Preliminary results for the Scottish Parliamentary election show the success of the Scottish National Party (SNP), but the outcome is still difficult to predict, and party leader Nicola Sturden has warned that the results are still “balancing on a knife blade”.
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So far, the SNP has won 38, the Liberal Democrats four, the Conservatives three and Labor two.
The SNP currently forms a minority government, but hopes to win an absolute majority in the new parliamentary term. The party has promised that if it wins at least 65 of the 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament, it will hold a repeat independence referendum by the end of 2023.
The British Parliament and the London Government are disappointing in many in Scotland, and the SNP has become the dominant force in the region.
The SNP can also rely on green support. The Environment Party also supports Scottish independence, and in the 2016 elections, the Greens won five seats.
Voter turnout in this election was higher than five years ago, but it is not yet clear whether this time the SNP has managed to mobilize its supporters to a greater extent, or whether the Unionists, who are in favor of maintaining a 314-year-old union with England.
Scotland has a mixed electoral system. 73 deputies are elected in single-member constituencies in accordance with the majority electoral system.
The remaining 56 members are elected in eight multi-member constituencies, where seats are distributed in proportion to the number of votes obtained by each party’s list. Thus, small parties have a better chance in these areas.
The results of the count in the 73 single-member constituencies are expected today, but the remaining seats won in the multi-member constituencies will only be clear on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Labor, which has won at least 24 of the 60 seats, has led the election in the Welsh Regional Parliament, according to preliminary count results.
The Conservatives have won eight seats, but five seats have gone to the Welsh nationalist party Plaid Cymru.
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