The first election to the devolved

Scottish Parliament The Scottish Parliament ( ; ) is the Devolution in the United Kingdom, devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. It is located in the Holyrood, Edinburgh, Holyrood area of Edinburgh, and is frequently referred to by the metonym 'Holyrood'. ...

, 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 A first minister is any of a variety of leaders of government cabinets. The term literally has the same meaning as "prime minister" but is typically chosen to distinguish the office-holder from a superior prime minister. Currently the title of ' ...

. 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 The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of ...

which established the devolved Scottish Parliament and Scottish Executive. The parliament was elected using

Mixed-member proportional representation Mixed-member proportional representation (MMP or MMPR) is a type of representation provided by some mixed electoral system, mixed electoral systems which combine local Winner-take-all system, winner-take-all elections with a Compensation (el ...

, combining 73 (First-past-the-post) constituenciesThe same constituency boundaries were used as in the

1997 United Kingdom general election The 1997 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 1 May 1997. The governing Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party led by Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Prime Minister John Major was defeated in a Landslide victory, la ...

with the exception of

Orkney Orkney (), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago off the north coast of mainland Scotland. The plural name the Orkneys is also sometimes used, but locals now consider it outdated. Part of the Northern Isles along with Shetland, ...

and

Shetland Shetland (until 1975 spelled Zetland), also called the Shetland Islands, is an archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands, and Norway, marking the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the ...

, which were made into separate constituencies. and

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to any electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to political divisions (Political party, political parties) amon ...

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 A coalition is formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political, military, or economic spaces. Formation According to ''A G ...

Scottish Executives would have to be formed. The first general election to the

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 The Scottish National Party (SNP; ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic party. The party holds 61 of the 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament, and holds 9 out of the 57 Scottish seats in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, ...

(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. The Conservative Party, still recovering from their wipeout in the 1997 general election across

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, failed to win a single

constituency An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

seat but did win 18 seats through the Additional Member System. The

Scottish Socialist Party The Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) is a Left-wing politics, left-wing political party campaigning for the establishment of an Scottish independence, independent Socialism, socialist Scottish Scottish republicanism, republic. The party was fou ...

(SSP) and the Greens picked up unexpected additional member seats.

Robin Harper Robin Charles Moreton Harper, (born 4 August 1940) is a Scottish politician, who was a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Lothians region (1999–2011). He was co-convener of the Scottish Greens (2004–2008). Harper became a ...

became the first ever elected Green parliamentarian in the history of the United Kingdom.

Dennis Canavan Dennis Andrew Canavan (born 8 August 1942) is a Scottish politician. He was the Member of Parliament for Falkirk West (UK Parliament constituency), Falkirk West from 1974 to 2000 (known as West Stirlingshire (UK Parliament constituency), West S ...

, 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 first time on Wednesday 12 May 1999, although the actual

devolution Devolution is the statutory delegation of powers from the central government of a sovereign state to govern at a subnational level, such as a regional or local level. It is a form of administrative decentralization. Devolved territori ...

of powers from

Westminster Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...

to the

did not take place until midnight on Thursday 1 July 1999, almost two months later. For a full list of MSPs elected, see '' 1st Scottish Parliament''. For lists of constituencies and regions, see '' Scottish Parliament constituencies and electoral regions''.

Results

, - , style="background-color:white" colspan=15 , , - ! rowspan=2 colspan=2 , Party ! colspan=5 , Constituencies ! colspan=5 , Regional additional members ! colspan=5 , Total seats , - ! Votes !! % !! ± !! Seats !! ± !! Votes !! % !! ± !! Seats !! ± !! Total !! ± !! % , - , - , 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",

Constituency and regional summary

Central Scotland

, - ! colspan=2 style="width: 200px", Constituency ! style="width: 150px", Elected member ! style="width: 300px", Result , - ! colspan="2" style="width: 150px", Party ! Elected candidates ! style="width: 40px", Seats ! style="width: 40px", +/− ! style="width: 50px", Votes ! style="width: 40px", % ! style="width: 40px", +/−% , -

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 Democrats – 17 MSPs *Green – 1 MSP *SSP – 1 MSP *Others (

, Falkirk West) – 1 MSP

Party leaders in 1999

* Labour – Donald Dewar * SNP – Alex Salmond * Conservative – David McLetchie * Liberal Democrat –

Jim Wallace James Robert Wallace, Baron Wallace of Tankerness, (born 25 August 1954) is a Scottish politician serving as a Liberal Democrat life peer in the House of Lords, British House of Lords since 2007. He served as the Deputy First Minister of Scotl ...

* SSP – Tommy Sheridan * Green –

Opinion polls

Notes

References

External links

SourceForge.net

Manifestos

''Scotland First''
Scottish Conservatives
''Caring for Scotland''
Scottish Greens
''Raising the Standard''
Scottish Liberal Democrats
''Scotland's Party''
Scottish National Party {{1999 United Kingdom local elections

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

Scottish Parliament election Parliament election 1990s elections in Scotland Scottish Parliament election