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2007 Scottish Parliament election

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2007 Scottish Parliament election
← 2003 3 May 2007 (2007-05-03) 2011 →
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 two 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

[edit]
This article is part of a series within the
Politics of the United Kingdom on the
Politics of Scotland
The Crown

Charles III

William, Duke of Rothesay

Executive

Swinney government

The Rt Hon John Swinney MSP

The Rt Hon John Swinney MSP

Kate Forbes MSP

Legislature

Sixth session

Alison Johnstone MSP

Law and justice

Angela Constance MSP

Dorothy Bain KC

The Rt Hon Lord Carloway KC PC

Elections and referendums
Scottish Parliament elections

United Kingdom Parliament elections

European Parliament elections

Local elections

Referendums
Scotland and the United Kingdom

Starmer ministry

The Rt Hon Keir Starmer MP

The Rt Hon Ian Murray MP

Administration

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

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Labour

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Scottish National Party

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Conservative

[edit]

Liberal Democrats

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Scottish Socialist Party

[edit]

Independents

[edit]

Defeated MSPs

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Labour

[edit]

Lib Dem

[edit]

Conservative

[edit]

Scottish Greens

[edit]

Scottish Socialist Party

[edit]

Solidarity

[edit]

Scottish Senior Citizens Unity Party

[edit]

Independent

[edit]

Opinion polls

[edit]
Further information: Opinion polling for the 2007 Scottish Parliament election

Election results

[edit]
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 Increase9.1 21 Increase12 633,611 31.0 Increase10.1 26 Increase8 47 Increase20 37.0
Labour 648,374 32.1 Decrease2.5 37 Decrease9 595,415 29.1 Decrease0.2 9 Increase5 46 Decrease4 36.2
Conservative 334,743 16.6 Steady 4 Increase1 284,035 13.9 Decrease1.6 13 Decrease2 17 Decrease1 13.4
Liberal Democrats 326,232 16.2 Increase0.8 11 Decrease2 230,651 11.3 Decrease0.5 5 Increase1 16 Decrease1 12.6
Scottish Green 2,971 0.1 Increase0.1 0 Steady 82,577 4.0 Decrease2.9 2 Decrease5 2 Decrease5 1.6
Margo MacDonald – – – – – 19,256 0.9 Decrease0.5 1 0 1 Steady 0.8
Scottish Senior Citizens 1,702 0.1 Steady 0 Steady 39,038 1.9 Increase0.4 0 Decrease1 0 Decrease1 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 Increase1.1 0 Steady 0 Steady 0.0
CPA – – – – – 14,745 0.7 new 0 new 0 new 0.0
Socialist Labour – – – – – 14,054 0.7 Decrease0.4 0 Steady 0 Steady 0.0
Scottish Socialist 525 0.0 Decrease6.2 0 – 13,096 0.6 Decrease6.1 0 Decrease6 0 Decrease6 0.0
UKIP – – – – – 8,197 0.4 Decrease0.2 0 Steady 0 Steady 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 Decrease0.1 0 Steady 0 Steady 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 Decrease0.1 0 Steady 0 Steady 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 Decrease0.1 0 Steady 0 Steady 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 Decrease0.1 0 −2 2,064 0.1 Increase0.1 0 Decrease2 0 Decrease2 0.0
Others 185 0.0 Decrease1.4 0 Steady – – Decrease1.5 0 Steady 0 Steady 0.0
Valid votes 2,016,978 95.9 Decrease3.5   2,042,804 97.1 Decrease2.3  
Spoilt votes 85,631 4.1 Increase3.5   62,038 2.9 Increase2.3  
Total 2,102,609 100   73 – 2,104,842 100   56 – 129 – 100
Electorate/Turnout 3,899,472 53.9 Increase4.2   3,899,472 54.0 Increase4.3  
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

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Central Scotland

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Scanners counting votes in Glasgow's SECC.

Delayed counts

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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

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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

[edit]

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]

[edit]

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

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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

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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

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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

[edit]
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

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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

[edit]
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

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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

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Major parties

[edit]

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

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Robin Harper and Shiona Baird were elected as Greens Co-convenors in 2004, but as the sole Green MSP 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.

Aftermath

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This was Scottish Labour's first defeat since the 1979 European Parliament election, which was won by the Conservtives. In his memoir, A Journey (2010), Tony Blair claimed responsibility for the SNP's victory, stating that he believed his leadership had cost Labour votes and that things could have been different had his successor Gordon Brown been in office at the time.[38]

See also

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References

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  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.
  4. ^ "Somewhere over the Rainbow Coalition... Scotsman 12 May 2005". The Scotsman. Edinburgh. 11 May 2005. Archived from the original on 22 February 2006. Retrieved 7 May 2007.
  5. ^ Macleod, Murdo (5 March 2006). "Panic within Labour as membership falls". The Scotsman. Edinburgh. Archived from the original on 13 February 2022. Retrieved 7 May 2007.
  6. ^ Macdonell, Hamish (7 March 2006). "Lib Dems open door to coalition with SNP Scotsman 7 March 2006". The Scotsman. Edinburgh. Archived from the original on 13 February 2022. Retrieved 7 May 2007.
  7. ^ Macdonell, Hamish (24 March 2006). "Is this the end of Lab–Lib Dem pact? Scotsman 24 March 2006". The Scotsman. Edinburgh. Archived from the original on 25 March 2007. Retrieved 7 May 2007.
  8. ^ "Former minister to leave Holyrood". BBC News. 14 August 2006. Archived from the original on 13 February 2022. Retrieved 2 January 2017.
  9. ^ Knox, John (10 November 2006). "Kriss casts shadow over Holyrood". BBC News. Archived from the original on 13 February 2022. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
  10. ^ a b c "Scotsman.com News - Politics". Election.scotsman.com. Archived from the original on 6 February 2007. Retrieved 20 February 2011.
  11. ^ "Maclean to quit Scots Parliament". BBC News. 21 June 2006. Archived from the original on 22 June 2006. Retrieved 2 January 2017.
  12. ^ a b c d e "Retiring MSPs". Alba.org.uk. Archived from the original on 30 October 2008. Retrieved 20 February 2011.
  13. ^ Knox, John (30 March 2007). "Another chapter ends at Holyrood". BBC News. Archived from the original on 13 February 2022. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
  14. ^ "Canavan will not fight election". BBC News. 23 January 2007. Archived from the original on 22 November 2008. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
  15. ^ Swanson, Ian (1 November 2006). "Monteith to stand down as MSP". The Scotsman. Edinburgh. Archived from the original on 25 March 2007.
  16. ^ "2007 Scottish Parliament Election: Analysis of Results". Scottish Parliament. Archived from the original on 12 April 2020. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
  17. ^ "Election 2007: SPICe briefing 07/21" (PDF). Scottish Parliament. 8 May 2007. Archived (PDF) from the original on 20 January 2016. Retrieved 10 January 2016.
  18. ^ "Glasgow Council candidates". Glasgow City Council. Archived from the original on 6 May 2007.
  19. ^ Glasgow Region elections[dead link‍]
  20. ^ "Polling clerk tells of 'bedlam'". BBC News. 3 May 2007. Archived from the original on 8 June 2007. Retrieved 4 May 2007.
  21. ^ "Scottish elections 2007 The independent review of the Scottish Parliamentary and local government elections 3 May 2007" (PDF). Electoral Commission. October 2007. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 December 2019. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  22. ^ "The unfortunate natural experiment in ballot design:The Scottish Parliamentary elections of 2007". Elsevier. February 2008. Archived from the original on 13 February 2022. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  23. ^ "The unfortunate natural experiment in ballot design:The Scottish Parliamentary elections of 2007". Elsevier. February 2008. Archived from the original on 13 February 2022. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  24. ^ "Elections marred by vote problems". BBC News. 3 May 2007. Archived from the original on 13 February 2022. Retrieved 4 May 2007.
  25. ^ Barnes, Eddie (6 May 2007). "The Scotsman". Edinburgh: News.scotsman.com. Archived from the original on 13 February 2022. Retrieved 20 February 2011.
  26. ^ "The unfortunate natural experiment in ballot design:The Scottish Parliamentary elections of 2007". Elsevier. February 2008. Archived from the original on 13 February 2022. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  27. ^ "Electronic automated data capture services and document scanning specialists". DRS. Archived from the original on 9 February 2011. Retrieved 20 February 2011.
  28. ^ "Clue over voter ballot confusion". BBC News. 15 May 2007. Archived from the original on 9 September 2007. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
  29. ^ a b "Holyrood vote may face challenges". BBC News. 6 May 2007. Archived from the original on 10 May 2007. Retrieved 5 May 2007.
  30. ^ "Electronic counting to take over from tellers at elections". The Scotsman. Edinburgh. 19 April 2006. Archived from the original on 13 February 2022.
  31. ^ "Green light for DRS & ERS to deliver e-Count for 2007 Scottish Elections". www.drs.co.uk (Press release). DRS Data Services Limited. 26 June 2006. Archived from the original on 1 October 2006.
  32. ^ "Official Report: Plenary, 16th May 2007". The Scottish Parliament. Scottish Parliament. 24 January 2014. Archived from the original on 28 October 2021. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
  33. ^ "Lib Dems choose Stephen as leader". BBC News. BBC. 23 June 2005. Retrieved 11 October 2006.
  34. ^ Swanson, Ian (3 September 2004). "Salmond is SNP leader again with Sturgeon as No 2". Edinburgh Evening News. Scotsman. Archived from the original on 20 January 2016. Retrieved 10 January 2015.
  35. ^ MacDonell, Hamish (3 November 2005). "Tories have their 'coronation' as Goldie becomes leader unopposed". Scotsman. Archived from the original on 20 January 2016. Retrieved 10 January 2015.
  36. ^ MacDonell, Hamish (1 November 2005). "McLetchie finally quits over taxi row". The Scotsman. Scotsman. Archived from the original on 20 January 2016. Retrieved 10 January 2015.
  37. ^ "Scottish green party elects new party co-conveners". Scottish Green Party. 30 October 2004. Archived from the original on 7 October 2007.
  38. ^ https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-11155249
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