Scottish Parliament election, 1999

Scottish Parliament election, 1999

6 May 1999

All 129 seats to the Scottish Parliament 65 seats were needed for a majority   First party Second party   Leader Donald Dewar Alex Salmond Party Labour SNP Leader's seat Glasgow Anniesland Banff and Buchan Seats won 56 35 Constituency votes 908,392 672,757 Constituency % 38.81% 28.74% List votes 786,818 638,644 List % 33.64% 27.26%   Third party Fourth party   Leader David McLetchie Jim Wallace Party Conservative Liberal Democrats Leader's seat Lothians Orkney Seats won 18 17 Constituency votes 364,225 331,379 Constituency % 15.56% 14.15% List votes 359,109 225,774 List % 15.35% 12.43%

Map constituency winners of the election by their party colours.

First Minister-designate Donald Dewar Labour

The first election to the devolved Scottish Parliament, to fill 129 seats, took place on 6 May 1999. Following the election, the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats formed the Scottish Executive, with Labour Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) Donald Dewar becoming First Minister.

The Scottish Parliament was created after a referendum on devolution took place on 11 September 1997 in which 74.3% of those who voted approved the idea. The Scotland Act (1998) was then passed by the UK Parliament which established the devolved Scottish Parliament and Scottish Executive. The parliament was elected using Mixed member proportional representation, combining 73 (First-past-the-post) constituencies^{[note 1]} and proportional representation with the 73 constituencies being grouped together to make eight regions each electing seven additional members to make a total of 129. This meant that it would be unlikely for any party to gain a majority of seats in the new parliament and either minority or coalition Scottish Executives would have to be formed.

The first general election to the Scottish Parliament overall produced few surprises with the Labour Party still enjoying high popularity following their landslide victory in the 1997 UK general election as widely expected was the largest party winning 56 seats, mostly in their traditional Central Belt heartlands, which was nine seats short of an overall majority. Labour formed a coalition government with the Liberal Democrats, who won 17 seats. The Scottish National Party (SNP) had done well in opinion polls running up to the election, gaining 40% in some approval ratings, but this level of support was not maintained. The SNP were the second largest party with 35 seats, which still represented their best performance since the October 1974 UK general election. The Conservative Party, still recovering from their wipeout in the 1997 UK general election across Scotland, failed to win a single constituency seat but did manage to win 18 seats through the Additional Member System.

The Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) and the Greens picked up unexpected additional member seats. Robin Harper became the first ever elected Green parliamentarian in the history of the United Kingdom. Dennis Canavan, who had failed to become an approved Labour candidate, won the Falkirk West constituency as an independent candidate.

Following the election the new parliament met in the General Assembly Hall of the Church of Scotland in Edinburgh for the very first time on Wednesday 12 May 1999 although the actual devolution of powers from Westminster to the Scottish Parliament did not take place until midnight on Thursday 1 July 1999, almost two months later.

For a full list of MSPs elected, see Members of the Scottish Parliament, 1999-2003. For lists of constituencies and regions, see Scottish Parliament constituencies and regions.

National vote

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• Voter turnout: 59.1%

Constituency and regional summary

Central Scotland

Glasgow

Highlands and Islands

Lothians

Mid Scotland and Fife

North East Scotland

South of Scotland

West of Scotland

Party representation

• Labour - 56 Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs)
• SNP - 35 MSPs
• Conservative - 18 MSPs
• Liberal Democrat - 17 MSPs
• Scottish Green Party - 1 MSP
• SSP - 1 MSP
• Others (Dennis Canavan, Falkirk West) - 1 MSP

Party leaders in 1999

• Labour - Donald Dewar
• SNP - Alex Salmond
• Conservative - David McLetchie
• Liberal Democrat - Jim Wallace
• SSP - Tommy Sheridan
• Scottish Green Party - Robin Harper

Notes

1. ↑ The same constituency boundaries were used as in the United Kingdom general election, 1997 with the exception of Orkney and Shetland, which were made into separate constituencies.

See also

• Executive of the 1st Scottish Parliament
• Members elected to the 1st Scottish Parliament

External links

• SourceForge.net

Elections and referendums in Scotland Parliamentary elections Pre-1707 1999 2003 2007 2011 2016 Local elections 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1977 1978 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1995 1999 2003 2007 2012 2017 Referendums 1979 1997 2014 Local referendums Scottish licensing referendums, 1920 Strathclyde (water) 1994 Edinburgh (congestion charge) 2005 See also: Elections in Great Britain (1707–1800) United Kingdom Politics of Scotland

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