Political Parties
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The current party forming the Scottish Government is the Scottish National Party (SNP), which won a majority of seats in the May 2011 Scottish parliamentary elections. The SNP was formed in 1934 with the aim of achieving Scottish independence. They are broadly centre-left and are in the European social-democratic mould. They are the largest party in the Scottish Parliament.
In the course of the twentieth century, the Labour Party gradually rose to prominence as Scotland's main political force. The party was established to represent the interests of workers and trade unionists. From 1999 to 2007, they operated as the senior partners in a coalition Scottish Executive.
The Scottish Liberal Democrats were the junior partners in the 1999 to 2007 coalition Scottish Executive. In the 2010 Westminster election they were the second strongest party in terms of seats but third strongest party in terms of votes in Scotland. They have the fourth highest number of both MSPs and councillors.
The Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party has declined in popularity since their establishment in 1965. Their predecessor, the Unionist Party, are the only party ever to have achieved an outright majority of Scottish votes at any general election, in 1951 (they only won a majority if the votes of their National Liberal and Liberal Unionist allies are included). However at the 1997 general election they failed to get a single Scottish MP elected and at the following general election they returned only one, as they did in 2005 and in 2010. They are a centre-right party.
The Scottish Green Party have won regional additional member seats in the Scottish Parliament, as a result of the proportional representation electoral system. They won one MSP in 1999, increased their total to seven at the 2003 election but saw this drop back to 2 at the 2007 election. The Greens support Scottish independence.
The Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) were formed in 1998 to operate as a political party that could unite the majority of the far-left in Scotland. They won one MSP in 1999 and increased their total to six at the 2003 election. The SSP split in 2006 when two MSPs and a large number of activists left to form Solidarity. Both parties lost all their seats at the 2007 election. Both the SSP and Solidarity support Scottish independence.
The Scottish Senior Citizens Unity Party (SSCUP) were formed just in time to contest the 2003 elections to the Scottish Parliament. They were formed to work for the rights of Scotland's senior citizens. Thanks to the Scottish Parliament's proportional electoral system, they managed to get one MSP elected in 2003, John Swinburne, their party founder and leader. In the 2007 election they lost their only seat.
Read more about this topic: Politics Of Scotland
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