2026 Scottish Parliament election

2026 Scottish Parliament election

7 May 2026
All 129 in the Scottish Parliament 65 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	TBC
First party Second party Third party   Leader John Swinney Anas Sarwar Malcolm Offord Party SNP Labour Reform Leader's seat Perthshire North Glasgow West Scotland Last election 64 seats 22 seats 0 seats Seats won 58 17 17 Seat change 6 5 17 Constituency vote 877,077 440,708 361,994 % and swing 38.2% 9.5pp 19.2% 2.4pp 15.8% 15.8pp Regional vote 625,949 368,785 383,425 % and swing 27.2% 13.1pp 16.0% 1.9pp 16.6% 16.4pp   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Ross Greer / Gillian Mackay Russell Findlay Alex Cole-Hamilton Party Green Conservative Liberal Democrat Leader's seat West Scotland / Central Scotland and Lothians West West Scotland Edinburgh North Western Last election 8 seats 31 seats 4 seats Seats won 15 12 10 Seat change 7 19 6 Constituency vote 52,528 271,740 261,408 % and swing 2.3% 1.0pp 11.8% 10.1pp 11.4% 4.4pp Regional vote 321,964 271,550 216,224 % and swing 14.0% 5.9pp 11.8% 11.7pp 9.4% 4.3pp
First Minister before election John Swinney SNP Elected First Minister TBD

The 2026 Scottish Parliament election will be held on 7 May 2026 to elect all 129 members of the Scottish Parliament.

Going into the election, the Scottish National Party has the largest number of seats and currently leads a minority government with John Swinney as First Minister. The SNP has been in government since 2007 and is seeking a fifth term in office.

The 2021 election saw the pro-independence parties (SNP and Greens) collectively achieving a majority of seats in the Scottish Parliament for the first time since devolution. In August 2021, the two parties entered into a cooperation agreement known as the Bute House agreement. In April 2024, Humza Yousaf ended the agreement, the Greens returned to the opposition and the SNP formed a new minority government. This triggered a crisis which ended with Yousaf's resignation and John Swinney becoming First Minister the following month.

The parties

Currently represented in the Scottish Parliament

• Scottish National Party – a centre-left party which promotes Scottish independence and social democracy, and supports rejoining the European Union.
• Scottish Conservatives – a centre-right to right-wing party which promotes conservatism, economic liberalism and British unionism.
• Scottish Labour – a centre-left party which promotes social democracy and British unionism.
• Scottish Greens – a left-wing party which promotes green politics, progressivism, republicanism and Scottish independence.
• Scottish Liberal Democrats – a centre to centre-left party which promotes liberalism, social liberalism and British unionism. It also supports rejoining the European Union.
• Reform UK – a right-wing party which promotes right-wing populism and Euroscepticism.

Voting system

Scotland is divided into 73 constituencies with roughly the same number of people in each one. Each of these constituencies elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) using the First Past the Post voting system. These 73 constituencies are grouped into eight regions. Each of these regions elects seven MSPs using proportional representation which means that the total number of MSPs is 129.

Results

The election resulted in the Scottish National Party winning a fifth consecutive term in government. They won 58 seats, a net decrease of 6 from the 2021 election. However this was short of the 65 seats needed to form a majority government.

The Scottish Greens won 15 seats (including 2 constituency seats), their best result to date at a Scottish Parliament election while Reform UK entered parliament for the first time with 17 seats. The Scottish Liberal Democrats also improved on its performance in 2021, winning 10 seats, a net increase of 6 from 2021.

Scottish Labour had its worst-ever result with 17 seats, and the lowest share of the vote in both constituency and list votes for either Westminster or Holyrood since 1910. The Scottish Conservatives also saw its worst-ever result falling from second to fifth, and winning 12 seats.

The election again resulted in the pro-independence parties again winning a majority of seats in the Scottish Parliament, repeating the results of the 2016 and 2021 elections. The SNP had won an outright majority in 2011.