Scottish National Party in the context of "European Free Alliance"

The Scottish Parliament (Scottish Gaelic: Pàrlamaid na h-Alba [ˈpʰaːrˠl̪ˠəmɪtʲ nə ˈhal̪ˠapə]; Scots: Scots Pairlament) is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. It is located in the Holyrood area of Edinburgh, and is frequently referred to by the metonym ''Holyrood''. It is a democratically elected body and its role is to scrutinise the Scottish Government and legislate on devolved matters that are not reserved to the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

The Scottish Parliament comprises 129 members known as Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs), elected for five-year terms under the regionalised form of Additional-member system (MMP): 73 MSPs represent individual geographical constituencies elected by the plurality (first-past-the-post) system, while a further 56 are returned as list members from eight additional member regions. Each region elects seven party-list MSPs. Each region elects 15 to 17 MSPs in total. The most recent general election to the Parliament was held on 6 May 2021, with the Scottish National Party winning a plurality.

Glasgow City Council (Scottish Gaelic: Comhairle Baile Ghlaschu) is the local authority for the Glasgow City council area, the most populous of the 32 council areas of Scotland. In its modern form it was created in 1996. Glasgow was formerly governed by a corporation, also known as the town council, from the granting of its first burgh charter in the 1170s until 1975. From 1975 until 1996 the city was governed by City of Glasgow District Council, a lower-tier authority within the Strathclyde region.

Glasgow City Council has been under no overall control since 2017, being led by a Scottish National Party minority administration. The council has its headquarters at Glasgow City Chambers in George Square, completed in 1889.

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 February 1974 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 28 February 1974. The Labour Party, led by former Prime Minister Harold Wilson, gained 14 seats (301 total) but was seventeen short of an overall majority. The Conservative Party, led by Prime Minister Edward Heath, lost 28 seats (though it polled a higher share of the vote than Labour). That resulted in a hung parliament, the first since 1929. Heath sought a coalition with the Liberals, but the two parties failed to come to an agreement and so Wilson became prime minister for a second time, his first with a minority government. Wilson called another early election in September, which was held in October and resulted in a Labour majority. The February election was also the first general election to be held with the United Kingdom as a member state of the European Communities (EC), which was widely known as the "Common Market".

Its results saw Northern Ireland diverging heavily from the rest of the United Kingdom, with all twelve candidates elected being from local parties (eleven of them representing unionist parties) after the decision of the Ulster Unionists to withdraw support from the Conservative Party in protest over the Sunningdale Agreement. The Scottish National Party achieved significant success at the election by increasing its share of the popular vote in Scotland from 11% to 22%, and its number of MPs from one to seven. Plaid Cymru also succeeded for the first time in getting candidates elected at a general election in Wales (its sole previous seat was won at a by-election in 1966).

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.

The 2016 Scottish parliament election was held on Thursday, 5 May 2016 to elect 129 members to the Scottish Parliament. It was the fifth election held since the devolved parliament was established in 1999. It was the first parliamentary election in Scotland in which 16 and 17 year olds were eligible to vote, under the provisions of the Scottish Elections (Reduction of Voting Age) Act (the voting age had previously been 16 in the 2014 Independence Referendum). It was also the first time the three largest parties were led by women.

Parliament went into dissolution on 24 March 2016, allowing the official period of campaigning to get underway. Five parties had MSPs in the previous parliament: Scottish National Party (SNP) led by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, Scottish Labour led by Kezia Dugdale, Scottish Conservatives led by Ruth Davidson, Scottish Liberal Democrats led by Willie Rennie, Scottish Greens, led by their co-conveners Patrick Harvie and Maggie Chapman. Of those five parties, four changed their leader since the 2011 election.

The 2026 Scottish Parliament election is planned to be held on Thursday 7 May 2026, and will elect 129 members to the Scottish Parliament. It will be the seventh general election since the devolved parliament was established in 1999.

Six parties currently have MSPs in the sixth parliament, although only five won seats at the last Scottish Parliament election in 2021: The Scottish National Party (SNP) led by First Minister John Swinney, the Scottish Conservatives led by Russell Findlay, Scottish Labour led by Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Greens, led by co-leaders Gillian Mackay and Ross Greer, and the Scottish Liberal Democrats, led by Alex Cole-Hamilton. Of these five parties, four have changed their leaders since the 2021 election. In addition, Reform UK have one MSP following a defection from the Conservatives. Six members sit as independents after leaving or being suspended or expelled from their respective parties - two from the SNP, two from Labour, and one Conservative. Ash Regan left the SNP for Alba before later becoming an independent.

The 2022 Scottish local elections were held on 5 May 2022, as part of the 2022 United Kingdom local elections. All 1,226 seats across all 32 Scottish local authorities were up for election and voter turnout was 44.8%.

Compared to the previous elections of 2017, the Scottish National Party (SNP) gained seats and maintained its position as largest party in local government, winning 36.9% of the seats available. Scottish Labour (winning 22.9% of seats) gained seats, whilst the Scottish Conservatives (who won 17.5%) lost many seats, being displaced by Scottish Labour as the second-largest party. Independent candidates also lost seats, whilst the Scottish Liberal Democrats and the Scottish Greens increased their vote share and gained seats across Scotland.