2021 Scottish Parliament election

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All 129 seats to theScottish Parliament 65 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Turnout	Constituency – 63.5%7.7pp Regional – 63.5%7.7pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader Nicola Sturgeon Douglas Ross Anas Sarwar Party SNP Conservative Labour Leader since 14 November 2014 5 August 2020 27 February 2021 Leader's seat Glasgow Southside Highlands and Islands[a] Glasgow Last election 63 seats 31 seats 24 seats Seats before 61 30 23 Seats won 64 31 22 Seat change 1 2 Constituency vote 1,291,204 592,526 584,392 % and swing 47.7%1.2% 21.9%0.1% 21.6%1.0% Regional vote 1,094,374 637,131 485,819 % and swing 40.3%1.4% 23.5%0.6% 17.9%1.2%   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader Lorna Slater / Patrick Harvie Willie Rennie Party Green Liberal Democrats Leader since 1 August 2019 (Slater) / 22 November 2008 (Harvie) 17 May 2011 Leader's seat Lothian (Slater) / Glasgow (Harvie) North East Fife Last election 6 seats 5 seats Seats before 5 5 Seats won 8 4 Seat change 2 1 Constituency vote 34,990 187,816 % and swing 1.3%0.7% 6.9%0.9% Regional vote 220,324 137,151 % and swing 8.1%1.5% 5.1%0.1%
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 Nicola Sturgeon SNP First Minister after election Nicola Sturgeon SNP

The2021 Scottish Parliament election took place on 6 May 2021 under the provisions of theScotland Act 1998. It was the sixthScottish Parliament election since the devolved parliament was established in 1999. 129Members of the Scottish Parliament were elected. The election was held alongside theSenedd election in Wales,English local elections,London Assembly andmayoral election and theHartlepool by-election.

The election campaign started on 25 March 2021, during theCOVID-19 pandemic in Scotland. As a result, Parliament went into recess on 5 May, the day before the election.^[3] The main parties fielding candidates were: theScottish National Party (SNP), led byFirst MinisterNicola Sturgeon; theScottish Conservatives, led byDouglas Ross;Scottish Labour, led byAnas Sarwar; theScottish Liberal Democrats, led byWillie Rennie, and theScottish Greens, jointly led byPatrick Harvie andLorna Slater. Of those five parties, three had changed their leader since the2016 election.

Newer parties set up since the 2016 election included:Reform UK Scotland, led byMichelle Ballantyne; theAlba Party, led by former First Minister and SNP leaderAlex Salmond; andAll for Unity, led byGeorge Galloway. These parties only competed for seats on theregional lists. They all failed to win any seats.

The election resulted in the SNP winning a fourth consecutive term in government. They won 64 seats, a net increase of one from the 2016 election. The SNP gainedEdinburgh Central,Ayr, andEast Lothian, as well as winning the largest share of the popular vote and the largest number of constituency seats in any Scottish Parliament election (62).^[4] The Greens won eight seats, their best result to date at a Scottish Parliament election, while the Conservatives retained second place with 31 seats. Labour had its worst-ever result with 22 seats, and the lowest share of the vote in both constituency and list votes for either Westminster or Holyrood since 1910. The Liberal Democrats also had their worst showing at a Holyrood election to date, winning only four seats.^[5]

The SNP and the Greens, both of which supportScottish independence, won 72 of the 129 seats in the parliament. Unionist parties (that is, those against independence) achieved a small majority of votes in constituency contests, whilst pro-independence parties achieved a small majority in the regional lists.^[6] Theturnout was 63.5%, which is the highest ever at a Scottish Parliament election. Following the election, thethird Sturgeon government was formed. It initially consisted of just the SNP, but later included Slater and Harvie of the Scottish Greens as junior ministers after the two parties negotiated apower-sharing agreement.^[7]

At the2016 election, the rulingScottish National Party (SNP) lost itsparliamentary majority but was able to continue governing underNicola Sturgeon as aminorityadministration.^[8] At the same election, theConservatives overtookLabour to place second, whilst theGreens overtook theLiberal Democrats to place fourth.^[8] No representatives of minor parties were elected to the Parliament.^[8]

Four further elections affecting Scotland took place between the 2016 and 2021 Scottish Parliament elections:

• May 2017: Scottish local government elections. The SNP retained its position as the largest party in terms of votes and councillors. The Conservatives displaced Labour as the second largest party, while the Liberal Democrats suffered a net loss of councillors despite increasing their share of the vote.^[9]

• June 2017: United Kingdom general election. The SNP lost 21 of its MPs, winning 35 seats. The Conservatives won 13 seats, with their highest vote share in any election in Scotland since 1979. Labour won seven seats, while the Liberal Democrats won four.^[10]

• May 2019: European Parliament election. This was dominated by the impending Brexit-deadline. The SNP won three of the six seats in Scotland, with the Brexit Party, Conservatives and Liberal Democrats each winning one seat.^[11]

• December 2019: United Kingdom general election. The SNP increased its share of the vote, reclaiming thirteen of the seats they lost in 2017. The Conservatives won six Scottish seats with a net lost of seven. The Liberal Democrats won four seats with no net losses, but their leader,Jo Swinson, lost her own seat to the SNP. Labour was reduced to a single Scottish seat, a net loss of six.^[12]

Three parties had undergone leadership changes since the 2016 election. In August 2017,Kezia Dugdale resigned as leader of Scottish Labour and wasreplaced byRichard Leonard.^[13] In January 2021, less than four months before the election, Leonard resigned.^[14]Anas Sarwar won the subsequentleadership election.^[15]

In August 2019,Lorna Slater andPatrick Harvie becameco-leaders of theScottish Greens.^[16]

Also in August 2019,Ruth Davidson resigned as leader of the Scottish Conservatives and wassucceeded byJackson Carlaw.^[17] Carlaw resigned as leader in July 2020,^[18] withDouglas Ross winning the subsequentleadership election unopposed.^[19]

The 2021 election was the first to come after the passage of the Scottish Elections (Franchise and Representation) Act, which extended thefranchise to those serving prison sentences of 12 months or less.^[20][21] In 2005, the United Kingdom was found in breach of Protocol 1, Article 3 of theEuropean Convention on Human Rights in regards to prisoner voting rights in theEuropean Court of Human Rights as a result ofHirst v United Kingdom (No 2); the Act brings Scotland in line with the court ruling.^[22]

This act also allows all foreign nationals resident in Scotland to vote and all those withindefinite leave to remain or equivalent status, includingpre–settled status in the United Kingdom, to stand as candidates.^[23][20][24] A BBC News report in April 2021 said that there were around 55,000 foreign nationals who had been given the right to vote as a result of these changes, including 20,000 refugees.^[24]

Under theScotland Act 1998, an ordinary general election to the Scottish Parliament would normally have been held on the first Thursday in May four years after the2016 election, i.e. in May 2020.^[25] This would have clashed with the proposed date of a UK general election, although this became a moot point when a snap UK general election was held inJune 2017 (a further UK general election was held inDecember 2019).^[26] In November 2015, the Scottish Government published a Scottish Elections (Dates) Bill, which proposed to extend the term of the Parliament to five years.^[26] This was passed by the Scottish Parliament on 25 February 2016 and received Royal Assent on 30 March 2016, setting the new date for the election as 6 May 2021.^[27]

The Scottish Elections (Dates) Act did not affect the legal possibilities for the Parliament to be dissolved earlier, those being;

• That the date of the poll may be varied by up to one month either way by themonarch, on the proposal of thePresiding Officer.^[25]
• If Parliament itself resolves that it should be dissolved, with at least two-thirds of theMembers (i.e. 86 Members) voting in favour, the Presiding Officer proposes a date for an extraordinary general election and the Parliament is dissolved by the monarch byroyal proclamation.^[28]
• If Parliament fails to nominate one of its members to beFirst Minister within 28 days, irrespective of whether at the beginning or in the middle of a parliamentary term.^[28] Therefore, if the First Minister resigned, Parliament would then have 28 days to elect a successor and if no new First Minister was elected then the Presiding Officer would ask for Parliament to be dissolved. This process could also be triggered if the First Minister lost avote of confidence by asimple majority, as they must then resign.

Nevertheless, no extraordinary general elections have been held to date. Any extraordinary general election would be in addition to the ordinary general elections, unless held less than six months before the due date of an ordinary general election, in which case it would supplant it.^[28] This would not affect the year in which the subsequent ordinary general election would be held.^[28]

On 16 November 2020, the Scottish General Election (Coronavirus) Bill was introduced.^[29] This draft legislation stated that while the next election was intended to be held on 6 May 2021, thePresiding Officer would gain the power to postpone the election by up to six months if the spread ofCOVID-19 made that date impractical.^[29] The bill also proposed to change the date of dissolution to the day before the election, meaning that the Parliament could be recalled during the election period.^[29] The bill was enacted and receivedRoyal Assent on 29 January 2021.^[30] Parliament was in fact recalled on 12 April, to allow MSPs to mark the death ofPrince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.^[31]

James Dornan announced in February 2020 his intention to retire at the next Holyrood election,^[64] but reversed this decision some months later.^[65]

The SNP, Conservatives, Labour and Liberal Democrats fielded candidates in all 73 constituencies and all eight of the regional ballots.^[66] Five other parties contested both all eight regions and at least one constituency: the Scottish Greens (12 constituencies) theScottish Libertarian Party (9), theScottish Family Party (7),UKIP (5) and the Freedom Alliance (4). Four parties –Abolish the Scottish Parliament Party,Alba Party,All for Unity, andReform UK – stood in all eight electoral regions, but did not contest any constituencies.

Six other parties contested some of the regions and at least one constituency:TUSC (3 regions and 3 constituencies), Restore Scotland (2 regions, 4 constituencies),Scotia Future (2 of each), theCommunist Party of Britain (2 regions and 1 constituency), theReclaim Party (1 of each) and the Vanguard Party (also 1 of each). Five other parties –Independent Green Voice (5 regions),Renew (5), theSocial Democratic Party (2),Women's Equality (2) andAnimal Welfare (1) – contested some of the regions, but not any constituencies.

TheScottish Socialist Party, which participated in the last election as part of the electoral allianceRISE – Scotland's Left Alliance, opted not to participate in this election, for the first time since its inception.

This list isincomplete; you can help byadding missing items.(April 2021)

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

The Scottish Parliament uses anadditional member system (AMS), designed to produce approximateproportional representation for each region. There are 8 regions, each sub-divided into 8 to 10 single-member constituencies. There is a total of 73constituencies. Each constituency elects one MSP by theplurality (first past the post) system of election. Each region elects 7 additional MSPs using anadditional member system. A modifiedD'Hondt method using the constituency results is used to elect these additional MSPs.^[68][69]

The boundaries of the 73 constituencies last changed as of the2011 Scottish Parliament election, as did the configuration of the electoral regions used to elect "list" members of the Scottish Parliament.^[70] These revisions were the outcome of the First Periodical Review of theScottish Parliament's constituencies and regions conducted by theBoundary Commission for Scotland; the Review was announced on 3 July 2007 and the Commission published its final report on 26 May 2010.

The Scottish Parliament constituencies have not been coterminous withScottish Westminster constituencies since the2005 general election, when the 72 former UK Parliament constituencies were replaced with a new set of 59, generally larger, constituencies (seeScottish Parliament (Constituencies) Act 2004). The size difference between Westminster and Holyrood boundaries was due to diverge further upon the implementation of theSixth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, which has not been voted upon by Parliament. The2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies for a UK total of 650 MPs commenced in England in 2021 and will complete for the UK by 2023.

The election campaign started on 25 March 2021.^[3] The Scottish Conservatives launched their campaign the same day, with a focus on promoting Scotland's recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.^[71]

On 26 March 2021, theAlba Party was publicly launched by formerFirst Minister of Scotland and SNP leader,Alex Salmond.^{[72][73][74][75]} The party announced plans to standlist-only candidates. Two sitting SNP MPs later defected to the Alba party.^[76] TheAction for Independence party, which had intended to pursue a similar list-only strategy, announced they would stand down their candidates in favour of Alba.^[77] Sturgeon said she would refuse to have any dealings with Salmond unless he apologises to the women who had accused him of harassment.^[78] Salmond was ultimatelyacquitted of all charges.

BBC Scotland announced that it would broadcast two debates between the main parties' leaders; the first was aired on 30 March 2021 and was moderated by the corporation's Scotland editorSarah Smith.^[79] The debate included key questions from the audience on theCOVID-19 recovery,climate change, and asecond referendum onScottish independence. The second BBC debate was held on 4 May 2021 and was moderated by BBC Scotland's political editorGlenn Campbell.^[80]

Commercial broadcasterSTV held their leaders' debate on 13 April, moderated by their political editorColin Mackay.^[81][82][83]NUS Scotland held a debate, specifically on student issues, on 20 April; it was moderated by NUS Scotland president Matt Crilly and featured the three main party leaders.^[84]

On 1 April,Planet Radio announced that theirClyde 2 station would be hosting a Leaders Phone-In with the main party leaders every Sunday before the election.Douglas Ross was the first to be interviewed on 4 April,^[85] withWillie Rennie following on 18 April. WhilstNicola Sturgeon was set to be interviewed on 11 April, campaigning was delayed following the death ofPrince Philip and her phone-in was instead held on 22 April.Patrick Harvie followed on 25 April; andAnas Sarwar had the final phone-in on 2 May.^[86]

Following Prince Philip's death on 9 April, the SNP, Conservatives, Labour, Greens and Liberal Democrats said they would suspend election campaigning until further notice.^[87][88][89] After discussion between the parties, they agreed to resume campaigning after a special parliamentary session on 12 April to make tributes and to pause activities again on the day of the funeral (17 April).^[31][90]

Graph of opinion poll results prior to the 2021 Scottish Parliament election. Trendlines are 30-day moving averages.

Regional vote

Constituency vote

Key

  SNP –Scottish National Party
  Conservative –Scottish Conservatives
  Labour –Scottish Labour
  Lib Dem –Scottish Liberal Democrats
  Green –Scottish Greens
  UKIP –UK Independence Party
  Reform –Reform UK
  SSP –Scottish Socialist Party
  Alba –Alba Party
  AFU –All for Unity

Below are listed all the constituencies which required aswing of less than 5% from the 2016 result to change hands. The most marginal opportunity for theGreens was inGlasgow Kelvin, which they needed a 7.1% swing to gain. TheLiberal Democrats' best bet wasCaithness, Sutherland and Ross, which required a 6.1% swing. The SNP ended up holding both of these constituencies.

Regional vote plurality in each constituency SNP regional vote Conservative regional vote Labour regional vote Green regional vote Liberal Democrat regional vote

(Note: no mechanism is used to have the overall seat counts for each party reflect the party share of the overall vote. Each region is taken independently and seats in each region are allocated just as per the region's vote.)

2021 Scottish Parliament election:Central Scotland regional list

Party		Elected candidates	Seats	+/−	Votes	%	+/−%
	SNP		0		148,399	45.3	2.4
	Labour	Richard Leonard Monica Lennon Mark Griffin	3	1	77,623	23.7	1.1
	Conservative	Stephen Kerr Graham Simpson Meghan Gallacher	3		59,896	18.3	2.2
	Green	Gillian Mackay	1	1	19,512	6.0	1.3

2021 Scottish Parliament election:Glasgow regional list

Party		Elected candidates	Seats	+/−	Votes	%	+/−%
	SNP		0		133,917	43.9	0.9
	Labour	Pauline McNeill Anas Sarwar Paul Sweeney Pam Duncan-Glancy	4		74,088	24.3	0.5
	Conservative	Annie Wells Sandesh Gulhane	2		37,027	12.1	0.2
	Green	Patrick Harvie	1		36,114	11.8	2.4

2021 Scottish Parliament election:Highlands and Islands regional list

Party		Elected candidates	Seats	+/−	Votes	%	+/−%
	SNP	Emma Roddick	1		96,433	40.4	0.7
	Conservative	Douglas Ross Donald Cameron Edward Mountain Jamie Halcro Johnston	4	1	60,779	25.4	3.6
	Liberal Democrats		0		26,771	11.2	2.1
	Labour	Rhoda Grant	1	1	22,713	9.5	1.7
	Green	Ariane Burgess	1		17,729	7.4	0.2

2021 Scottish Parliament election:Lothian regional list

Party		Elected candidates	Seats	+/−	Votes	%	+/−%
	SNP		0		141,478	35.9	0.3
	Conservative	Miles Briggs Sue Webber Jeremy Balfour	3		78,595	19.9	3.0
	Labour	Sarah Boyack Foysol Choudhury	2		76,689	19.4	1.4
	Green	Alison Johnstone Lorna Slater	2		49,984	12.7	2.1
	Liberal Democrats		0		28,433	7.2	1.6

2021 Scottish Parliament election:Mid Scotland and Fife regional list

Party		Elected candidates	Seats	+/−	Votes	%	+/−%
	SNP		0		136,825	39.8	1.5
	Conservative	Murdo Fraser Liz Smith Dean Lockhart Alexander Stewart	4		85,909	25.0	0.2
	Labour	Claire Baker Alex Rowley	2		52,626	15.3	2.3
	Green	Mark Ruskell	1		28,654	8.3	2.2
	Liberal Democrats		0		25,489	7.4	0.4

2021 Scottish Parliament election:North East Scotland regional list

Party		Elected candidates	Seats	+/−	Votes	%	+/−%
	SNP		0		147,910	40.9	3.8
	Conservative	Liam Kerr Douglas Lumsden Maurice Golden Tess White	4		110,555	30.6	2.6
	Labour	Michael Marra Mercedes Villalba	2		41,062	11.4	1.2
	Green	Maggie Chapman	1	1	22,735	6.3	1.4
	Liberal Democrats		0	1	18,051	5.0	1.0

2021 Scottish Parliament election:South Scotland regional list

Party		Elected candidates	Seats	+/−	Votes	%	+/−%
	SNP	Emma Harper	1	2	136,741	37.6	0.7
	Conservative	Craig Hoy Brian Whittle Sharon Dowey	3	1	121,730	33.5	1.4
	Labour	Colin Smyth Carol Mochan Martin Whitfield	3	1	57,236	15.7	2.1

2021 Scottish Parliament election:West Scotland regional list

Party		Elected candidates	Seats	+/−	Votes	%	+/−%
	SNP		0		152,671	40.4	1.8
	Labour	Neil Bibby Katy Clark Paul O'Kane	3		83,782	22.2	0.3
	Conservative	Russell Findlay Jamie Greene Pam Gosal	3		82,640	21.9	0.3
	Green	Ross Greer	1		26,632	7.1	1.8

The SNP won 64 seats, falling one seat short of an overall majority.^[102] Some commentators put this down to unionistsvoting tactically for Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat candidates.^[103][104] According to psephologistJohn Curtice, "Denying the SNP an overall majority was, indeed, a collective effort – at least on the part of Unionist voters, who on the constituency ballot demonstrated a remarkable willingness to back whichever pro-Union party appeared to be best placed locally to defeat the SNP. [...] These patterns had a decisive impact on the outcome."^[105] This was apparent in seats likeDumbarton, where incumbent Labour MSPJackie Baillie saw her 0.3% majority increased to 3.9%, whilst both the Conservative and Lib Dem vote share decreased.^[106]

InThe National,Emer O'Toole questioned whether social media adverts with "a lack of transparency over funding" may have cost the SNP key seats as well.^[107] The day before the election,The Guardian reported that anti-independence groups and campaigners had "spent tens of thousands of pounds in the past week", including onFacebook adverts, calling for tactical voting to prevent the SNP getting a majority.^[108] One of these groups was Scotland Matters, whose founder, ProfessorHugh Pennington said, "Across the country as a whole, tactical voting is obviously one of the ways forward to basically harm the SNP, not to put too fine a point on it."^[108]

Additionally, the Greens claimed that they may have been deprived of two seats because ofIndependent Green Voice (IGV), a far-right party which has nothing to do with the Scottish Greens (who support Scottish independence). IGV received nearly 10,000 votes, including 2,210 inGlasgow (where the Greens were 1,000 short of gaining a seat) and 1,690 inSouth Scotland (where the Greens fell 100 short). This potentially prevented pro-independence parties from having a 19-seat majority instead of 15 seats.^[109]

TheScottish and Welsh Election Studies 2021, revealed on 13 June, found that around a third of Scottish voters who decided to vote differently in the run-up to the election did so to stop another party, and that 90% of those who did this did so in a bid to prevent the SNP winning the seat. Rob Johns, Professor in Politics at theUniversity of Essex, said: "[W]e found a lot more switching than we had expected. The polls had suggested that not much was changing and obviously the overall election result was almost eerily similar to 2016. That can mean that nobody has changed their mind or it can mean lots of people have changed their mind – but these have cancelled out as people have moved in opposing directions. We found there was quite a lot more of that than we had expected."^[110]

Data fromSavanta ComRes:^[111]

Election of the First Minister
Ballot →		18 May 2021
Required majority →		50 out of 99 valid votes
	Nicola Sturgeon (SNP) •Scottish National Party (64)	64 / 129	Y
	Douglas Ross (Conservative) •Scottish Conservatives (31)	31 / 129	N
	Willie Rennie (Lib Dem) •Scottish Liberal Democrats (4)	4 / 129	N
	Abstentions •Scottish Labour (21) •Scottish Greens (7)	28 / 129
	Not voting • Scottish Labour (1) •Presiding Officer (1)	2 / 129
Sources[114]

Nicola Sturgeon was nominated asFirst Minister by a vote held on 18 May 2021.^[115] Hercabinet was approved by the parliament two days later and thus theThird Sturgeon government, aminority government, was formed.^[116]

On 3 August 2021, it was reported that a co-operation agreement between the SNP and the Greens was "on the brink of being finalised" and could see Green MSPs take ministerial positions in government.^[117] On 19 August, the power-sharing agreement between the two parties was announced.^[7] Under the terms of the agreement, the Greens have two MSPs appointed as junior ministers in the government who are invited to attend cabinet meetings when their portfolios are being discussed. The Greens signed up to the bulk of the SNP's policies, but in areas of disagreement such as international relations and fee-paying schools the two parties are free to publicly disagree.^[7] The agreement states that the Greens support the government onvotes of confidence andsupply.^[118]

A deal that would seePatrick Harvie andLorna Slater made ministers was revealed on 26 August, subject to being voted upon by Green Party members.^[119][120] Two days later, members of both parties overwhelmingly voted in favour of the deal.^[121]

Other elections in the UK which were held on the same day:

• 2021 London Assembly election
• 2021 London mayoral election
• 2021 Senedd election
• 2021 United Kingdom local elections

• Election 2021Archived 23 April 2021 at theWayback Machine (on the Scottish Parliament website)

• General elections to the Scottish Parliament
• 2021 elections in the United Kingdom
• 2021 in Scotland
• 2020s elections in Scotland

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