Misplaced Pages

2007 Scottish Parliament election

← 2003 3 May 2007 (2007-05-03) 2011 →
← outgoing memberselected members →
All 129 seats to the Scottish Parliament 65 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Turnout	Constituency - 53.9% 4.2pp Regional - 54.0% 4.3pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader Alex Salmond Jack McConnell Annabel Goldie Party SNP Labour Conservative Leader's seat Gordon Motherwell and Wishaw West of Scotland Last election 27 seats 50 seats 18 seats Seats won 47 46 17 Seat change 20 4 1 Constituency vote 664,227 648,374 334,743 % and swing 32.9% 9.1% 32.1% 2.5% 16.6% Regional vote 633,611 595,415 284,035 % and swing 31.0% 10.1% 29.2% 0.2% 13.9% 1.6%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Nicol Stephen Robin Harper / Shiona Baird Colin Fox Party Liberal Democrats Scottish Green Scottish Socialist Leader's seat Aberdeen South Lothians / North East Scotland (defeated) Lothians (defeated) Last election 17 seats 7 seats 6 seats Seats won 16 2 0 Seat change 1 5 6 Constituency vote 326,232 2,971 525 % and swing 16.2% 0.8% 0.1% 0.1% 0.0% 6.2% Regional vote 230,651 82,577 13,096 % and swing 11.3% 0.5% 4.0% 2.9% 0.6% 6.1%
The map shows the election results in single-member constituencies. The additional member MSPs in the 8 regions are shown around the map.
First Minister before election Jack McConnell Labour First Minister after election Alex Salmond SNP

The 2007 Scottish Parliament election was held on Thursday 3 May 2007 to elect members to the Scottish Parliament. It was the third general election to the devolved Scottish Parliament since it was created in 1999. Local elections in Scotland fell on the same day.

The Scottish National Party emerged as the largest party with 47 seats, closely followed by the incumbent Scottish Labour Party with 46 seats. The Scottish Conservatives won 17 seats, the Scottish Liberal Democrats 16 seats, the Scottish Greens 2 seats and one Independent (Margo MacDonald) was also elected. The SNP initially approached the Liberal Democrats for a coalition government, but the Lib Dems turned them down. Ultimately, the Greens agreed to provide the numbers to vote in an SNP minority government, with SNP leader Alex Salmond as First Minister.

The Scottish Socialist Party and the Scottish Senior Citizens Unity Party, which won seats in the 2003 election, lost all of their seats. Former MSP Tommy Sheridan's new party, Solidarity, also failed to win any seats. Campbell Martin and Dr Jean Turner both lost their seats, and Dennis Canavan and Brian Monteith retired.

Background

This article is part of a series within the Politics of the United Kingdom on the
Politics of Scotland
The Crown The Monarch Charles III Heir apparent William, Duke of Rothesay Prerogative Royal family Succession Privy Council Union of the Crowns Balmoral Castle Holyrood Palace Scottish republicanism
Executive Scottish Government Swinney government First Minister The Rt Hon John Swinney MSP Keeper of the Great Seal The Rt Hon John Swinney MSP Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes MSP Cabinet Secretaries Junior Ministers Scottish budget Taxation Directorates Executive agencies Public bodies State-owned enterprises Bute House St Andrew's House International relations
Legislature Scottish Parliament Sixth session Presiding Officer Alison Johnstone MSP Primary legislation Statutory instrument Committees First Minister's Questions Standards Commission for Scotland Scotland Act 1998 2012 Act 2016 Act Scottish Adjacent Waters Boundaries Order 1999 EU Continuity Act 2020
Law and justice Cabinet Secretary for Justice Angela Constance MSP Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain KC Lord President The Rt Hon Lord Carloway KC PC Scots law Udal law Courts Judiciary Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service Police Scotland Scottish Prison Service Advocate General Solicitor General
Elections and referendumsScottish Parliament elections 1999 2003 2007 2011 2016 2021 Next United Kingdom Parliament elections 1801 co-option 1802 1806 1807 1812 1818 1820 1826 1830 1831 1832 1835 1837 1841 1847 1852 1857 1859 1865 1868 1874 1880 1885 1886 1892 1895 1900 1906 1910 (Jan) 1910 (Dec) 1918 1922 1923 1924 1929 1931 1935 1945 1950 1951 1955 1959 1964 1966 1970 1974 (Feb) 1974 (Oct) 1979 1983 1987 1992 1997 2001 2005 2010 2015 2017 2019 European Parliament elections 1979 1984 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009 2014 2019 Local elections 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1977 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1995 1999 2003 2007 2012 2017 2022 Referendums 1975 1979 1994 1997 2005 2011 2014 2016 Scottish Parliament constituencies Scottish Parliament electoral regions Scottish Westminster constituencies Proposed second independence referendum Electoral system Political parties
Scotland and the United Kingdom United Kingdom Government Starmer ministry Prime Minister The Rt Hon Keir Starmer MP Secretary of State for Scotland The Rt Hon Ian Murray MP Scottish devolution Treaty of Union House of Commons House of Lords Scotland Office Scottish Affairs Committee Scottish Grand Committee Interministerial Standing Committee Barnett formula Reserved matters Sewel motion
Administration Council areas History Sheriffdoms Community councils Lieutenancy areas Convention of Scottish Local Authorities
Category Scotland portal Other countries
v t e

The main issues during the campaign trail were healthcare, education, council tax reform, pensions, the Union, Trident (the submarines are based in Scotland), the Iraq War and more powers for the Scottish Parliament. Some parties proposed raise the school leaving age from 16 to 18 and raising the minimum age to purchase tobacco products from 16 to 18.

Jack McConnell, as First Minister, entered the election defending a small overall majority of five seats via a coalition of Labour and the Liberal Democrats. The Lab-LD social liberal coalition had been in power, with three different First Ministers, since the first Scottish Parliament election in 1999. Opinion polls suggested its majority could be lost in 2007, due to falling support for the Labour Party and rising support for other parties, in particular the Scottish National Party (SNP). The polls suggested that no single party was likely to acquire an overall majority, nor was there an obvious alternative coalition ready to form a new Executive.

A TNS Poll in November 2006 gave Labour an 8% lead over the SNP which was second behind Labour in terms of numbers of Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs). As the election approached the SNP gained support while Labour's support declined. Based on pre-election projections, there could have been some possibility of an SNP–Liberal Democrat coalition, which might have extended to include the Scottish Green Party. The other parties represented in the Parliament before the election were the Scottish Conservative Party, the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP), Solidarity and the Scottish Senior Citizens Unity Party. (Solidarity is a new party, having broken away from the SSP in 2006.)

Other parties that campaigned for seats in Holyrood included the UK Independence Party (UKIP), the British National Party (BNP), the Scottish Unionist Party, the Scottish Socialist Labour Party, the Christian Peoples Alliance, the Scottish Christian Party.

Retiring MSPs

Labour

• Susan Deacon, Edinburgh East and Musselburgh
• John Home Robertson, East Lothian
• Janis Hughes, Glasgow Rutherglen
• Kate Maclean, Dundee West

Scottish National Party

• Bruce McFee, West of Scotland list
• George Reid, Ochil

Conservative

• Phil Gallie, South of Scotland list
• James Douglas-Hamilton, Lothians list

Liberal Democrats

• Donald Gorrie, Central Scotland list
• Jim Wallace, Orkney

Scottish Socialist Party

• Frances Curran, West of Scotland list

Independents

• Dennis Canavan, Falkirk West
• Brian Monteith (elected as a Conservative), Mid Scotland and Fife list

Defeated MSPs

Labour

• Gordon Jackson, Glasgow Govan
• Sylvia Jackson, Stirling
• Margaret Jamieson, Kilmarnock and Loudoun
• Maureen Macmillan, Highlands and Islands
• Christine May, Fife Central
• Alasdair Morrison, Western Isles
• Bristow Muldoon, Livingston
• Allan Wilson, Cunninghame North

Lib Dem

• Andrew Arbuckle, Mid Scotland and Fife
• Nora Radcliffe, Gordon
• Euan Robson, Roxburgh and Berwickshire
• George Lyon, Argyll and Bute

Conservative

• Dave Petrie, Highlands and Islands
• Murray Tosh, West of Scotland

Scottish Greens

• Shiona Baird, North East Scotland
• Chris Ballance, South of Scotland
• Mark Ballard, Lothians
• Mark Ruskell, Mid Scotland and Fife
• Eleanor Scott, Highlands and Islands

Scottish Socialist Party

• Colin Fox, Lothians
• Rosie Kane, Glasgow
• Carolyn Leckie, Central Scotland

Solidarity

• Rosemary Byrne, South of Scotland - originally elected as Scottish Socialist Party
• Tommy Sheridan, Glasgow - originally elected as Scottish Socialist Party

Scottish Senior Citizens Unity Party

• John Swinburne, Central Scotland

Independent

• Campbell Martin, West of Scotland - Former SNP MSP
• Jean Turner, Strathkelvin and Bearsden

Opinion polls

Election results

← 2007 Scottish Parliament election →

Party		Constituencies					Regional additional members					Total seats
		Votes	%	±	Seats	±	Votes	%	±	Seats	±	Total	±	%
	SNP	664,227	32.9	9.1	21	12	633,611	31.0	10.1	26	8	47	20	37.0
	Labour	648,374	32.1	2.5	37	9	595,415	29.1	0.2	9	5	46	4	36.2
	Conservative	334,743	16.6		4	1	284,035	13.9	1.6	13	2	17	1	13.4
	Liberal Democrats	326,232	16.2	0.8	11	2	230,651	11.3	0.5	5	1	16	1	12.6
	Scottish Green	2,971	0.1	0.1	0		82,577	4.0	2.9	2	5	2	5	1.6
	Margo MacDonald	–	–	–	–	–	19,256	0.9	0.5	1	0	1		0.8
	Scottish Senior Citizens	1,702	0.1		0		39,038	1.9	0.4	0	1	0	1	0.0
	Scottish Christian	4,586	0.2	new	0	new	26,575	1.3	new	0	new	0	new	0.0
	Solidarity	–	–	–	–	–	31,096	1.5	new	0	new	0	new	0.0
	BNP	–	–	–	–	–	24,598	1.2	1.1	0		0		0.0
	CPA	–	–	–	–	–	14,745	0.7	new	0	new	0	new	0.0
	Socialist Labour	–	–	–	–	–	14,054	0.7	0.4	0		0		0.0
	Scottish Socialist	525	0.0	6.2	0	–	13,096	0.6	6.1	0	6	0	6	0.0
	UKIP	–	–	–	–	–	8,197	0.4	0.2	0		0		0.0
	Scottish Voice	2,827	0.1	new	0	new	3,339	0.2	new	0	new	0	new	0.0
	Publican Party	–	–	–	–	–	5,905	0.3	new	0	new	0	new	0.0
	Scottish Unionist	–	–	–	–	–	4,401	0.2	0.1	0		0		0.0
	Action to Save St John's Hospital	2,814	0.1	new	0	new	–	–	–	–	–	0	new	0.0
	Save Our NHS Group	–	–	–	–	–	2,682	0.1	new	0	new	0	new	0.0
	NHS First	–	–	–	–	–	1,955	0.1	new	0	new	0	new	0.0
	Free Scotland Party	575	0.0	new	0	new	664	0.0	new	0	new	0	new	0.0
	Had Enough Party	498	0.0	new	0	new	670	0.0	new	0	new	0	new	0.0
	Scottish Enterprise	409	0.0	new	0	new	616	0.0	new	0	new	0	new	0.0
	Adam Lyal's Witchery Tour Party	–	–	–	–	–	867	0.0	0.1	0		0		0.0
	Scottish Jacobite	309	0.0	new	0	0	446	0.0	new	0	new	0	new	0.0
	Scottish Voice / NHS	–	–	–	–	–	661	0.0	new	0	new	0	new	0.0
	Scotland Against Crooked Lawyers	–	–	–	–	–	615	0.0	new	0	new	0	new	0.0
	Peace	577	0.0	new	0	new	–	–	–	–	–	0	new	0.0
	Communist	251	0.0	new	0	new	260	0.0	new	0	new	0	new	0.0
	Independent Green Voice	–	–	–	–	–	496	0.0	0.1	0		0		0.0
	Anti-Trident Party	187	0.0	new	0	new	–	–	–	–	–	0	new	0.0
	Socialist Equality	–	–	–	–	–	139	0.0	new	0	new	0	new	0.0
	Equal Parenting Alliance	124	0.0	new	0	new	–	–	–	–	–	0	new	0.0
	Nine Per Cent Growth Party	–	–	–	–	–	80	0.0	new	0	new	0	new	0.0
	Independent	24,862	1.2	0.1	0	−2	2,064	0.1	0.1	0	2	0	2	0.0
	Others	185	0.0	1.4	0		–	–	1.5	0		0		0.0
Valid votes		2,016,978	95.9	3.5			2,042,804	97.1	2.3
Spoilt votes		85,631	4.1	3.5			62,038	2.9	2.3
Total		2,102,609	100		73	–	2,104,842	100		56	–	129	–	100
Electorate/Turnout		3,899,472	53.9	4.2			3,899,472	54.0	4.3

Turnout in the election was 51.7% in the constituency vote and 52.4% in the regional vote up from 2003 where the turnout was 49.4% in both the constituency and regional vote

Notes: Independents contested 17 seats and three regions. Scottish Greens contested 1 seat, Scottish Socialist Party contested 1 seat, Scottish Christian Party, Scottish Voice etc. contested a small number of seats. A number of local issue parties also stood in single constituencies. The Nine Per Cent Growth Party stood candidates on the regional lists, and had a candidate for the local council elections of the same year. Standing in the Glasgow Regional List the party finished last of 23 candidates, receiving only 80 votes (0.04%), a record low.

Constituency and regional summary

Central Scotland

Glasgow

Highlands and Islands

Lothians

Mid Scotland and Fife

North East Scotland

South of Scotland

West of Scotland

Incidents

Delayed counts

Some counts in the Western Isles (Barra & the Uists) were delayed because the chartered helicopter sent to pick up the ballot boxes was delayed by bad weather. The boxes were instead transferred by sea and road to be counted in Stornoway. The votes were announced around 12.00 on Friday 4 May.

Vandalism

A man smashed ballot boxes with a golf club at a polling station at Carrick Knowe in Corstorphine in Edinburgh. About 100 ballots were damaged, some having to be taped back together. The man was arrested on the scene.

High number of rejected votes

The number of 'invalid' ballot papers (residual votes) in this election was significantly higher than usual, with a total of 146,099 ballot papers (regional: 60,455 or 2.88%; constituency: 85,644 or 4.075%) being rejected, with some constituencies such as Glasgow Shettleston having rejection rates as high as 12.1%. For comparison, the rejected ballot paper rate in 2003 was 0.65% for regional ballot papers and 0.66% for constituency ballot papers. In total there were 16 constituencies where the number of rejected ballots exceeded the winning candidate's majority. This led to calls for an independent enquiry into the implementation of the new voting system. The BBC Scotland Chief Political Editor, Brian Taylor, described the situation as "a disgrace" during their Election Night coverage.

There are several reasons for the unusually high levels of rejected ballots in the election. One primary reason is that both the regional and constituency ballots were placed on a single sheet of paper. A large-type instruction at the top indicated "you have two votes." Being told that they had two votes, far too many voters used both votes on parties in the regional list. Although a rough template of the ballot was provided to voters by VoteScotland prior to the election, many ballots in reality had subtle yet consequential differences. Taking the ballot from Glasgow Shettleston for example, although its layout is similar to the sample ballot it has many more parties on the regional ballot, giving the illusion that the list continues onto the next side (constituency ballot). Furthermore, instructions provided to voters using these sheets were abbreviated. While the brief written instructions remained, they were presented in a much smaller font size. The column headings moved above the bold lines defining the columns and the visual prompt of the split arrow leading to the two columns is completely missing. This misleading ballot was made more complicated by two additional features of the balloting: several small parties like the Green Party ran one or fewer candidates in the constituency seats and parties were able to choose to put the name of their leader instead of the name of the party in the label for the list seats (For example, the SNP was listed as "Alex Salmond for First Minister", rather than the party name). Such poor ballot design decisions contributed to a similarly higher rate of spoiled ballots in the 2000 United States presidential election in areas of Florida such as Miami-Dade and Duval counties.

Another reason presented was that local elections took place on the same day with a different voting system and different design. Whereas the parliamentary election asked voters to mark a cross, the local council elections asked voters to number/ rank their candidates, as the council elections were under the single transferable vote system. Undercutting this theory, however, was the fact that the invalid rate in the local elections was far lower than the parliamentary elections (although still greater than in previous local elections) despite single transferable vote being a new system for most voters.

A third proposed reason was that this was the first election where electronic counting of papers had taken place. Many blamed e-counting for the increase in rejected papers, in part because the new machine counting system abandoned many counts during the early hours of Friday morning before all results had been counted. Furthermore, the primary reason for the regional and constituency ballots being placed on the same sheet of paper is due to restrictions on the size of paper the machines could accurately scan. The main company concerned was DRS Ltd. Nevertheless, nearly all invalid ballots would have been spoiled no matter how they were counted. However, the last minute redesign of ballot papers that was blamed for the high number of rejections in two electoral regions was done to make electronic voting easier.

Threatened legal actions

On 5 May 2007, the BBC reported that Labour were considering legal action against some results (particularly Cunninghame North, where the SNP beat Labour by just 48 votes) due to the high number of rejected votes. A further challenge was expected from Mike Dailly from the Govan Law Centre, a member of the Labour Party, purportedly on behalf of voters in the Glasgow region. He said that the result should be challenged because there were over 10,000 rejected ballots which could have caused a different result if they had counted. Tommy Sheridan of Solidarity was only 2,215 votes short of beating the Greens for the last place as an MSP.

There were no election petitions raised to challenge the results.

Election system

There are 73 constituencies, each electing one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the plurality (first past the post) system of election, which are grouped into eight regions. These regions each elect seven additional member MSPs so as to produce an overall proportional result. The D'Hondt method is used to calculate which additional member MSPs the regions elect. Each constituency is a sub-division of a region; the additional members system is designed to produce proportional representation for each region, and the total number of MSPs elected to the parliament is 129.

The election was the first using constituencies (see Scottish Parliament constituencies and regions) that are not identical to constituencies of the House of Commons (Parliament of the United Kingdom). Scottish Westminster constituencies were replaced with a new set of generally larger constituencies, fewer in number, in 2005.

The Arbuthnott Commission reported in January 2006, concerning the multiplicity of voting systems and electoral divisions in Scotland. Council elections on the same day used Single Transferable Vote for the first time, but there was no change to the Holyrood election system, except regarding use of vote-counting machines, before the 2007 election. Scanners supplied by DRS Data Services Limited of Milton Keynes, in partnership with Electoral Reform Services, the trading arm of the Electoral Reform Society, were used to electronically count the paper ballots in both the Scottish Parliament general election and the Scottish council elections, which took place on the same day.

Top target seats of the main parties

Below are listed all the constituencies which required a swing of less than 5% from the 2003 result to change hands.

Many of the seats that changed hands are not listed here. For example, the Scottish National Party gained several seats (Stirling, Edinburgh East & Musselburgh, Gordon, Livingston and Argyll & Bute) with very large swings, yet did not gain any of their top three targets.

Labour targets

SNP targets

Conservative targets

Liberal Democrat targets

Election of First Minister

The Scottish Parliament officially met on 9 May, and met again on 14 May to elect a Presiding Officer. On 16 May, the Parliament met to hold the election of the First Minister. Four nominations were made: Annabel Goldie of the Conservatives, Jack McConnell of Labour, Nicol Stephen of the Liberal Democrats, and Alex Salmond of the Scottish National Party.

Salmond was elected in the second round of voting by 49 votes to McConnell's 46. 33 abstentions were recorded. The election provided for a minority administration which did not have the explicit support of Parliament. Salmond was supported in the election by the two Green MSPs. Otherwise, voting was conducted strictly along party lines.

Party leaders

Major parties

At time of dissolution of the Scottish Parliament at midnight on Monday 2 April 2007, there were five party 'groups' represented on the Parliament's Bureau: Labour (50), SNP (25), Conservative (17), LibDem (17), and the Greens (7). There was also one 'mixed' administrative grouping of 5 independent MSPs and 1 Scottish Senior Citizens Unity Party MSP.

Of the major party leaders in the Scottish Parliament, only one, Jack McConnell, of the Scottish Labour Party fought the 2003 Scottish Parliamentary election as leader. Nicol Stephen succeeded Jim Wallace as Deputy First Minister and Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats in June 2005, after the latter announced that he would not be contesting the 2007 election. Alex Salmond was elected leader of the Scottish National Party in 2004, with his deputy Nicola Sturgeon. Salmond previously led the SNP between 1990 and 2000, but stood down and was replaced by his preferred successor John Swinney, who headed the party between 2000 and 2004. Following Swinney's resignation in 2004, Salmond announced that he would, once again contest the leadership and won the ballot of members in June 2004. Annabel Goldie was elected leader of the Scottish Conservatives in November 2005 after the resignation of the incumbent David McLetchie on 31 October 2005 after a row surrounding taxi expenses.

Other parties

Robin Harper and Shiona Baird were elected as Scottish Green Party Co-convenors in 2004, but as the sole Green MSP Robin Harper was effectively party spokesperson from 1999.

Colin Fox was elected as the Scottish Socialist Party Convenor in 2005. In 2006 Tommy Sheridan left the party to form Solidarity.

Party Manifestos

• British National Party
• Scottish Christian Party- Another Approach Restoring the Land of the Book
• Scottish Conservative Party
• Scottish Green Party - Act Now: Choose a Green Future
• Scottish Labour Party- Building Scotland
• Scottish Liberal Democrats- We think Scotland has a bright future
• Scottish National Party - It's Time
• Scottish Socialist Party- People Not Profit

See also

• Members of the 3rd Scottish Parliament
• Elections in Scotland
• National Assembly for Wales election and 2007 United Kingdom local elections, which took place on the same day

References

1. "Scotland Act 1998 – Part I – Section 2 – General elections". opsi.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 19 May 2007. Retrieved 19 September 2006.
2. "Lib Dems rule out SNP coalition". BBC News. 7 May 2007. Archived from the original on 23 September 2007.
3. "SNP and Greens sign working deal". BBC News. 11 May 2007. Archived from the original on 9 October 2007.
4. "Somewhere over the Rainbow Coalition... Scotsman 12 May 2005". The Scotsman. Edinburgh. 11 May 2005. Archived from the original on 22 February 2006. Retrieved 7 May 2007.
5. Macleod, Murdo (5 March 2006). "Panic within Labour as membership falls". The Scotsman. Edinburgh. Archived from the original on 13 February 2022. Retrieved 7 May 2007.
6. Macdonell, Hamish (7 March 2006). "Lib Dems open door to coalition with SNP Scotsman 7 March 2006". The Scotsman. Edinburgh. Archived from the original on 13 February 2022. Retrieved 7 May 2007.
7. Macdonell, Hamish (24 March 2006). "Is this the end of Lab–Lib Dem pact? Scotsman 24 March 2006". The Scotsman. Edinburgh. Archived from the original on 25 March 2007. Retrieved 7 May 2007.
8. "Former minister to leave Holyrood". BBC News. 14 August 2006. Archived from the original on 13 February 2022. Retrieved 2 January 2017.
9. Knox, John (10 November 2006). "Kriss casts shadow over Holyrood". BBC News. Archived from the original on 13 February 2022. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
10. ^ "Scotsman.com News - Politics". Election.scotsman.com. Archived from the original on 6 February 2007. Retrieved 20 February 2011.
11. "Maclean to quit Scots Parliament". BBC News. 21 June 2006. Archived from the original on 22 June 2006. Retrieved 2 January 2017.
12. ^ "Retiring MSPs". Alba.org.uk. Archived from the original on 30 October 2008. Retrieved 20 February 2011.
13. Knox, John (30 March 2007). "Another chapter ends at Holyrood". BBC News. Archived from the original on 13 February 2022. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
14. "Canavan will not fight election". BBC News. 23 January 2007. Archived from the original on 22 November 2008. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
15. Swanson, Ian (1 November 2006). "Monteith to stand down as MSP". The Scotsman. Edinburgh. Archived from the original on 25 March 2007.
16. "2007 Scottish Parliament Election: Analysis of Results". Scottish Parliament. Archived from the original on 12 April 2020. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
17. "Election 2007: SPICe briefing 07/21" (PDF). Scottish Parliament. 8 May 2007. Archived (PDF) from the original on 20 January 2016. Retrieved 10 January 2016.
18. "Glasgow Council candidates". Glasgow City Council. Archived from the original on 6 May 2007.
19. Glasgow Region elections
20. "Polling clerk tells of 'bedlam'". BBC News. 3 May 2007. Archived from the original on 8 June 2007. Retrieved 4 May 2007.
21. "Scottish elections 2007 The independent review of the Scottish Parliamentary and local government elections 3 May 2007" (PDF). Electoral Commission. October 2007. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 December 2019. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
22. "The unfortunate natural experiment in ballot design:The Scottish Parliamentary elections of 2007". Elsevier. February 2008. Archived from the original on 13 February 2022. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
23. "The unfortunate natural experiment in ballot design:The Scottish Parliamentary elections of 2007". Elsevier. February 2008. Archived from the original on 13 February 2022. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
24. "Elections marred by vote problems". BBC News. 3 May 2007. Archived from the original on 13 February 2022. Retrieved 4 May 2007.
25. Barnes, Eddie (6 May 2007). "The Scotsman". Edinburgh: News.scotsman.com. Archived from the original on 13 February 2022. Retrieved 20 February 2011.
26. "The unfortunate natural experiment in ballot design:The Scottish Parliamentary elections of 2007". Elsevier. February 2008. Archived from the original on 13 February 2022. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
27. "Electronic automated data capture services and document scanning specialists". DRS. Archived from the original on 9 February 2011. Retrieved 20 February 2011.
28. "Clue over voter ballot confusion". BBC News. 15 May 2007. Archived from the original on 9 September 2007. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
29. ^ "Holyrood vote may face challenges". BBC News. 6 May 2007. Archived from the original on 10 May 2007. Retrieved 5 May 2007.
30. "Electronic counting to take over from tellers at elections". The Scotsman. Edinburgh. 19 April 2006. Archived from the original on 13 February 2022.
31. "Green light for DRS & ERS to deliver e-Count for 2007 Scottish Elections". www.drs.co.uk (Press release). DRS Data Services Limited. 26 June 2006. Archived from the original on 1 October 2006.
32. "Official Report: Plenary, 16th May 2007". The Scottish Parliament. Scottish Parliament. 24 January 2014. Archived from the original on 28 October 2021. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
33. "Lib Dems choose Stephen as leader". BBC News. BBC. 23 June 2005. Retrieved 11 October 2006.
34. Swanson, Ian (3 September 2004). "Salmond is SNP leader again with Sturgeon as No 2". Edinburgh Evening News. Scotsman. Archived from the original on 20 January 2016. Retrieved 10 January 2015.
35. MacDonell, Hamish (3 November 2005). "Tories have their 'coronation' as Goldie becomes leader unopposed". Scotsman. Archived from the original on 20 January 2016. Retrieved 10 January 2015.
36. MacDonell, Hamish (1 November 2005). "McLetchie finally quits over taxi row". The Scotsman. Scotsman. Archived from the original on 20 January 2016. Retrieved 10 January 2015.
37. "Scottish green party elects new party co-conveners". Scottish Green Party. 30 October 2004. Archived from the original on 7 October 2007.

External links

• Election 2007 Archived 10 May 2017 at the Wayback Machine, a briefing by the Scottish Parliament Information Centre
• ScotlandVotes, by Weber Shandwick Public Affairs and Scotland on Sunday
• Scottish Voting Intention, by UKPollingReport, in association with YouGov
• VoteScotland, a Scottish Executive and Electoral Commission website
• Electoral Reform Society – Scotland
• Scottish elections 2007, at the BBC News website
• Election 2007, at The Herald Archived 29 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
• Holyrood Elections, at The Scotsman
• Election Supplement 2007
• Scottish Elections Between 1997 and present
• Links to Party manifestos for the election.

v t e Elections and referendums in Scotland
Scottish Parliament	1999 2003 2007 2011 2016 2021 Next
Parliament of Scotland	1612 1617 1621 1628 1639 1644 1648 1661 1669 1681 1685 1702
Convention of Estates	1617 1625 1630 1643 1665 1667 1678 1689
UK Parliament	1801 co-option 1802 1806 1807 1812 1818 1820 1826 1830 1831 1832 1835 1837 1841 1847 1852 1857 1859 1865 1868 1874 1880 1885 1886 1892 1895 1900 1906 1910 (Jan) 1910 (Dec) 1918 1922 1923 1924 1929 1931 1935 1945 1950 1951 1955 1959 1964 1966 1970 1974 (Feb) 1974 (Oct) 1979 1983 1987 1992 1997 2001 2005 2010 2015 2017 2019 2024
Local elections	1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1977 1978 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1995 1999 2003 2007 2012 2017 2022
Referendums	1979 1997 2014
Scotland portal

v t e (2006 ←)   2007 United Kingdom local elections   (→ 2008)
Metropolitan boroughs	Barnsley Birmingham Bolton Bradford Bury Calderdale Coventry Doncaster Dudley Gateshead Kirklees Knowsley Leeds Liverpool Manchester Newcastle upon Tyne North Tyneside Oldham Rochdale Rotherham Salford Sandwell Sefton Sheffield Solihull South Tyneside St Helens Stockport Sunderland Tameside Trafford Wakefield Walsall Wigan Wirral Wolverhampton
Unitary authorities	Bath and North East Somerset Blackburn with Darwen Blackpool Bournemouth Bracknell Forest Brighton & Hove Bristol Darlington Derby East Riding of Yorkshire Halton Hartlepool Herefordshire Kingston upon Hull Leicester Luton Medway Middlesbrough Milton Keynes North East Lincolnshire North Lincolnshire North Somerset Nottingham Peterborough Plymouth Poole Portsmouth Reading Redcar and Cleveland Rutland Slough South Gloucestershire Southampton Southend-on-Sea Stockton-on-Tees Stoke-on-Trent Swindon Telford and Wrekin Thurrock Torbay Warrington West Berkshire Windsor and Maidenhead Wokingham York
District councils (England)	Allerdale Alnwick Amber Valley Arun Ashfield Ashford Aylesbury Vale Babergh Barrow-in-Furness Basildon Basingstoke and Deane Bassetlaw Bedford Berwick-upon-Tweed Blaby Blyth Valley Bolsover Boston Braintree Breckland Brentwood Bridgnorth Broadland Bromsgrove Broxbourne Broxtowe Burnley Cambridge Cannock Chase Canterbury Caradon Carlisle Carrick Castle Point Castle Morpeth Charnwood Chelmsford Cherwell Chester Chester-le-Street Chesterfield Chichester Chiltern Christchurch Chorley Colchester Congleton Copeland Corby Cotswold Craven Crawley Crewe and Nantwich Dacorum Dartford Daventry Derbyshire Dales Derwentside Dover Easington Eastbourne East Cambridgeshire East Devon East Dorset East Hampshire East Hertfordshire Eastleigh East Lindsey East Northamptonshire East Staffordshire Eden Ellesmere Port and Neston Elmbridge Epping Forest Epsom and Ewell Erewash Exeter Fenland Forest Heath Forest of Dean Fylde Gedling Gloucester Gravesham Great Yarmouth Guildford Hambleton Harborough Harlow Harrogate Hart Havant Hertsmere High Peak Hinckley and Bosworth Horsham Huntingdonshire Hyndburn Ipswich Kennet Kerrier Kettering King's Lynn and West Norfolk Lancaster Lewes Lichfield Lincoln Macclesfield Maidstone Maldon Malvern Hills Mansfield Melton Mendip Mid Bedfordshire Mid Devon Mid Suffolk Mid Sussex Mole Valley New Forest Newark and Sherwood Newcastle-under-Lyme North Cornwall North Devon North Dorset North East Derbyshire North Hertfordshire North Kesteven North Norfolk North Shropshire North Warwickshire North West Leicestershire North Wiltshire Northampton Norwich Nuneaton and Bedworth Oadby and Wigston Oswestry Pendle Penwith Preston Purbeck Redditch Reigate and Banstead Restormel Ribble Valley Richmondshire Rochford Rossendale Rother Rugby Runnymede Rushcliffe Rushmoor Ryedale Salisbury Scarborough Sedgefield Sedgemoor Selby Sevenoaks Shepway Shrewsbury and Atcham South Bedfordshire South Bucks South Cambridgeshire South Derbyshire South Hams South Holland South Kesteven South Lakeland South Norfolk South Northamptonshire South Oxfordshire South Ribble South Shropshire South Somerset South Staffordshire Spelthorne St Albans St Edmundsbury Stafford Staffordshire Moorlands Stevenage Stratford-on-Avon Stroud Suffolk Coastal Surrey Heath Swale Tamworth Tandridge Taunton Deane Teesdale Teignbridge Tendring Test Valley Tewkesbury Thanet Three Rivers Tonbridge and Malling Torridge Tunbridge Wells Tynedale Uttlesford Vale of White Horse Vale Royal Wansbeck Warwick Watford Waveney Waverley Wealden Wear Valley Wellingborough Welwyn Hatfield West Devon West Dorset West Lancashire West Lindsey West Oxfordshire West Somerset West Wiltshire Weymouth and Portland Winchester Woking Worcester Worthing Wychavon Wycombe Wyre Wyre Forest
Scottish councils	Aberdeen Aberdeenshire Angus Argyll and Bute Clackmannanshire Dumfries and Galloway Dundee City East Ayrshire East Dunbartonshire East Lothian East Renfrewshire Edinburgh Falkirk Fife Glasgow Highland Inverclyde Midlothian Moray Comhairle nan Eilean Siar North Ayrshire North Lanarkshire Orkney Perth and Kinross Renfrewshire Scottish Borders Shetland South Ayrshire South Lanarkshire Stirling West Dunbartonshire West Lothian
National Assemblies and Parliament elections	Scotland Wales Northern Ireland

• General elections to the Scottish Parliament
• 2007 elections in the United Kingdom
• 2007 in Scotland
• 2000s elections in Scotland
• May 2007 events in the United Kingdom