Party of Government
The Scottish National Party was victorious in the 2007 Parliamentary election. The party emerged as the largest with 47 seats, narrowly defeating the incumbent Scottish Labour Party with 46 seats. The Conservatives won 17 seats, the Lib Dems 16 seats, the Greens 2 seats and the Independent - Margo MacDonald won re-election. On 16 May 2007 Alex Salmond was elected First Minister by Parliament and sworn in the next day at the Court of Session in Edinburgh. The SNP went on to win the 2008 Glasgow East by-election and the largest share of the popular vote in the 2009 European election in Scotland. The 2010 Westminster election proved disappointing as the party only held their six seats and marginally increased their share of the popular vote.
The 2011 Scottish Parliament general election delivered the first majority government since the opening of Holyrood, a remarkable feat as the mixed member proportional representation system is used to elect MSPs and was originally implemented to prevent single party governments as well as produce proportional results in Scotland. The SNP won 69 seats; a result that made all opposition party leaders feel the need to resign their positions.
Read more about this topic: History Of The Scottish National Party
Famous quotes containing the words party and/or government:
“The success of a party means little more than that the Nation is using the party for a large and definite purpose.... It seeks to use and interpret a change in its own plans and point of view.”
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924)
“In the long-run every Government is the exact symbol of its People, with their wisdom and unwisdom; we have to say, Like People like Government.”
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881)