2007 Scottish Parliament election

The **2007 Scottish Parliament election** was an election held on 3 May 2007 to elect members to the Scottish Parliament.

Going into the election, the Scottish Labour Party had the largest number of seats and had a coalition agreement with the Scottish Liberal Democrats with Jack McConnell as First Minister. The Scottish National Party won 47 seats in the election, which was the largest number of seats for any party in the election, but was not enough to form a majority government. The Scottish National Party then formed a minority government with Alex Salmond as First Minister.

This was the first time since the 1964 UK General Election in which the Labour Party did not get the highest number of votes in Scotland and it also gave the Scottish National Party it's largest ever number of votes. The final results were: **Scottish National Party** (47 Seats), **Scottish Labour Party** (46 Seats), **Scottish Conservative Party** (17 Seats), **Scottish Liberal Democrats** (16 Seats) and the **Scottish Green Party** (2 Seats). Parties which had won seats in the 2003 Scottish Parliament election including the Scottish Socialist Party and the Scottish Senior Citizens Party, lost all of their seats.

## Voting system

Scotland is divided into 73 constituencies with roughly the same number of people in each one. Each of these constituencies elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) using the First Past the Post voting system. These 73 constituencies are grouped into eight regions. Each of these regions elects seven MSPs using proportional representation which means that the total number of MSPs is 129.

## Party leaders

Scottish National Party - Alex Salmond

Scottish Labour Party - Jack McConnell

Scottish Conservative Party - Annabel Goldie

Scottish Liberal Democrats - Nicol Stephen

Scottish Green Party - Robin Harper / Shiona Baird

## Next election

The next election to the Scottish parliament was held on 5 May 2011.

## Infobox (election)

- **election name**: 2007 Scottish Parliament election
- **country**: Scotland
- **type**: parliamentary
- **ongoing**: no
- **previous election**: 2003 Scottish Parliament election
- **previous year**: 2003
- **previous mps**: 2nd Scottish Parliament
- **elected mps**: 3rd Scottish Parliament
- **next election**: 2011 Scottish Parliament election
- **next year**: 2011
- **seats for election**: All 129 seats to the Scottish Parliament
- **majority seats**: 65
- **opinion polls**: Opinion polling for the 2007 Scottish Parliament election
- **3blank**: Regional vote
- **2blank**: % and swing
- **1blank**: Constituency vote
- **4blank**: % and swing
- **turnout**: Constituency - 53.9%  4.2percentage points, pp
 Regional - 54.0%  4.3percentage points, pp
- **leader1**: Alex Salmond
- **party1**: Scottish National Party
- **leaders seat1**: Gordon (Scottish Parliament constituency), Gordon
- **last election1**: 27 seats
- **seats1**: **47**
- **seat change1**: 20
- **3data1**: **633,611**
- **4data1**: **31.0%** 10.1%
- **1data1**: **664,227**
- **2data1**: **32.9%** 9.1%
- **leader2**: Jack McConnell
- **party2**: Scottish Labour
- **leaders seat2**: Motherwell and Wishaw (Scottish Parliament constituency), Motherwell and Wishaw
- **last election2**: 50 seats
- **seats2**: 46
- **seat change2**: 4
- **3data2**: 595,415
- **4data2**: 29.2% 0.2%
- **1data2**: 648,374
- **2data2**: 32.1% 2.5%
- **leader3**: Annabel Goldie
- **party3**: Scottish Conservatives
- **leaders seat3**: West of Scotland (Scottish Parliament electoral region), West of Scotland
- **last election3**: 18 seats
- **seats3**: 17
- **seat change3**: 1
- **3data3**: 284,035
- **4data3**: 13.9% 1.6%
- **1data3**: 334,743
- **2data3**: 16.6%
- **leader4**: Nicol Stephen
- **party4**: Scottish Liberal Democrats
- **leaders seat4**: Aberdeen South (Scottish Parliament constituency), Aberdeen South
- **last election4**: 17 seats
- **seats4**: 16
- **seat change4**: 1
- **3data4**: 230,651
- **4data4**: 11.3% 0.5%
- **1data4**: 326,232
- **2data4**: 16.2% 0.8%
- **leader5**: Robin Harper /
Shiona Baird
- **party5**: Scottish Greens
- **leaders seat5**: Lothians (Scottish Parliament electoral region), Lothians /
North East Scotland (Scottish Parliament electoral region), North East Scotland _(defeated)_
- **last election5**: 7 seats
- **seats5**: 2
- **seat change5**: 5
- **1data5**: 2,971
- **2data5**: 0.1% 0.1%
- **3data5**: 82,577
- **4data5**: 4.0% 2.9%
- **leader6**: Colin Fox (politician), Colin Fox
- **party6**: Scottish Socialist Party
- **leaders seat6**: Lothians (Scottish Parliament electoral region), Lothians _(defeated)_
- **last election6**: 6 seats
- **seats6**: 0
- **seat change6**: 6
- **1data6**: 525
- **2data6**: 0.0% 6.2%
- **3data6**: 13,096
- **4data6**: 0.6% 6.1%
- **map image**: Scottish Parliament election, 2007.svg
- **map size**: 450px
- **map caption**: The map shows the election results in single-member constituencies. The additional member MSPs in the 8 regions are shown around the map.
- **title**: First Minister of Scotland, First Minister
- **posttitle**: First Minister after election
- **before election**: Jack McConnell
- **before party**: Scottish Labour
- **after election**: Alex Salmond
- **after party**: Scottish National Party