2016 Scottish Parliament election in the context of "Scottish Conservatives"

As a result of the first periodical review of Scottish Parliament constituencies, new constituencies and additional member regions of the Scottish Parliament were introduced for the 2011 Scottish Parliament election. The D'Hondt method is used, as previously, in the allocation of additional member seats. These boundaries were also used for the 2016 Scottish Parliament election and 2021 Scottish Parliament election; following the Second periodic review of Scottish Parliament boundaries which published its report in 2025, new boundaries will be used for the 2026 Scottish Parliament election.

The Scottish Parliament (Constituencies) Act 2004 required the Boundary Commission for Scotland to review boundaries of all constituencies except Orkney and Shetland (which cover, respectively, the Orkney Islands council area and the Shetland Islands council area) so that the area covered by the reviewed constituencies continues to be covered by a total of 71 constituencies. The Orkney and Shetland constituencies were taken into account, however, in review of boundaries of the additional member regions. The Commission began the review as announced on 3 July 2007, and provisional proposals were published on Thursday 14 February 2008. Final recommendations followed public consultations and a series of local inquiries, and the terms of the 2004 act required final recommendations to be submitted in a report to the Secretary of State for Scotland not later than 30 June 2010.

The 2021 Scottish Parliament election took place on 6 May 2021 under the provisions of the Scotland Act 1998. It was the sixth Scottish Parliament election since the devolved parliament was established in 1999. 129 Members of the Scottish Parliament were elected. The election was held alongside the Senedd election in Wales, English local elections, London Assembly and mayoral election and the Hartlepool by-election.

The election campaign started on 25 March 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic in Scotland. As a result, Parliament went into recess on 5 May, the day before the election. The main parties fielding candidates were: the Scottish National Party (SNP), led by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon; the Scottish Conservatives, led by Douglas Ross; Scottish Labour, led by Anas Sarwar; the Scottish Liberal Democrats, led by Willie Rennie, and the Scottish Greens, jointly led by Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater. Of those five parties, three had changed their leader since the 2016 election.

The Scottish National Party (SNP; Scottish Gaelic: Pàrtaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba [ˈpʰaːrˠtʰi ˈn̪ˠaːʃən̪ˠt̪ə nə ˈhal̪ˠapə]) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic political party in Scotland. The party holds 60 of the 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament, and holds 9 out of the 57 Scottish seats in the United Kingdom House of Commons. It is represented by 414 of the 1,226 local councillors across Scotland. The SNP supports and campaigns for Scottish independence from the United Kingdom and for Scotland's membership in the European Union, with a platform based on progressive social policies and civic nationalism. Founded in 1934 with the amalgamation of the National Party of Scotland and the Scottish Party, the party has had continuous parliamentary representation in Westminster since Winnie Ewing won the 1967 Hamilton by-election. In the February 1974 election it scored 22% of the vote and 30% in the October election of the same year, but only notched 7 seats in the former and 11 in the latter of 72 Scottish seats up for election.

With the establishment of the devolved Scottish Parliament in 1999, the SNP became the second-largest party, serving two terms as the opposition to a Labour-Liberal Democrat coalition. The SNP gained power under Alex Salmond at the 2007 Scottish Parliament election with 45% of the vote, forming a minority government, before going on to win the 2011 Parliament election, after which it formed Holyrood's first majority government. After Scotland voted against independence in the 2014 referendum, Salmond resigned and was succeeded by Nicola Sturgeon. In the run up to the 2015 election, the SNP trebled its membership to 110,000 .The SNP achieved a record number of 56 seats in Westminster after the 2015 general election to become the third largest party but in Holyrood it was reduced back to being a minority government at the 2016 election. In the 2021 election, the SNP gained one seat and entered a power-sharing agreement with the Scottish Greens. In March 2023 Sturgeon resigned and was replaced by Humza Yousaf.