than the party name). Such poor ballot design decisions contributed to a similarly higher rate of spoiled ballots in the 2000 United States presidential election in areas of Florida such as Miami-Dade and Duval counties.

Another reason presented was that local elections took place on the same day with a different voting system and different design. Whereas the parliamentary election asked voters to mark a cross, the local council elections asked voters to number/ rank their candidates, as the council elections were under the single transferable vote system. Undercutting this theory, however, was the fact that the invalid rate in the local elections was far lower than the parliamentary elections (although still greater than in previous local elections) despite single transferable vote being a new system for most voters.

A third proposed reason was that this was the first election where electronic counting of papers had taken place. Many blamed e-counting for the increase in rejected papers, in part because the new machine counting system abandoned many counts during the early hours of Friday morning before all results had been counted. Furthermore, the primary reason for the regional and constituency ballots being placed on the same sheet of paper is due to restrictions on the size of paper the machines could accurately scan. The main company concerned was DRS Ltd.^[27] Nevertheless, nearly all invalid ballots would have been spoiled no matter how they were counted. However, the last minute redesign of ballot papers that was blamed for the high number of rejections in two electoral regions was done to make electronic voting easier.^[28]

Threatened legal actions

On 5 May 2007, the BBC reported that Labour were considering legal action against some results (particularly Cunninghame North, where the SNP beat Labour by just 48 votes) due to the high number of rejected votes.^[29] A further challenge was expected from Mike Dailly from the Govan Law Centre, a member of the Labour Party, purportedly on behalf of voters in the Glasgow region. He said that the result should be challenged because there were over 10,000 rejected ballots which could have caused a different result if they had counted. Tommy Sheridan of Solidarity was only 2,215 votes short of beating the Greens for the last place as an MSP.^[29]

There were no election petitions raised to challenge the results.^{[citation needed]}

Election system

There are 73 constituencies, each electing one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the plurality (first past the post) system of election, which are grouped into eight regions. These regions each elect seven additional member MSPs so as to produce an overall proportional result. The D'Hondt method is used to calculate which additional member MSPs the regions elect. Each constituency is a sub-division of a region; the additional members system is designed to produce proportional representation for each region, and the total number of MSPs elected to the parliament is 129.

The election was the first using constituencies (see Scottish Parliament constituencies and regions) that are not identical to constituencies of the House of Commons (Parliament of the United Kingdom). Scottish Westminster constituencies were replaced with a new set of generally larger constituencies, fewer in number, in 2005.

The Arbuthnott Commission reported in January 2006, concerning the multiplicity of voting systems and electoral divisions in Scotland. Council elections on the same day used Single Transferable Vote for the first time, but there was no change to the Holyrood election system, except regarding use of vote-counting machines, before the 2007 election. Scanners supplied by DRS Data Services Limited of Milton Keynes, in partnership with Electoral Reform Services, the trading arm of the Electoral Reform Society, were used to electronically count the paper ballots in both the Scottish Parliament general election and the Scottish council elections, which took place on the same day.^[30][31]

Top target seats of the main parties

Below are listed all the constituencies which required a swing of less than 5% from the 2003 result to change hands.

Many of the seats that changed hands are not listed here. For example, the Scottish National Party gained several seats (Stirling, Edinburgh East & Musselburgh, Gordon, Livingston and Argyll & Bute) with very large swings, yet did not gain any of their top three targets.

Labour targets

Rank	Constituency	Winning party 2003		Swing to gain	Labour's place 2003	Result
1	Dundee East		SNP	0.17	2nd	SNP hold
2	Edinburgh South		Liberal Democrats	0.26	2nd	LD hold
3	Ochil		SNP	0.49	2nd	SNP hold
4	Strathkelvin and Bearsden		Independent	0.62	2nd	Lab gain
5	Aberdeen North		SNP	0.92	2nd	SNP hold
6	Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber		SNP	1.51	2nd	SNP hold
7	Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale		Liberal Democrats	2.70	3rd	LD hold
8	Ayr		Conservative	2.99	2nd	Con hold
9	Edinburgh Pentlands		Conservative	3.16	2nd	Con hold
10	Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross		Liberal Democrats	4.96	2nd	LD hold

SNP targets

Rank	Constituency	Winning party 2003		Swing to gain	SNP's place 2003	Result
1	Galloway & Upper Nithsdale		Conservative	0.17	2nd	Con hold
2	Tweeddale, Ettrick & Lauderdale		Liberal Democrats	1.01	2nd	LD hold
3	Cumbernauld & Kilsyth		Labour	1.07	2nd	Lab hold
4	Kilmarnock & Loudoun		Labour	1.92	2nd	SNP gain
5	Dundee West		Labour	2.13	2nd	SNP gain
6	Western Isles		Labour	2.91	2nd	SNP gain
7	Glasgow Govan		Labour	2.92	2nd	SNP gain
8	Aberdeen Central		Labour	2.96	2nd	Lab hold
9	Linlithgow		Labour	3.56	2nd	Lab hold
10	West Renfrewshire		Labour	4.41	2nd	Lab hold
11	Paisley South		Labour	4.91	2nd	Lab hold

Conservative targets

Rank	Constituency	Winning party 2003		Swing to gain	Con place 2003	Result
1	Perth		SNP	1.15	2nd	SNP hold
2	Dumfries		Labour	1.71	2nd	Lab hold
3	Tweeddale, Ettrick & Lauderdale		Liberal Democrats	2.83	4th	LD hold
4	Eastwood		Labour	4.76	2nd	Lab hold
5	Stirling		Labour	4.86	2nd	SNP gain
6	West Renfrewshire		Labour	4.96	3rd	Lab hold

Liberal Democrat targets

Rank	Constituency	Winning party 2003		Swing to gain	LD's place 2003	Result
1	Edinburgh Central		Labour	4.75	2nd	Lab hold
2	Aberdeen Central		Labour	4.99	3rd	Lab hold

Election of First Minister

The Scottish Parliament officially met on 9 May, and met again on 14 May to elect a Presiding Officer. On 16 May, the Parliament met to hold the election of the First Minister. Four nominations were made: Annabel Goldie of the Conservatives, Jack McConnell of Labour, Nicol Stephen of the Liberal Democrats, and Alex Salmond of the Scottish National Party.

Salmond was elected in the second round of voting by 49 votes to McConnell's 46. 33 abstentions were recorded. The election provided for a minority administration which did not have the explicit support of Parliament. Salmond was supported in the election by the two Green MSPs. Otherwise, voting was conducted strictly along party lines.

Election of Scottish First Minister, 16 May 2007[32]
Candidate	Party		1st Round		2nd Round		Result
			Votes	%	Votes	%
Alex Salmond		SNP	49	38.6	49	51.6	Elected
Jack McConnell		Labour	46	36.2	46	48.4	Not Elected
Annabel Goldie		Conservative	16	12.6			Eliminated after 1st Round
Nicol Stephen		Liberal Democrats	16	12.6			Eliminated after 1st Round
Total Voting			127		95
Abstentions			1		33

Party leaders

Major parties

At time of dissolution of the Scottish Parliament at midnight on Monday 2 April 2007, there were five party 'groups' represented on the Parliament's Bureau: Labour (50), SNP (25), Conservative (17), LibDem (17), and the Greens (7). There was also one 'mixed' administrative grouping of 5 independent MSPs and 1 Scottish Senior Citizens Unity Party MSP.

2007 Scottish Parliament Election – Party Leaders
Scottish National Party		Labour Party		Conservative Party		Liberal Democrats
Alex Salmond Leader of the Scottish National Party		Jack McConnell Leader of the Scottish Labour Party		Annabel Goldie Leader of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party		Nicol Stephen Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats
Age	52	Age	46	Age	57	Age	47
Parliament	Scottish Parliament – 2 years (1999–2001) & UK Parliament – 19 years (1987–6 May 2010)	Parliament	7 years	Parliament	7 years	Parliament	Scottish Parliament – 7 years & UK Parliament – 5 months (1991–1992)
Leader since	1990–2000 & 2004	Leader since	2001	Leader since	2005	Leader since	2005
Profession	Economist	Profession	Teacher	Profession	Solicitor	Profession	Solicitor

Of the major party leaders in the Scottish Parliament, only one, Jack McConnell, of the Scottish Labour Party fought the 2003 Scottish Parliamentary election as leader. Nicol Stephen succeeded Jim Wallace as Deputy First Minister and Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats in June 2005, after the latter announced that he would not be contesting the 2007 election.^[33] Alex Salmond was elected leader of the Scottish National Party in 2004, with his deputy Nicola Sturgeon.^[34] Salmond previously led the SNP between 1990 and 2000, but stood down and was replaced by his preferred successor John Swinney, who headed the party between 2000 and 2004. Following Swinney's resignation in 2004, Salmond announced that he would, once again contest the leadership and won the ballot of members in June 2004. Annabel Goldie was elected leader of the Scottish Conservatives in November 2005^[35] after the resignation of the incumbent David McLetchie on 31 October 2005 after a row surrounding taxi expenses.^[36]

Other parties

Robin Harper and Shiona Baird were elected as Scottish Green Party Co-convenors in 2004, but as the sole Green MSP Robin Harper was effectively party spokesperson from 1999.^[37]

Colin Fox was elected as the Scottish Socialist Party Convenor in 2005. In 2006 Tommy Sheridan left the party to form Solidarity.

Party Manifestos

• British National Party
• Scottish Christian Party- Another Approach Restoring the Land of the Book
• Scottish Conservative Party
• Scottish Green Party - Act Now: Choose a Green Future
• Scottish Labour Party- Building Scotland
• Scottish Liberal Democrats- We think Scotland has a bright future
• Scottish National Party - It's Time
• Scottish Socialist Party- People Not Profit

See also

• Members of the 3rd Scottish Parliament
• Elections in Scotland
• National Assembly for Wales election and 2007 United Kingdom local elections, which took place on the same day

References

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External links

• Election 2007 Archived 10 May 2017 at the Wayback Machine, a briefing by the Scottish Parliament Information Centre
• ScotlandVotes, by Weber Shandwick Public Affairs and Scotland on Sunday
• Scottish Voting Intention, by UKPollingReport, in association with YouGov
• VoteScotland, a Scottish Executive and Electoral Commission website
• Electoral Reform Society – Scotland
• Scottish elections 2007, at the BBC News website
• Election 2007, at The Herald Archived 29 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
• Holyrood Elections, at The Scotsman
• Election Supplement 2007
• Scottish Elections Between 1997 and present
• Links to Party manifestos for the election.