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2003 Scottish Parliament election

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All 129 seats to theScottish Parliament 65 seats were needed for a majority
Turnout	Constituency - 49.7% 8.7pp Regional - 49.7% 8.6pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader Jack McConnell John Swinney David McLetchie Party Labour SNP Conservative Leader's seat Motherwell and Wishaw North Tayside Edinburgh Pentlands Last election 56 seats 35 seats 18 seats Seats won 50 27 18 Seat change 6 8 Constituency vote 663,585 455,722 318,279 % and swing 34.6%4.2% 23.8%4.9% 16.6%1.2% Regional vote 561,375 399,659 296,929 % and swing 29.3%4.3% 20.9%6.4% 15.6%0.1%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Jim Wallace Robin Harper Tommy Sheridan Party Liberal Democrats Green Scottish Socialist Leader's seat Orkney Lothians Glasgow Last election 17 seats 1 seat 1 seat Seats won 17 7 6 Seat change 6 5 Constituency vote 294,347 Did not contest 118,764 % and swing 15.4%1.2% Did not contest 6.2%5.2% Regional vote 225,774 132,138 128,026 % and swing 11.8%0.6% 6.9%3.3% 6.7%4.7%
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 Jack McConnell Labour

The2003 Scottish Parliament election was the second election of members to theScottish Parliament. It was held on 1 May 2003 and it brought no change in terms of control of theScottish Executive.Jack McConnell, theLabour PartyMSP, remained in office asFirst Minister for a second term and the Executive continued as a Labour andLiberal Democratcoalition. As of 2025, it remains the last Scottish Parliament election victory for the Scottish Labour Party, and the last time the Scottish National Party lost a Holyrood election.

The results also showed rises in support for smaller parties, including theScottish Green Party and theScottish Socialist Party (SSP) and declines in support for the Labour Party and theScottish National Party (SNP). TheConservative and Unionist Party and the Scottish Liberal Democrats each polled almost exactly the same percentage of the vote as they had in the1999 election, with each holding the same number of seats as before.

Threeindependent MSPs were elected:Dennis Canavan,Margo MacDonald andJean Turner.John Swinburne, leader of theScottish Senior Citizens Unity Party, was also elected. This led to talk of a "rainbow" Parliament, but the arithmetic meant that thecoalition of Labour and Scottish Liberal Democrats could continue in office, which they did until the2007 election.

The decline in support for the SNP was viewed by some as a rejection of the case forScottish independence. Others argued against this, pointing out that the number of MSPs in favour of independence actually rose because most of the minor parties such as the SSP share this position with the SNP.

This article is part ofa series within the Politics of the United Kingdom on the
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At the dissolution of Parliament on 31 March 2003, ten MSPs were not seeking re-election.^[1]

The parliament was dissolved on 31 March 2003 and the campaign began thereafter.

• Labour –Jack McConnell
• SNP –John Swinney
• Conservative –David McLetchie
• Liberal Democrat –Jim Wallace
• Greens –Robin Harper &Eleanor Scott (co-chairs)
• SSP –Tommy Sheridan

• Brian Fitzpatrick,Strathkelvin and Bearsden
• Rhoda Grant,Highlands and Islands
• Iain Gray,Edinburgh Pentlands
• Angus MacKay,Edinburgh South
• Richard Simpson,Ochil
• Elaine Thomson,Aberdeen North

• Kenneth Gibson,Glasgow
• Irene McGugan,North East Scotland
• Fiona McLeod,West of Scotland
• Gil Paterson,Central Scotland
• Lloyd Quinan,West of Scotland
• Michael Russell,South of Scotland
• Andrew Wilson,Central Scotland

• Keith Harding,Mid Scotland and Fife (elected as a Conservative)
• Lyndsay McIntosh,Central Scotland (elected as a Conservative)

← 2003 Scottish Parliament election^[2]→

Party		Constituencies					Regionaladditional members					Total seats
		Votes	%	±	Seats	±	Votes	%	±	Seats	±	Total	±	%
	Labour	663,585	34.6	4.2	46	7	561,375	29.3	4.3	4	1	50	6	38.8
	SNP	455,722	23.8	4.9	9	2	399,659	20.9	6.4	18	10	27	8	20.9
	Conservative	318,279	16.6	1.2	3	3	296,929	15.5	0.1	15	3	18		14.0
	Liberal Democrats	294,347	15.4	1.2	13	1	225,774	11.8	0.6	4	1	17		13.2
	Green	–	–	–	–	–	132,138	6.9	3.3	7	6	7	6	5.4
	Scottish Socialist	118,764	6.2	5.2	0		128,026	6.7	4.7	6	5	6	5	4.7
	Scottish Senior Citizens	1,597	0.1	new	0	new	28,966	1.5	new	1	new	1	new	0.8
	Margo MacDonald	–	–	–	–	–	27,143	1.4	new	1	new	1	new	0.8
	MSP for Falkirk West	14,703	0.8		1		–	–	–	–	–	1		0.8
	Save Stobhill Hospital	10,988	0.6	new	1	new	–	–	–	–	–	1	new	0.8
	Pensioners Party	–	–	–	–	–	28,655	1.5	new	0	new	0	new	0.0
	Socialist Labour	–	–	–	–	–	21,657	1.1	1.3	0		0		0.0
	New Party	5,598	0.3	new	0	new	7,718	0.4	new	0	new	0	new	0.0
	UKIP	–	–	–	–	–	11,969	0.6	new	0	new	0	new	0.0
	Scottish Unionist	–	–	–	–	–	6,113	0.3		0		0		0.0
	Local Health Concern	5,582	0.3	new	0	new	–	–	–	–	–	0	new	0.0
	Fishing Party	–	–	–	–	–	5,566	0.3	new	0	new	0	new	0.0
	BNP	–	–	–	–	–	2,344	0.1	new	0	new	0	new	0.0
	Protect Rural Scotland	–	–	–	–	–	1,438	0.1	new	0	new	0	new	0.0
	Independent Green Voice	1,300	0.1	new	0	new	–	–	–	–	–	0	new	0.0
	Christian Independent Alliance	–	–	–	–	–	1,064	0.1	new	0	new	0	new	0.0
	Adam Lyal's Witchery Tour	–	–	–	–	–	964	0.1	new	0	new	0	new	0.0
	Parents Excluded	141	0.0	new	0	new	–	–	–	–	–	0	new	0.0
	Others	25,968	1.4	0.8	0		28,323	1.5	0.8	0		0		0.0
Valid votes		1,916,574	99.4	0.3			1,915,851	99.4	0.3
Spoilt votes		12,303	0.6	0.3			11,938	0.6	0.3
Total		1,928,877	100		73	–	1,927,789	100		56	–	129	–	100
Electorate/Turnout		3,877,460	49.7	8.7			3,877,460	49.7	8.6

Notes:

• TheScottish Greens did not stand in any constituencies, instead concentrating their resources on winning the largest possible share of the "second" vote for'list' seats.

As part of the coalition deal between Labour and the Scottish Liberal Democrats, Labour allowedproportional representation (a long-standing Lib Dem policy)^[3] to be used inScottish local government elections.^[4][5] This system was first used in 2007.^[6]

• 2nd Scottish Parliament
• 2003 National Assembly for Wales election
• 2003 United Kingdom local elections

• British National Party – Freedom
• Pro-Life Alliance
• Scottish Liberal Democrats – Make the difference
• Scottish National Party – Release our potential
• Scottish Socialist Party – another Scotland is possible

• BBC: Vote Scotland 2003
• Scottish Election Results 1997 – present

• General elections to the Scottish Parliament
• 2003 elections in the United Kingdom
• 2003 in Scotland
• 2000s elections in Scotland
• May 2003 in the United Kingdom

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