2007 Scottish Parliament election facts for kids

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.

Images for kids

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  Scanners counting votes in Glasgow's SECC.