1999 Scottish Parliament election explained

Election Name:	1999 Scottish Parliament election
Country:	Scotland
Type:	parliamentary
Ongoing:	no
Seats For Election:	All 129 seats to the Scottish Parliament 65 seats were needed for a majority
Elected Mps:	1st Scottish Parliament
Next Election:	2003 Scottish Parliament election
Next Year:	2003
1Blank:	Constituency vote
2Blank:	Percentage
3Blank:	Regional vote
4Blank:	Percentage
Turnout:	Constituency - 58.4% Regional - 58.3%
Leader1:	Donald Dewar
Party1:	Scottish Labour
Leaders Seat1:	Glasgow Anniesland
Seats1:	56
1Data1:	908,346
2Data1:	38.8%
3Data1:	786,818
4Data1:	33.6%
Leader2:	Alex Salmond
Party2:	Scottish National Party
Leaders Seat2:	Banff and Buchan
Seats2:	35
1Data2:	672,768
2Data2:	28.7%
3Data2:	638,644
4Data2:	27.3%
Leader3:	David McLetchie
Party3:	Scottish Conservatives
Leaders Seat3:	Lothians
Seats3:	18
1Data3:	364,425
2Data3:	15.6%
3Data3:	359,109
4Data3:	15.4%
Leader4:	Jim Wallace
Party4:	Scottish Liberal Democrats
Leaders Seat4:	Orkney
Seats4:	17
1Data4:	333,179
2Data4:	14.2%
3Data4:	290,760
4Data4:	12.4%
Leader5:	Robin Harper
Party5:	Scottish Greens
Leaders Seat5:	Lothians
Seats5:	1
1Data5:	–
2Data5:	–
3Data5:	84,023
4Data5:	3.6%
Leader6:	Tommy Sheridan
Party6:	Scottish Socialist Party
Leaders Seat6:	Glasgow
Seats6:	1
1Data6:	23,654
2Data6:	1.0%
3Data6:	46,635
4Data6:	2.0%
Map Size:	450px
First Minister
Posttitle:	First Minister after election
After Election:	Donald Dewar
After Party:	Scottish 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^[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.^[2]

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.^[3] The Conservative Party, still recovering from their wipeout in the 1997 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.^[4] Robin Harper became the first ever elected Green parliamentarian in the history of the United Kingdom.^[5] ^[6] Dennis Canavan, who had failed to become an approved Labour candidate, won the Falkirk West constituency as an independent candidate.^[7]

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.^[8]

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

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 (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
Green – Robin Harper

Opinion polls

See main article: Opinion polling for the 1999 Scottish Parliament election.

Notes

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.
News: Seenan . Gerard . Macaskill . Ewen . 14 May 1999 . Angry Lib Dems finally agree coalition deal . en-GB . The Guardian . 6 March 2023 . 0261-3077.
News: 6 May 1999 . The long rise of the SNP . en-GB . The Guardian . 6 March 2023 . 0261-3077.
Web site: Aiton . Andrew . 6 May 2019 . It was 20 years ago today…. . 20 March 2023 . SPICe Spotlight . en-GB.
News: A short history of Scottish Parliament elections, 1999-2011. The Newsroom. The Scotsman. 3 May 2016. 11 May 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210511141507/https://www.scotsman.com/heritage-and-retro/heritage/short-history-scottish-parliament-elections-1999-2011-1477518.
Web site: Mackie . Andy . 18 March 2011 . Robin Harper looks back on twelve years in Parliament . 6 March 2023 . The Edinburgh Reporter . en-US.
electionmapsuk. 993370409805402112. Election Maps UK. Falkirk West elected Independent Dennis Canavan (grey constituency) whilst the Scottish Socialist Party got a seaton the top-ups (pink square on the second map)..
News: Scottish Parliament opening The Queen's speech . 1 July 1999 . BBC News . 6 March 2023.

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