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He Scottish National Party On Saturday it followed suit to remain by far the largest party in the decentralized parliament in Holyrood, but it seemed unlikely to reach a majority of the 129 seats in the House.
The pro-independence SNP won 59 of the 70 electoral seats declared before Saturday afternoon, but was unable to take the marginal targets considered essential for the majority in parliament in part proportionally representative.
The fourth consecutive victory in the Scottish parliamentary election for the SNP means it will continue in the Edinburgh government with a powerful platform to push for a second referendum on UK independence.
However, it is likely that the UK Conservative government will use any failure of the SNP to win an absolute majority as a reason to refuse to approve the re-drafting of the 2014 vote, in which Scots backed their permanence in the union between 55-45%.
Nicola Sturgeon, leader of the SNP and prime minister of Scotland, said it had always been a “very, very long shot” for his party to win a majority in proportionately representative parliament, a feat previously managed only in 2011. ‘SNP has led minority government for the past five years.
“I am extremely happy and confident that we are on the right track for the SNP for a fourth consecutive election victory and that we have the capacity to form a government again,” Sturgeon told the BBC’s Glasgow count on Friday.
Analysts said that even if the SNP did not reach a majority, Scottish Green pro-independence activists seemed almost certain to win enough seats to ensure more than half of Holyrood MPs responded to another referendum.
Sturgeon has repeatedly insisted that the British government’s refusal to approve another pro-independence vote will be untenable if there is general majority support for one in Holyrood.
John Swinney, Scottish Deputy Prime Minister, said British Prime Minister Boris Johnson should “only accept democracy in Scotland” if the majority of MSPs supported another referendum.
“This is a fundamental democratic point. That’s what the people of Scotland will have voted for, ”Swinney told the BBC on Saturday.
Johnson, in January, suggested that Westminster not approve another referendum at least until the 2050s. interview with The Telegraph The newspaper published on Saturday the prime minister did not give any details of his intentions, but said he thought a referendum “in the current context” would be “irresponsible and reckless”.
The final balance of the 56 MSPs selected through the regional list seats should be announced on Saturday after the declaration of the last seats in the constituency.
Despite victories in some key target seats, the SNP expects the majority to have a strong blow when the tactical vote of supporters of the Conservative Party helped Labor maintain Dumbarton’s eastern Scottish fringe. In Aberdeenshire West, supporters of the Liberal Democrats helped the Conservatives defend a challenge from the SNP.
John Curtice, a professor of politics at Strathclyde University, said the Aberdeenshire West result made it clear that the SNP would not repeat its 2011 feat of winning the Holyrood majority. “The route up to the age of 65 [seats] it is now clearly closed, “Curtice told the BBC.
But better performance by the Scottish Greens suggested there would be a larger Holyrood majority for a second referendum on leaving the UK. “The pro-independence majority in the next parliament will probably be a little stronger,” said Mark Diffley, a Scottish public opinion consultant.
Analysts said Labor seemed unable to outdo the Conservatives as Scotland’s largest opposition party, despite what has generally been seen as a good campaign for the new left-wing party leader, Anas Sarwar.
Sarwar nearly doubled the Labor vote in Glasgow Southside constituency, but was easily defeated by Sturgeon, the incumbent MSP. But the new leader insisted he was moving forward on his Labor change “project”.
“Compared to where we were just 10 weeks ago when I took on this job, it’s a magnificent change,” he said.
On Thursday, participation in Scotland was higher than in 2016, despite bad weather and snow in various parts of the country and what many observers have judged a relatively sparse campaign.
Voters in Scottish parliamentary elections have two votes, with the fortune of the smaller parties largely determined by the list of regional parties.
Votes at the constituency level suggested that the new pro-independence party Alba, launched by former SNP minister Alex Salmond, who was only on the regional lists, would not get a seat.
Salmond said friendly bloggers in a video call which was “in a bad way” after losing its seat in Westminster in 2017. But the former SNP leader insisted that Alba would continue to be a home for “disgruntled” independence supporters frustrated by what he said the Sturgeon’s failure did not pressure the case to leave the UK.
Graphics by Cale Tilford, Max Harlow, Joanna S Kao and Steven Bernard
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