General election in Scotland 2016

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in Scotland 20162021 →

(Party list share of votes in%)

%

50

40

30th

20th

10

0

41.7

22.9

19.1

6.6

5.2

2.0

2.5

Otherwise.

Gains and losses

compared to 2011

% p

12

10

8th

6th

4th

2

0

-2

-4

-6

-8th

-2.3

+10.5

-7.2

+2.2

± 0.0

+1.5

-4.7

Otherwise.

Distribution of seats

24

6th

63

5

31

24 6th 63 5 31

A total of 129 seats

SLP : 24
SGP : 6
SNP : 63
SLD : 5
SCP : 31

The 2016 general election in Scotland on 5 May 2016 was the fifth election of the Scottish Parliament since it was re-established in 1998 as part of the devolution of the United Kingdom . The election of the Mayor of London , the election of the Northern Ireland Assembly and the election of the Welsh National Assembly also took place on the same day .
The Scottish National Party (SNP) was again the strongest party, but lost the absolute majority of the parliamentary seats it had held since the previous election. The Scottish Labor Party suffered a heavy drop in votes, while the Conservatives gained significantly and became the second largest party. The turnout was 55.6%, higher than in the last election in 2011 .

prehistory

Opinion polls since 2014:
Scottish National Party Scottish Labor Party Scottish Conservatives Scottish Liberal Democrats UK Independence Party Scottish Green Party Scottish Socialist Party

In the last parliamentary election in 2011 , the Scottish National Party (SNP), under its then chairman Alex Salmond, achieved an absolute majority of the seats for the first time and was able to form a sole government in Scotland. Alex Salmond was elected First Minister , Prime Minister of Scotland. Probably the most outstanding event of the subsequent legislative period was the independence referendum on September 18, 2014 . On October 15, 2012, Alex Salmond signed the so-called Edinburgh Agreement with British Prime Minister David Cameron , in which both sides agreed that a referendum should be held in Scotland on whether the country wanted to become independent. Cameron had hoped that this would calm the independence debate, which was constantly being reignited by the SNP. He probably assumed that a clear majority of Scots would shy away from a final declaration of independence. According to opinion polls, the closer the referendum date came, the more real the possibility that a majority of Scots would vote for independence appeared. Cameron therefore hurried to give the Scots pledges of even greater autonomy. Ultimately, in the referendum, which saw a record turnout of 85%, a 55% majority voted to remain in the UK. The SNP could sell the whole thing as a great success of its politics. On the one hand, she mobilized Scottish regional self-confidence and presented herself as a representative of Scottish interests; on the other hand, under the pressure of the referendum, she had wrested considerable concessions from the government in London. After the referendum, Alex Salmond resigned as First Minister and Nicola Sturgeon succeeded him as First Minister and party leader. After the referendum, the SNP recorded a significant influx, increasing the number of members from 25,200 in 2013 to over 100,000 in 2015. Swimming on this wave of popularity, the SNP managed to win 56 out of 59 Scottish constituencies in the general election on May 7, 2015 with 50.0% of the vote.

The other parties were on the defensive given the dominant issue of independence. The Labor Party, in particular, which had previously held a very strong position in Scotland for a long time, was struggling to make its positions heard. The public debate of the Spitzenkandidaten on May 2, 2016 focused on the question of a possible second independence referendum. Nicola Sturgeon insisted that a second referendum was warranted if a majority of Scots so wanted. The other top candidates relied on the much-quoted “ once in a lifetime ” statement by Alex Salmond and rejected a second referendum in the foreseeable future. The result of the first referendum was clear and must be respected. Scotland could not remain in the independence debate all the time, but had to turn to other important problems.

Other political issues in the legislature were issues that also affected the rest of the UK, such as the economic crisis, which hit Scotland as badly as the rest of the UK. Study fees and the, according to popular opinion, underfunded and therefore hardly efficient National Health Service etc. were also discussed .

Top candidates
Political party:
Scottish National Party (SNP)	Scottish Labor Party (Labor)	Scottish Conservative Party (Tories)	Scottish Liberal Democrats (LibDem)	Scottish Green Party (SGP)
Party leader:

Nicola Sturgeon	Kezia Dugdale	Ruth Davidson	Willie Rennie	Patrick Harvie / Maggie Chapman
Political orientation:
Scottish separatism , left-wing liberalism	Democratic socialism	conservatism	liberalism	Scottish separatism, green politics

Election date

The term of office of the Scottish Parliament has so far lasted 4 years and was last elected in 2011. Actually, an election should have taken place in 2015, at the latest in May 2015. However, concerns were voiced about this, as the subsequent lower house elections had to take place regularly in May 2015 due to the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act 2011 .

There were therefore objections to holding two elections with different suffrage (relative majority and proportional representation) possibly on the same day, so that the then Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg made the proposal to postpone the Scottish election by one year. All parties represented in the Scottish Parliament finally agreed to this proposal. The election date was therefore postponed to the first Thursday in May 2016, that is to May 5, 2016. The legislative period of the parliament elected in 2011 was thus extended by one year to five years.

There was also some discussion about the date of the referendum on whether the United Kingdom should remain in the European Union . First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, like her colleagues in Wales and Northern Ireland, Carwyn Jones and Arlene Foster , would have preferred an appointment with a longer time lag to avoid mixing up the two election campaigns. However, Prime Minister Cameron set the referendum date for June 23, 2016. Sturgeon called this action of the prime minister "disrespect" ( disrespectful ).

Electoral system

In contrast to the British general election, the Scottish Parliament is elected according to a mixed-member proportional system . The total number of MPs is 129. Scotland is divided into 73 constituencies, with one MP being elected by a simple majority. In addition, 7 MPs are elected in each of the 8 regions. The 7 MPs per region are distributed to the parties according to the proportion of votes of the parties ( D'Hondt procedure ) so that the total number of MPs in the region corresponds as closely as possible to a proportional representation distribution. There is no regulation for overhang mandates . The electoral age was reduced from 18 to 16 years by decision of the Scottish Parliament in 2015.

Result

Majorities in the constituencies (left, majority vote) and seats that were occupied by the regions (right, proportional representation)

Scottish General Election 2016
Political party		Personalized proportional representation										Overall mandates
		Direct constituency mandates					Region (list mandates)					Overall mandates
		Constituency votes	In %	+/-	Constituency mandates	+/-	List votes	In %	+/-	List mandates	+/-	Overall mandates	+/-	In %
	SNP	1,059,897	46.5%	1.1%	59	6	953.987	41.7%	2.3%	4th	12	63	6	48.8%
	Conservative	501,844	22.0%	8.1%	7th	4	524,222	22.9%	10.6%	24	12	31	16	24.0%
	Labor	514.261	22.6%	9.2%	3	12	435.919	19.1%	7.2%	21st	1	24	13	18.6%
	Scottish Green	13,172	0.6%	0.6%	0	0	150.426	6.6%	2.2%	6th	4	6th	4	4.7%
	Liberal Democrats	178,238	7.8%	0.1%	4th	2	119.284	5.2%	± 0.0%	1	2	5	0	3.9%
	UKIP	-	-	-	-	-	46,426	2.0%	1.1%	0	0	0	0	0.0%
	Solidarity	-	-	-	-	-	14,333	0.6%	0.5%	0	0	0	0	0.0%
	Scottish Christian	1,162	0.1%	± 0.0%	0	0	11,686	0.5%	0.3%	0	0	0	0	0.0%
	RISE	-	-	-	-	-	10,911	0.5%	0.5%	0	0	0	0	0.0%
	Women's Equality	-	-	-	-	-	5,968	0.3%	0.3%	0	0	0	0	0.0%
	Independent	6.011	0.3%	0.3%	0	0	4,420	0.2%	0.9%	0	1	0	1	0.0%
	A Better Britain - Unionist Party	-	-	-	-	-	2,453	0.1%	0.1%	0	0	0	0	0.0%
	Animal Welfare	-	-	-	-	-	1,819	0.1%	0.1%	0	0	0	0	0.0%
	Libertarian	119	0.0%	0.0%	0	0	1,686	0.1%	0.1%	0	0	0	0	0.0%
	Clydesdale and South Scotland Independent	909	0.0%	0.0%	0	0	1,485	0.1%	0.1%	0	0	0	0	0.0%
	National Front	-	-	0.1%	0	0	617	0.0%	0.0%	0	0	0	0	0.0%
	Communist	-	-	0.0%	0	0	510	0.0%	0.0%	0	0	0	0	0.0%
	TUSC	3,540	0.1%	0.1%	0	0	-	-	-	-	-	0	0	0.0%
total		2,279,153	100%		73		2,285,752	100%		56		129		100%

Number of eligible voters	voter turnout
Number of eligible voters	In %	+/-
4,099,407	55.6%	5.4%

Summary of the election results

Direct constituency mandates

SNP			46.5%
Labor			22.6%
Conservative			22.0%
Lib. Dem.			7.6%
Green			0.6%
Otherwise.			0.5%

Region (list mandates)

SNP			41.7%
Conservative			22.9%
Labor			19.1%
Green			6.6%
Lib. Dem.			5.2%
UKIP			2.0%
Otherwise.			2.5%

Parliament seats

SNP			48.8%
Conservative			24.0%
Labor			18.6%
Green			4.7%
Lib. Dem.			3.9%

Summary according to direct mandates (constituency) and list mandates (region)

Central Scotland

Scottish General Election 2016: Central Scotland
Constituency		Elected MPs	Political party
	Airdrie and Shotts	Alex Neil	SNP held
	Coatbridge and Chryston	Fulton MacGregor	SNP won by Labor
	Cumbernauld and Kilsyth	Jamie Hepburn	SNP held
	East Kilbride	Linda Fabiani	SNP held
	Falkirk East	Angus MacDonald	SNP held
	Falkirk West	Michael Matheson	SNP held
	Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse	Christina McKelvie	SNP held
	Motherwell and Wishaw	Clare Adamson	SNP won by Labor
	Uddingston and Bellshill	Richard Lyle	SNP won by Labor

Scottish General Election 2016: Central Scotland
Political party		Elected candidates	Seats	±	be right	%	±
	SNP		0	−3	129,082	47.7%	+1.3%
	Labor	Richard Leonard Monica Lennon Mark Griffin Elaine Smith	4th	+1	67.103	24.8%	−10.5%
	Conservative	Margaret Mitchell Graham Simpson Alison Harris	3	+2	43,602	16.1%	+ 9.7%
	Scottish Green		0	± 0	12,722	4.7%	+ 2.3%

Glasgow

Scottish General Election 2016: Glasgow
Constituency		Elected MPs	Political party
	Glasgow Anniesland	Bill Kidd	SNP held
	Glasgow Cathcart	James Dornan	SNP held
	Glasgow Kelvin	Sandra White	SNP held
	Glasgow Maryhill and Springburn	Bob Doris	SNP won by Labor
	Glasgow Pollok	Humza Yousaf	SNP won by Labor
	Glasgow Provan	Ivan McKee	SNP won by Labor
	Glasgow Shettleston	John Mason	SNP held
	Glasgow Southside	Nicola Sturgeon	SNP held
	Rutherglen	Clare Haughey	SNP won by Labor

Scottish General Election 2016: Glasgow
Political party		Elected candidates	Seats	±	be right	%	±
	SNP		0	−2	111.101	44.8%	+ 4.9%
	Labor	Anas Sarwar Johann Lamont James Kelly Pauline McNeill	4th	+1	59,151	23.8%	−11.1%
	Conservative	Adam Tomkins Annie Wells	2	+1	29,533	11.9%	+ 5.8%
	Scottish Green	Patrick Harvie	1	± 0	23,398	9.4%	+ 3.5%

Highlands and Islands

Scottish General Election 2016: Highlands and Islands
Constituency		Elected MPs	Political party
	Argyll and Bute	Michael Russell	SNP held
	Caithness, Sutherland and Ross	Gail Ross	SNP held
	Inverness and Nairn	Fergus Ewing	SNP held
	Moray	Richard Lochhead	SNP held
	Na h-Eileanan to Iar	Alasdair Allan	SNP held
	Orkney	Liam McArthur	Liberal Democrats held
	Shetland	Tavish Scott	Liberal Democrats held
	Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch	Kate Forbes	SNP held

Scottish General Election 2016: Highlands and Islands
Political party		Elected candidates	Seats	±	be right	%	±
	SNP	Maree Todd	1	−2	81,600	39.7%	−7.8%
	Conservative	Douglas Ross Edward Mountain Donald Cameron	3	+1	44,693	21.8%	+ 10.1%
	Liberal Democrats		0	± 0	27,223	13.3%	+1.2%
	Labor	Rhoda Grant David Stewart	2	± 0	22,894	11.2%	−3.3%
	Scottish Green	John Finnie	1	+1	14,781	7.2%	+ 2.1%

Lothian

Scottish General Election 2016: Lothian
Constituency		Elected MPs	Political party
	Almond Valley	Angela Constance	SNP held
	Edinburgh Central	Ruth Davidson	Conservative won by SNP
	Edinburgh Eastern	Ash Denham	SNP held
	Edinburgh Northern and Leith	Ben Macpherson	SNP won by Labor
	Edinburgh Pentlands	Gordon MacDonald	SNP held
	Edinburgh Southern	Daniel Johnson	Labor won by SNP
	Edinburgh Western	Alex Cole-Hamilton	Liberal Democrats won by SNP
	Linlithgow	Fiona Hyslop	SNP held
	Midlothian North and Musselburgh	Colin Beattie	SNP held

Scottish General Election 2016: Lothian
Political party		Elected candidates	Seats	±	be right	%	±
	SNP		0	± 0	118,546	36.2%	−2.9%
	Conservative	Miles Briggs Gordon Lindhurst Jeremy Balfour	3	+1	74,972	22.9%	+ 11.3%
	Labor	Kezia Dugdale Neil Findlay	2	−1	67.991	20.8%	−4.1%
	Scottish Green	Alison Johnstone Andy Wightman	2	+1	34,551	10.6%	+ 3.0%
	Independent		0	−1	-	-	−6.6%

Mid Scotland and Fife

Scottish General Election 2016: Mid Scotland and Fife
Constituency		Elected MPs	Political party
	Clackmannanshire and Dunblane	Keith Brown	SNP held
	Cowdenbeath	Annabelle Ewing	SNP won by Labor
	Dunfermline	Shirley-Anne Somerville	SNP held
	Kirkcaldy	David Torrance	SNP held
	Mid Fife and Glenrothes	Jenny Gilruth	SNP held
	North East Fife	Willie Rennie	Liberal Democrats won by SNP
	Perthshire North	John Swinney	SNP held
	Perthshire South and Kinross-shire	Roseanna Cunningham	SNP held
	Stirling	Bruce Crawford	SNP held

Scottish General Election 2016: Mid Scotland and Fife
Political party		Elected candidates	Seats	±	be right	%	±
	SNP		0	−1	120.128	41.3%	−3.9%
	Conservative	Murdo Fraser Elizabeth Smith Alexander Stewart Dean Lockhart	4th	+2	73.293	25.2%	+ 11.0%
	Labor	Claire Brennan-Baker Alex Rowley	2	−1	51,373	17.6%	−7.4%
	Liberal Democrats		0	−1	20,401	7.0%	+1.2%
	Scottish Green	Mark Ruskell	1	+1	17,860	6.1%	+1.9%

North East Scotland

Scottish General Election 2016: North East Scotland
Constituency		Elected MPs	Political party
	Aberdeen Central	Kevin Stewart	SNP held
	Aberdeen Donside	Mark McDonald	SNP held
	Aberdeen South and North Kincardine	Maureen Watt	SNP held
	Aberdeenshire East	Gillian Martin	SNP held
	Aberdeenshire West	Alexander Burnett	Conservative won by SNP
	Angus North and Mearns	Mairi Evans	SNP held
	Angus South	Graeme Dey	SNP held
	Banffshire and Buchan Coast	Stewart Stevenson	SNP held
	Dundee City East	Shona Robison	SNP held
	Dundee City West	Joe FitzPatrick	SNP held

Scottish General Election 2016: North East Scotland
Political party		Elected candidates	Seats	±	be right	%	±
	SNP		0	−1	137.086	44.7%	−8.1%
	Conservative	Alex Johnstone Ross Thomson Peter Chapman Liam Kerr	4th	+2	85,848	28.0%	+ 13.9%
	Labor	Jenny Marra Lewis Macdonald	2	−1	38,791	12.6%	−3.8%
	Liberal Democrats	Mike Rumbles	1	± 0	18,444	6.0%	−0.8%
	Scottish Green		0	± 0	15.123	4.9%	+1.0%

South Scotland

Scottish General Election 2016: South Scotland
Constituency		Elected MPs	Political party
	Ayr	John Scott	Conservative held
	Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley	Jeane Freeman	SNP held
	Clydesdale	Aileen Campbell	SNP held
	Dumfriesshire	Oliver Mundell	Conservative won by Labor
	East Lothian	Iain Gray	Labor held
	Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire	John Lamont	Conservative held
	Galloway and West Dumfries	Finlay Carson	Conservative held
	Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley	Willie Coffey	SNP held
	Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale	Christine Grahame	SNP held

Scottish General Election 2016: South Scotland
Political party		Elected candidates	Seats	±	be right	%	±
	SNP	Joan McAlpine Paul Wheelhouse Emma Harper	3	−1	120.217	38.3%	−2.7%
	Conservative	Rachael Hamilton Brian Whittle	2	+2	100,753	32.1%	+ 12.6%
	Labor	Claudia Beamish Colin Smyth	2	± 0	56,072	17.8%	−7.5%
	Scottish Green		0	± 0	14,773	4.7%	+1.6%
	Liberal Democrats		0	−1	11,775	3.7%	−1.7%

West Scotland

Scottish General Election 2016: West Scotland
Constituency		Elected MPs	Political party
	Clydebank and Milngavie	Gil Paterson	SNP held
	Cunninghame North	Kenneth Gibson	SNP held
	Cunninghame South	Ruth Maguire	SNP held
	Dumbarton	Jackie Baillie	Labor held
	Eastwood	Jackson Carlaw	Conservative won by Labor
	Greenock and Inverclyde	Stuart McMillan	SNP won by Labor
	Paisley	George Adam	SNP held
	Renfrewshire North and West	Derek Mackay	SNP held
	Renfrewshire South	Tom Arthur	SNP won by Labor
	Strathkelvin and Bearsden	Rona Mackay	SNP held

Scottish General Election 2016: West Scotland
Political party		Elected candidates	Seats	±	be right	%	±
	SNP		0	−2	135,827	42.2%	+ 0.6%
	Labor	Mary Fee Neil Bibby Ken Macintosh	3	± 0	72,544	22.5%	−10.2%
	Conservative	Jamie Greene Maurice Golden Maurice Corry	3	+1	71,528	22.2%	+ 9.5%
	Scottish Green	Ross Greer	1	+1	17,218	5.3%	+ 2.4%

Further development

On May 17, 2016, Nicola Sturgeon was re-elected First Minister with 63 votes out of 5 for the only opposing candidate Willie Rennie (Liberal Democrats). 59 MPs abstained from voting.

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b Results. BBC News, May 6, 2016, accessed May 6, 2016 .
↑ Michael Wilkinson, Jonathan Frayman: The rise of the SNP and Nicola Sturgeon in three charts. The Telegraph, April 29, 2015, accessed December 27, 2015 .
↑ Holyrood 2016: Independence row dominates TV debate. BBC News, May 2, 2016, accessed May 2, 2016 .
^ UK government offers Holyrood five-year terms. BBC News, February 17, 2011, accessed December 27, 2015 .
↑ Holyrood set for a five-year term to avoid clash with general election. The Scotsman, February 18, 2011, accessed December 27, 2015 .
↑ Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011: Section 4. legislation.gov.uk, 2011, accessed December 27, 2015 .
↑ Sturgeon: June EU referendum would be 'disrespectful'. BBC News, January 24, 2016, accessed February 24, 2016 .
^ Cut in Scottish voting age passed unanimously. June 18, 2015, accessed May 2, 2016 .
^ Nicola Sturgeon wins Scottish first minister vote. BBC News, May 17, 2016, accessed May 17, 2016 .

[Ergebnis-1] Results. BBC News, May 6, 2016, accessed May 6, 2016 .

[2] Michael Wilkinson, Jonathan Frayman: The rise of the SNP and Nicola Sturgeon in three charts. The Telegraph, April 29, 2015, accessed December 27, 2015 .

[3] Holyrood 2016: Independence row dominates TV debate. BBC News, May 2, 2016, accessed May 2, 2016 .

[4] UK government offers Holyrood five-year terms. BBC News, February 17, 2011, accessed December 27, 2015 .

[5] Holyrood set for a five-year term to avoid clash with general election. The Scotsman, February 18, 2011, accessed December 27, 2015 .

[6] Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011: Section 4. legislation.gov.uk, 2011, accessed December 27, 2015 .

[7] Sturgeon: June EU referendum would be 'disrespectful'. BBC News, January 24, 2016, accessed February 24, 2016 .

[8] Cut in Scottish voting age passed unanimously. June 18, 2015, accessed May 2, 2016 .

[9] Nicola Sturgeon wins Scottish first minister vote. BBC News, May 17, 2016, accessed May 17, 2016 .


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