First Minister of Scotland in the context of "2016 Scottish Parliament election"

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjacent islands, principally in the archipelagos of the Hebrides and the Northern Isles. In 2022, the country's population was about 5.4 million. Its capital city is Edinburgh, whilst Glasgow is the largest city and the most populous of the cities of Scotland. To the south-east, Scotland has its only land border, which is 96 miles (154 km) long and shared with England; the country is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, the North Sea to the north-east and east, and the Irish Sea to the south. The legislature, the Scottish Parliament, elects 129 members to represent 73 constituencies across the country. The Scottish Government is the executive arm of the devolved government, headed by the first minister, who chairs the cabinet and is responsible for government policy and international engagement.

The Kingdom of Scotland emerged as an independent sovereign state in the 9th century. In 1603, James VI succeeded to the thrones of England and Ireland, forming a personal union of the three kingdoms. On 1 May 1707, Scotland and England combined to create the new Kingdom of Great Britain, with the Parliament of Scotland subsumed into the Parliament of Great Britain. In 1999, a Scottish Parliament was re-established, and has devolved authority over many areas of domestic policy. The country has its own distinct legal system, education system and religious history, which have all contributed to the continuation of Scottish culture and national identity. Scottish English and Scots are the most widely spoken languages in the country, existing on a dialect continuum with each other. Scottish Gaelic speakers can be found all over Scotland, but the language is largely spoken natively by communities within the Hebrides; Gaelic speakers now constitute less than 2% of the total population, although state-sponsored revitalisation attempts have led to a growing community of second language speakers.

A first minister is any of a variety of leaders of government cabinets. The term literally has the same meaning as "prime minister".

In the United Kingdom, the title of first minister is used to refer to the political leader of a devolved national government, such as the devolved governments of Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, or of a dependent territory.

The Scottish Government (Scottish Gaelic: Riaghaltas na h-Alba, pronounced [ˈrˠiə.əl̪ˠt̪əs nə ˈhal̪ˠapə]) is the devolved government of Scotland. It was formed in 1999 as the Scottish Executive following the 1997 referendum on Scottish devolution, and is headquartered at St Andrew's House in the capital city, Edinburgh. It has been described as one of the most powerful devolved governments globally, with full legislative control over a number of areas, including education, healthcare, justice and the legal system, rural affairs, housing, the crown estate, the environment, emergency services, equal opportunities, public transport, and tax, amongst others.

The Scottish Government consists of the Scottish Ministers, which is the term used to describe their collective legal functions. The Scottish Government is accountable to the Scottish Parliament, which was also created by the Scotland Act 1998. The first minister is nominated by Parliament, then formally appointed by the monarch. The Scotland Act 1998 makes provision for ministers and junior ministers, referred to by the current administration as cabinet secretaries and ministers, in addition to two law officers: the lord advocate and the solicitor general for Scotland. The first minister selects ministers from the body of serving members of the Scottish Parliament, after which their appointment is approved by Parliament and the monarch. Collectively the Scottish Ministers and the Civil Service staff that support the Scottish Government are formally referred to as the Scottish Administration. The Scottish Cabinet consists of the first minister and their deputy, cabinet secretaries, the law officers, the permanent secretary and Minister for Parliamentary Business.

The Scottish Cabinet is the main decision-making body of the Scottish Government, the devolved government of Scotland. It is headed by the first minister, and made up of the deputy first minister, cabinet secretaries of the Scottish Government, the Lord Advocate and Solicitor General for Scotland (the Scottish Law Officers), the Permanent Secretary to the Scottish Government and the Minister for Parliamentary Business.

Members of the cabinet are usually appointed on the decision of the first minister, as well as individual interests in obtaining a Cabinet Secretary position along with prior experience as an MSP. Decisions made by the cabinet are subject to scrutiny from the Scottish Parliament on matters such as the budget and spending allocation. Cabinet ministers are free to openly discuss and share their opinions on matters at cabinet meetings, however, once decisions have been agreed, whether they agree or disagree, ministers are expected to "put on a united front" for the purpose of promoting government policy.

The Scottish Government conduct international engagements with foreign leaders, heads of state and diplomats of international countries to promote Scotland and Scottish interests overseas. Scottish Ministers, such as the first minister as the head of government, and their external affairs and constitution secretary, promote the country's culture, education and research, economy and advocate Scotland as a place for trade and business. As of 2023, Scotland has a total of nine Scottish Government offices – Beijing, Berlin, Brussels, Copenhagen, Dublin, London, Ottawa, Paris and Washington D.C. The Scottish Government plan on opening a further office in Warsaw by the end of the current parliamentary term.

Thirty international offices of the Scottish Government currently operate in twenty countries globally. Scottish offices in other countries act as a mechanism to promote collaboration and engagement between the Scottish Government and other international governments whilst two Scotland Houses, one in London and another in Brussels, are both independent establishments created by the Scottish Government to promote Scotland. There are seven Scottish Government offices based in British embassies or British High Commission offices.

In Scotland a sheriff principal (pl. sheriffs principal) (Scottish Gaelic: àrd-siorram) is a judge in charge of a sheriffdom with judicial, quasi-judicial, and administrative responsibilities. Sheriffs principal have been part of the judiciary of Scotland since the 11th century. Sheriffs principal were originally appointed by the monarch of Scotland, and evolved into a heritable jurisdiction before appointment was again vested in the Crown and the monarch of the United Kingdom following the passage of the Heritable Jurisdictions (Scotland) Act 1746.

Under the Sheriff Courts (Scotland) Act 1971 (as amended), each sheriff principal is appointed by the monarch of the United Kingdom on the advice of the First Minister of Scotland, who is advised by the Judicial Appointments Board for Scotland. As of May 2017 there were six sheriffs principal, each of whom has responsibility not only as a judge, but for the administration of justice in their respective sheriffdoms. Sheriffs principal have to ensure the effective running of the sheriff courts and justice of the peace courts within their jurisdiction. Following the passage of both the Courts Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 and the Judiciary and Courts (Scotland) Act 2008, sheriffs principal are subject to the authority and direction of the Lord President of the Court of Session as Head of the Judiciary of Scotland.

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 2011 Scottish Parliament election was held on Thursday, 5 May 2011 to elect 129 members to the Scottish Parliament.

The election delivered the first majority government since the opening of Holyrood, a remarkable feat as the Additional Member System used to elect MSPs was allegedly originally implemented to prevent any party achieving an overall parliamentary majority. The Scottish National Party (SNP) won a landslide of 69 seats, the most the party has ever held at either a Holyrood or Westminster election, allowing leader Alex Salmond to remain as First Minister of Scotland for a second term. The SNP gained 32 constituencies, twenty two from Scottish Labour, nine from the Scottish Liberal Democrats and one from the Scottish Conservatives. Such was the scale of their gains that, of the 73 constituencies in Scotland, only 20 came to be represented by MSPs of other political parties. Scottish Labour lost seven seats and suffered their worst election defeat in Scotland since 1931, with huge losses in their traditional Central Belt constituencies and for the first time having to rely on the regional lists to elect members within these areas. They did, however, remain the largest opposition party. Party leader Iain Gray announced his resignation following his party's disappointing result. The Scottish Liberal Democrats were soundly defeated; their popular vote share was cut in half and their seat total reduced from 16 to 5. Tavish Scott announced his resignation as party leader shortly after the election. For Scottish Conservatives, the election proved disappointing as their popular vote dropped slightly and their number of seats fell by 2, with party leader Annabel Goldie also announcing her resignation.