2011 Scottish Parliament election

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All 129 seats to theScottish Parliament 65 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Registered	3,950,626
Turnout	Constituency - 50.5% 3.4pp Regional - 50.5% 3.5pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader Alex Salmond Iain Gray Annabel Goldie Party SNP Labour Conservative Leader since 3 September 2004 13 September 2008 8 November 2005 Leader's seat Aberdeenshire East East Lothian West Scotland Last election 47 seats 46 seats 17 seats Seats before 46 44 17 Seats won 69 37 15 Seat change 23* 7* 2* Constituency vote 902,915 630,461 276,652 % and swing 45.4%12.5% 31.7%0.5% 13.9%2.7% Regional vote 876,421 523,469 245,967 % and swing 44.0%13.0% 26.3%2.9% 12.4%1.5%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Tavish Scott Patrick Harvie / Eleanor Scott Margo MacDonald Party Liberal Democrats Green Independent Leader since 26 August 2008 22 September 2008 28 January 2003 Leader's seat Shetland Glasgow / ContestedHighlands and Islands Lothian Last election 16 seats 2 seats 1 seat Seats before 17 1 1 Seats won 5 2 1 Seat change 12* 1* * Constituency vote 157,714 Did not contest Did not contest % and swing 7.9%8.2% Did not contest Did not contest Regional vote 103,472 86,939 18,732 % and swing 5.2%6.1% 4.4%0.3% 0.9%
The map shows the election results in single-member constituencies. The additional member MSPs in the 8 regions are shown around the map. * Indicates boundary change - so this is a nominal figure
First Minister before election Alex Salmond SNP First Minister after election Alex Salmond SNP

The2011 Scottish Parliament election was held on Thursday, 5 May 2011 toelect 129 members to theScottish Parliament.

The election delivered the firstmajority government since the opening of Holyrood, a remarkable feat as theadditional-member system used to electMSPs was allegedly originally implemented to prevent any party achieving an overall parliamentary majority.^[1] TheScottish National Party (SNP) won alandslide of 69 seats, the most the party has ever held at either a Holyrood or Westminster election, allowing leaderAlex Salmond to remain asFirst Minister of Scotland for a second term. The SNP gained 32 constituencies, twenty two fromScottish Labour, nine from theScottish Liberal Democrats and one from theScottish Conservatives. Such was the scale of their gains that, of the 73 constituencies in Scotland, only 20 came to be represented byMSPs of other political parties. Scottish Labour lost seven seats and suffered their worst election defeat in Scotland since1931, with huge losses in their traditionalCentral Belt constituencies and for the first time having to rely on theregional lists to elect members within these areas. They did, however, remain the largest opposition party. Party leaderIain Gray announced his resignation following his party's disappointing result. TheScottish Liberal Democrats were soundly defeated; their popular vote share was cut in half and their seat total reduced from 16 to 5.Tavish Scott announced his resignation as party leader shortly after the election.^[2] ForScottish Conservatives, the election proved disappointing as their popular vote dropped slightly and their number of seats fell by 2, with party leaderAnnabel Goldie also announcing her resignation.^[3]

During the campaign, the four main party leaders engaged in a series of televised debates, as they had in every previous general election. These key debates were held on 29 March (STV), 1 May (BBC), and 3 May (STV). The results of the election were broadcast live on BBC Scotland and STV, on the night of the election.

It was the fourthgeneral election since the devolved parliament was established in 1999 and was held on the same day as elections to theNational Assembly for Wales and theNorthern Ireland Assembly, as well asEnglish local elections and the UK-widereferendum on the alternative vote.

Under theScotland Act 1998, an ordinary general election to the Scottish Parliament was held on the first Thursday in May four years after the2007 election.^[4]

Because of the problems of voter confusion and ahigh number of spoilt ballots in 2007 due to holding Scottish parliamentary and local elections simultaneously and under different voting systems, the next Scottish local elections were held in2012 instead of 2011. This policy decision was contradicted, however, by the staging of theAlternative Vote referendum on 5 May 2011 as well.^[5] Labour MPIan Davidson expressed opposition to the referendum being staged on the same date as other elections.^[5]Scottish SecretaryMichael Moore stated that having the referendum on another date would cost an additional £17 million.^[5]

British,Irish,Commonwealth andEuropean Union citizens living in Scotland who were aged 18 or over on election day were entitled to vote. The deadline toregister to vote in the election was midnight on Friday 15 April 2011, though anyone who qualified as ananonymous elector had until midnight on Tuesday 26 April 2011 to register.^[6]

It was held on the same day as elections for Northern Ireland's 26local councils, theNorthern Irish Assembly andWelsh Assembly elections, a number of local elections in England and theUnited Kingdom Alternative Vote referendum.

The table below shows the notional figures for seats won by each party at the last election. The Conservatives have been the biggest gainers as a result of the boundary changes, winning an extra three seats, while Labour has lost the most seats, losing two overall.

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

The First Periodical Review of theScottish Parliament constituencies and electoral regions by theBoundary 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 anAdditional Members System, designed to produce approximateproportional representation for each region.There are 8 regions each sub-divided into smaller constituencies.There are a total of 73constituencies.Each constituency elects one (MSP) by theplurality (first past the post) system of election.Each region elects seven additional member MSPs using anadditional member system.A modifiedD'Hondt method, using the constituency results, is used to calculate which additional member MSPs the regions elect.^[7][8]

The Scottish Parliament constituencies have not been coterminous withScottish Westminster constituencies since the2005 general election, when the 72 former Westminster constituencies were replaced with a new set of 59, generally larger, constituencies (seeScottish Parliament (Constituencies) Act 2004).

For details of the Revised proposals for constituencies at the Next Scottish Parliament election -Scottish Parliament constituencies and electoral regions from 2011

The Boundary Commission have also recommended changes to the electoral regions used to elect "list" members of the Scottish Parliament. The recommendations^[9] can be summarised below;

• Glasgow was reduced from 10 constituency seats to 9.Glasgow Govan was largely replaced byGlasgow Southside. The seats ofGlasgow Maryhill,Glasgow Springburn andGlasgow Baillieston were abolished and their territory was divided between the newly createdGlasgow Maryhill and Springburn andGlasgow Provan, as well as the existingGlasgow Shettleston seat which was moved eastwards.
• Highlands and Islands retained 8 constituency seats.Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross was replaced with the largerCaithness, Sutherland and Ross seat.Ross, Skye and Inverness West andInverness East, Nairn and Lochaber were abolished with most of their area being divided betweenSkye, Lochaber and Badenoch andInverness and Nairn.
• West of Scotland was renamedWest Scotland. It was increased from 9 constituency seats to 10, asCunninghame South was transferred from the South Scotland region. The seats ofPaisley North,Paisley South andWest Renfrewshire were abolished and their area was divided between the new seats ofPaisley,Renfrewshire North and West andRenfrewshire South
• Central Scotland was reduced from 10 constituency seats to 9, as the territory ofKilmarnock and Loudoun was transferred to South Scotland. Some territory to the south was also transferred to South Scotland, reducing the land area ofEast Kilbride.Hamilton North and Bellshill was largely replaced byUddingston and Bellshill.Hamilton South was largely replaced byHamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse.
• Lothians was renamedLothian and retained 9 constituency seats. The seat ofMidlothian was split, with its southern areas transferred to South Scotland. Its northern parts merged with Musselburgh to formMidlothian North and Musselburgh.Edinburgh East and Musselburgh, thus with Musselburgh removed, was replaced byEdinburgh Eastern. The seats ofEdinburgh North and Leith,Edinburgh South andEdinburgh West were respectively renamedEdinburgh Northern and Leith,Edinburgh Southern andEdinburgh Western while redrawn. In West Lothian,Livingston was replaced byAlmond Valley, which traded territory with the retainedLinlithgow seat.
• Mid Scotland and Fife retained 9 constituencies.North Tayside was mostly replaced byPerthshire North, with some of the former's territory being transferred to North East Scotland.Ochil was split, with its eastern parts merging with the former seat ofPerth to formPerthshire South and Kinross-shire.Clackmannanshire and Dunblane was created, consisting mostly of the more populous western part of Ochil. In Fife,Dunfermline West,Dunfermline East andFife Central were respectively largely replaced byDunfermline,Cowdenbeath andMid Fife and Glenrothes.
• North East Scotland was increased from 9 to 10 constituency seats. The seat ofAngus was split between two new seats:Angus South, which included territory transferred from Mid Scotland and Fife, andAngus North and Mearns. BothWest Aberdeenshire and Kincardine andGordon were split. The former was divided between the new seat ofAberdeenshire West, Angus North and Mearns and an enlargedAberdeen South, which under new boundaries was namedAberdeen South and North Kincardine. A redrawnAberdeen North was renamedAberdeen Donside. Gordon was split between Aberdeenshire West and another new seat:Aberdeenshire East. Some territory was also traded withBanff and Buchan, which was largely replaced byBanffshire and Buchan Coast. The two Dundee seats were redrawn and renamed fromDundee West andDundee East toDundee City West andDundee City East.
• South of Scotland was renamedSouth Scotland. It retained 9 constituencies, losingCunninghame South to West Scotland but gaining the newKilmarnock and Irvine Valley constituency, which replaced the previous constituency ofKilmarnock and Loudoun. Some territory was transferred fromGalloway and Upper Nithsdale toDumfries; the redrawn seats were then renamedGalloway and West Dumfries andDumfriesshire.Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale lost territory toRoxburgh and Berwickshire but gained some from the Lothian area to the north. These seats were redrawn and renamedMidlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale andEttrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire.

At the dissolution of Parliament on 22 March 2011, twenty MSPs were not seeking re-election.^[10]

The parliament was dissolved on 22 March 2011 and the campaign began thereafter. TheConservatives saw 3 of their candidates drop out of the election during the period 25–28 March: Malcolm McAskill from theGlasgow regional ballot, Iain Whyte from theGlasgow Maryhill & Springburn constituency ballot and David Meikle from the Glasgow regional ballot.

TheLiberal Democrat regional candidate for theCentral Scotland regionHugh O'Donnell also withdrew on 27 March, citing discontent with the Conservative-Lib Dem coalition at Westminster.^[11] Another Liberal Democrat,John Farquhar Munro, came out in support of Alex Salmond for First Minister, even though he also claimed not to support the SNP.^[12] In theClydesdale constituency, the Liberal Democrat candidate John Paton-Day failed to lodge his papers in time for the nomination deadline, leaving the constituency as the only one in Scotland with no Liberal Democrat candidate.^[13] On 17 April, the Scottish Liberal Democrat leaderTavish Scott described himself as 'uncomfortable' with his Scottish party being 'related' to the Conservatives due to the coalition at Westminster.

A televised debate between the four main party leaders was shown on STV on 29 March, with SNP leaderAlex Salmond and Conservative leaderAnnabel Goldie identified as the strongest performers.^[14] TheScottish Sun newspaper came out in support of the SNP's campaign to win a second term, even though the newspaper does not backindependence.

Whilst campaigning inGlasgow Central station, the Scottish Labour leaderIain Gray was ambushed by a group of anti-cuts protestors who chased him into a nearbyfast-food outlet.^[15] The same protesters had already targeted Conservative leaderAnnabel Goldie a month earlier. On 27 April,Iain Gray and SNP leaderAlex Salmond were both present simultaneously in anArdrossan branch of theAsda supermarket chain; both parties alleged that the other party's leader 'ran away' from the possibility of an encounter with the other.^[16]

The main parties contesting the election all outlined the following main aims:^[17]

• Legislate to give Scotland areferendum onindependence.
• Maintain thecouncil tax freeze throughout the next parliament.
• Attempt to generate 100% of Scotland's electricity fromrenewable sources by 2020.
• Continue offering free university tuition to Scottish students.
• Maintain high police numbers.

• Introduce Scottish Living Wage of £7.15 an hour, starting in the public sector.
• Abolish youth unemployment and aim to create 250,000 jobs by 2020.
• Compulsory six-month jail sentences for people convicted of knife-carrying.
• Initiate two-year council tax freeze.
• Re-instate the proposedrail link betweenGlasgow Central station andGlasgow International Airport, which was cancelled in 2009.
• Continue free University tuition fees for all Scottish students.

• A council tax freeze during the period 2012–2013.
• Re-introduce prescription charges at 2009 standards (£5 for a single item).
• Consider building new nuclear power stations, but not on new sites.
• Bring in Variable University Graduate Fee, with no more than £4,000 being paid annually per student.
• Replace community service with short prison sentences.
• Centralising the Scottish police forces into a single police force.

• Maintain free university tuition for Scottish students.
• Aim to create 100,000 new jobs through selling offScottish Water which would free £1.5 billion for investment purposes.
• Oppose moves to create a centralised Scottish police force.
• Maintain the Scottish bus pass, but progressively bring the qualifying age up to 65.
• Reform the council tax.

• Bring in large-scale ecosystem restoration projects.
• Replace council tax withland value tax.
• Maintain free university tuition for Scottish students.
• Focus on bringing restorative justice within Scotland's justice system.
• Abolish theForth Replacement Crossing.

Only the Scottish National Party, the Scottish Labour Party and the Scottish Conservative Party contested all constituencies.^[18][19]

• Scottish National Party (SNP)
• Scottish Labour
• Scottish Conservatives
• Scottish Liberal Democrats – Contesting all constituencies exceptClydesdale^[20]
• All Scotland Pensioner's Party/Scottish Senior Citizens Unity Party – ContestingMid Fife & Glenrothes andMotherwell & Wishaw
• Scottish Christian Party – ContestingInverness & Nairn andMotherwell & Wishaw
• Liberal Party – ContestingArgyll & Bute
• National Front – ContestingAberdeen Central,Aberdeen Donside,Aberdeen South & North Kincardine,Almond Valley,Linlithgow and only theNorth East Scotland region
• UK Independence Party (UKIP) – ContestingInverness & Nairn,Moray andNorth East Fife

• Scottish Greens
• Solidarity – all regions exceptGlasgow
• Respect Party 'Coalition Against Cuts' –Glasgow only^[21]
• Scottish Socialist Party
• British National Party (BNP)
• Socialist Labour Party
• Scottish Homeland Party^[22] – contestingGlasgow andCentral regions
• Pirate Party
• Scottish Unionist Party
• Christian Peoples Alliance
• Ban Bankers Bonuses^[23] – contesting the Highlands and Islands and West of Scotland regional lists.

• Communist Party of Britain – ContestingGlasgow Anniesland
• Land Party – ContestingCowdenbeath

In March 2011, two months before the election, Labour held a double-digit lead over the SNP in the opinion polls,^[24] 44% to 29%.^[25] The SNP's support subsequently rallied, with the two parties level in April polling. In the final poll on the eve of the election, the SNP were eleven points clear of Labour.^[24][26]

The chart shows the relative state of the parties since polling began from 2009, until the date of the election. The constituency vote is shown as semi-transparent lines, while the regional vote is shown in full lines.

The election produced a majority SNP government, making this the first time in the Scottish Parliament where a party had commanded a parliamentary majority. The SNP took 16 seats from Labour, many of whose key figures failed to be returned to parliament, although Labour leaderIain Gray retainedEast Lothian by 151 votes. The SNP took a further eight seats from the Liberal Democrats and one seat from the Conservatives. The SNP overall majority meant that there was sufficient support in theScottish Parliament to hold a referendum onScottish independence.^[27]

Labour's defeat was attributed to several factors: the party focused too heavily on criticising the Conservative-led coalition at Westminster, and assumed that former Lib Dem voters would automatically switch their vote to Labour, when in fact they appeared to have haemorrhaged support to the SNP.^[28]Jackie Baillie compared the result to Labour's performance in the1983 UK general election.^[27] Iain Grayconceded defeat to Alex Salmond and announced his intention to resign as leader of the Labour group of MSPs that autumn.^[27]

The election saw a rout of the Liberal Democrats, with no victories in mainland constituencies^[29] and 25 lost deposits (candidates gaining less than five per cent of the vote).^[29] LeaderTavish Scott said their performance was due to the Liberal Democrats' involvement in theWestminster Government, which had been unpopular with many former LibDem supporters.^[30] Scott resigned as leader two days after the election.^[30]

For the Conservatives, the main disappointment was the loss ofEdinburgh Pentlands, the seat of former party leaderDavid McLetchie, to the SNP. McLetchie was elected on the Lothian regional list and the Conservatives only made a net loss of five seats, with leaderAnnabel Goldie claiming that their support had held firm.^[27] Prime MinisterDavid Cameron congratulated the SNP on the result, but vowed to campaign for the Union in any independence referendum.^[27]

TheScottish Greens won two seats, including their co-convenorPatrick Harvie.^[27]Margo MacDonald again won election as an independent on the Lothian regional list.^[27]George Galloway, under a Unionist anti-cuts banner, failed to receive enough votes to be elected to theGlasgow regional list.^[27]

The SNP's overall majority assured Salmond of another term as First Minister, and he was reelected unopposed on 18 May.^[31]

← Scottish general election, 2011 (+/- seats based on notional 2007 result)^[32]→

Party		Constituencies					Regionaladditional members					Total seats
		Votes	%	±	Seats	±	Votes	%	±	Seats	±	Total	±	%
	SNP	902,915	45.4	12.5	53	32	876,421	44.0	13.0	16	9	69	23	53.5
	Labour	630,461	31.7	0.5	15	20	523,469	26.3	2.9	22	13	37	7	28.7
	Conservative	276,652	13.9	2.7	3	3	245,967	12.4	1.5	12	2	15	5	11.6
	Liberal Democrats	157,714	7.9	8.2	2	9	103,472	5.2	6.1	3	3	5	12	3.9
	Green	—	—	0.1	0		86,939	4.4	0.3	2	1	2	1	1.6
	Margo MacDonald	—	—	—	—	—	18,732	0.9		1		1		0.8
	Scottish Senior Citizens	1,618	0.1		0		33,253	1.7	0.2	0		0		0.0
	UKIP	2,508	0.1	0.1	0		18,138	0.9	0.5	0		0		0.0
	Scottish Christian	1,193	0.1	0.2	0		16,466	0.8	0.5	0		0		0.0
	Socialist Labour	—	—	—	—	—	16,847	0.9	0.2	0		0		0.0
	BNP	—	—	—	—	—	15,580	0.8	0.4	0		0		0.0
	Scottish Socialist	—	—	—	—	—	8,272	0.4	0.2	0		0		0.0
	Respect	—	—	—	—	—	6,972	0.4	new	0	new	0	new	0.0
	Scottish Unionist	—	—	—	—	—	3,002	0.2	0.1	0		0		0.0
	Ban Bankers Bonuses	—	—	—	—	—	2,968	0.1	new	0	new	0	new	0.0
	Solidarity	—	—	—	—	—	2,837	0.1	1.4	0		0		0.0
	Liberal	436	0.0	new	0	new	2,393	0.1	new	0	new	0	new	0.0
	National Front	1,515	0.1	new	0	new	640	0.03	new	0	new	0	new	0.0
	Angus Independents Representatives	1,321	0.1	new	0	new	471	0.03	new	0	new	0	new	0.0
	Pirate	—	—	—	—	—	1,431	0.1	new	0	new	0	new	0.0
	CPA	—	—	—	—	—	1,191	0.1	0.7	0		0		0.0
	Scotland Homeland Party	—	—	—	—	—	616	0.0	new	0	new	0	new	0.0
	Land Party	276	0.0	new	0	new	—	—	—	—	—	0	new	0.0
	Communist	256	0.0	new	0	new	—	—	—	—	—	0	new	0.0
	Independent	12,411	0.6	0.6	0		4,759	0.2	0.1	0		0		0.0
Valid votes		1,989,276	99.7	3.8			1,990,836	99.7	2.0
Spoilt votes		6,363	0.3	3.8			5,987	0.3	2.0
Total		1,995,639	100		73	–	1,996,823	100		56	–	129	–	100
Electorate/Turnout		3,950,626	50.5	3.4			3,950,626	50.5	3.5

Below are listed all the constituencies which required aswing of less than 5% from the 2007 result to change hands. Because the election was fought under new boundaries, the figures are based on notional results from 2007.^[33]

• Arbuthnott Commission
• 2011 National Assembly for Wales election
• 2011 Northern Ireland Assembly election
• Murphy and Boyack review of the Labour Party in Scotland
• 2011 Scottish Labour leadership election
• 2011 Scottish Conservatives leadership election
• 2011 Scottish Liberal Democrats leadership election

• Election 2011Archived 3 January 2017 at theWayback Machine, a Briefing by the Scottish Parliament Information Centre
• Scottish Election Study

• British National Party Manifesto
• Communist Party of Britain Manifesto
• Pirate Party UK Scottish Manifesto
• Respect Party 'Coalition Against Cuts' ManifestoArchived 9 May 2011 at theWayback Machine
• Scottish Christian Party Manifesto
• Scottish Conservative Party Manifesto
• Scottish Green Party Manifesto
• Scottish Homeland Party Manifesto
• Scottish Labour Party Manifesto
• Scottish Liberal Democrats Manifesto
• Scottish National Party Manifesto
• Scottish Socialist Party Manifesto
• UK Independence Party Manifesto

• Scottish National Party
• Scottish Labour Party
• Scottish Conservative Party
• Scottish Liberal Democrats
• Scottish Green Party
• British National Party
• UK Independence Party
• Scottish Christian Party
• Scottish Socialist Party
• All Scotland Pensioner's Party
• Socialist Labour Party

• General elections to the Scottish Parliament
• 2011 elections in the United Kingdom
• 2011 in Scotland
• 2010s elections in Scotland
• May 2011 in the United Kingdom

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