Thefirst Salmond government, which was sworn in on 17 May 2007 at the start of the3rd Scottish Parliament, was anSNPminority government.Having won the largest number of seats in the general election (47 of 129) the SNP sought to form a coalition with theScottish Liberal Democrats. When those talks failed, the SNP chose to form a one-party minority government. The SNP andScottish Greens signed an agreement where the Greens supported SNP ministerial appointments, but did not offer support for any confidence or budget votes ("confidence and supply").^[1] SNP leader,Alex Salmond was electedFirst Minister on 16 May 2007; he was officially sworn in and his slate of ministerial appointments were ratified by theScottish Parliament the following day.

First Salmond government
5thgovernment ofScotland
2007–2011
Date formed	17 May 2007
Date dissolved	19 May 2011
People and organisations
Monarch	Elizabeth II
First Minister	Alex Salmond
First Minister's history	MSP forBanff and Buchan (1999–2001) MSP forAberdeenshire East (2007–2016)
Deputy First Minister	Nicola Sturgeon
Totalno. of members	16
Member parties	Scottish National Party
Status in legislature	Minority 47 / 129 (36%)
Opposition party	Scottish Labour Party
Opposition leader	Jack McConnell (2007) Cathy Jamieson (2007) Wendy Alexander (2007-08) Cathy Jamieson (2008) Iain Gray (2008-11)
History
Election	2007 general election
Outgoing election	2011 general election
Legislature term	3rd Scottish Parliament
Budgets	2008 Scottish budget 2009 Scottish budget 2010 Scottish budget 2011 Scottish budget
Predecessor	Second McConnell government
Successor	Second Salmond government

Due to the agreement signed with the Greens, Salmond's investiture vote was successful despite only having 47 of 129 seats in the Parliament. The vote was 49–46, with the SNP and Greens voting in favour and the 46 Scottish Labour MSPs voting against, with the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats abstaining.^[2]

On 16 May 2007, a few hours after Salmond was sworn in by parliament, he announced his intention to form a government composed of five cabinet secretaries and ten junior ministers.^[3] Furthermore, the Lord Advocate lost her seat in the cabinet.^[4]

A cabinet reshuffle took place in February 2009.^[5]

• Fiona Hyslop is demoted from Cabinet and appointedMinister for Culture and External Affairs; Hyslop is replaced as Education Secretary byMichael Russell.
• John Elvidge stood down as thePermanent Secretary to the Scottish Government in June 2010 and was succeeded byPeter Housden.