1999 Scottish Parliament election

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:EngvarB Template:Infobox election 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<ref group = "note">The same constituency boundaries were used as in the 1997 United Kingdom general election with the exception of Orkney and Shetland, which were made into separate constituencies.</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

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 general election.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The Conservative Party, still recovering from their wipeout in the 1997 general election across Scotland, failed to win a single constituency seat but did win 18 seats through the Additional Member System.

The Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) and the Greens picked up unexpected additional member seats.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Robin Harper became the first ever elected Green parliamentarian in the history of the United Kingdom.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Dennis Canavan, who had failed to become an approved Labour candidate, won the Falkirk West constituency as an independent candidate.<ref>Template:Cite tweet</ref>

Following the election the new parliament met in the General Assembly Hall of the Church of Scotland in Edinburgh for the 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref>

For a full list of MSPs elected, see 1st Scottish Parliament. For lists of constituencies and regions, see Scottish Parliament constituencies and electoral regions.

ResultsEdit

File:Scotland general election 1999 - Results by Constituency.svg

Election result with constituency names labeled

↓
style="background:Template:Party color; width:43.41%;" \| 56	style="background:Template:Party color; width:13.18%;" \| 17	style="background:Template:Party color; color:black; width:27.13%;" \| 35	style="background:Template:Party color; width:13.95%;" \| 18	style="background:Template:Party color; width:0.78%;" \|	style="background:Template:Party color; width:0.78%;" \|
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File:Scottish Parliament elected members, 1999.svg

|- ! rowspan=2 colspan=2 | Party ! colspan=5 | Constituencies ! colspan=5 | Regional additional members ! colspan=5 | Total seats |- ! Votes !! % !! ± !! Seats !! ± !! Votes !! % !! ± !! Seats !! ± !! Total !! ± !! % |- Template:AMS Election Summary Party Template:AMS Election Summary Party Template:AMS Election Summary Party Template:AMS Election Summary Party Template:AMS Election Summary Party Template:AMS Election Summary Party Template:AMS Election Summary Template:AMS Election Summary Party Template:AMS Election Summary Party Template:AMS Election Summary Party Template:AMS Election Summary Party Template:AMS Election Summary Party Template:AMS Election Summary Party Template:AMS Election Summary Template:AMS Election Summary Template:AMS Election Summary Party Template:AMS Election Summary Party Template:AMS Election Summary Party Template:AMS Election Summary Template:AMS Election Summary |- |style="text-align:left"; colspan="2" | Valid votes || 2,342,488 || 99.7 || – || colspan="2"| || 2,338,914 || 99.7 || – || colspan="5"| |- |style="text-align:left"; colspan="2" | Spoilt votes || 7,839 || 0.3 || – || colspan="2"| || 7,268 || 0.3 || – || colspan="5"| |- !style="text-align:left"; colspan="2" | Total || 2,350,327 || 100 || || 73 || – || 2,346,182 || 100 || || 56 || – || 129 || – || 100 |- |style="text-align:left"; colspan="2" | Electorate/turnout || 4,027,433 || 58.4 || – || colspan="2"| || 4,027,433 || 58.3 || – || colspan="5"| |} Template:Bar box Template:Bar box

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Constituency and regional summaryEdit

Central ScotlandEdit

GlasgowEdit

Highlands and IslandsEdit

LothiansEdit

Mid Scotland and FifeEdit

North East ScotlandEdit

South of ScotlandEdit

West of ScotlandEdit

Party representationEdit

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

Party leaders in 1999Edit

Labour – Donald Dewar
SNP – Alex Salmond
Conservative – David McLetchie
Liberal Democrat – Jim Wallace
SSP – Tommy Sheridan
Green – Robin Harper

Opinion pollsEdit

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NotesEdit

ReferencesEdit

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External linksEdit

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SourceForge.net

ManifestosEdit

Scotland First, Scottish Conservatives
Caring for Scotland, Scottish Greens
Raising the Standard, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Scotland's Party, Scottish National Party

Template:1999 Scottish Parliament election Template:Scottish elections Template:1999 United Kingdom local elections

style="background:Template:Party color; width:43.41%;" \| 56	style="background:Template:Party color; width:13.18%;" \| 17	style="background:Template:Party color; color:black; width:27.13%;" \| 35	style="background:Template:Party color; width:13.95%;" \| 18	style="background:Template:Party color; width:0.78%;" \|	style="background:Template:Party color; width:0.78%;" \|
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