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Scottish Parliament general election, 2007 concerns the third General Election to the Scottish Parliament , which will be held on May 3 , 2007 . The Labour Party hopes to maintain its hold on Scotland, where it governs in coalition with the Liberal Democrats . The Scottish National Party hopes to win control of the Scottish Parliament , while the Liberal Democrats and the Conservative Party each hopes to upstage the SNP and become the second largest party in Scotland. The Scottish Green Party and the Scottish Socialist Party recognize that they have no chance of winning the election but both hope to increase their share of the vote and win additional seats.

There has been speculation that, if Labour loses a number of seats, a new governing coalition might be formed between the Liberal Democrats and the SNP, although both parties have tried to play down such rumors. [http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=342882006 [http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=104&id=513662005] The possibility of the Scottish Green Party participating in a new coalition has also been discussed.

Recent revelations that Labour Party membership in Scotland has substantially declined has raised further doubts about their chances of holding onto power in the upcoming election. {Link without Title}


ELECTORAL SYSTEM

There had been considerable speculation since the 2003 Election that the current system of electing the 129 Members will be changed from the Additional Members System (AMS) to one of the Single Transferable Vote (STV). However the power to alter the electoral system that is used for the Scottish Parliament elections is entirely reserved to Westminster . The Secretary Of State For Scotland , Alastair Darling , established a commission chaired by Professor Sir John Arbuthnott to report on boundary differences and voting systems. The Arbuthnott Commission produced its report in January 2006 and made a number of recommendations, including:

  • Retention of the current voting system, but with changes to improve choice

  • The introduction of E-voting

  • Holding Scottish Parliamentary elections and local council elections on different days

  • The introduction of the single transferable vote (STV) system for European Parliamentary Elections

  • Basing constituency and regional boundaries on Scottish Local Government boundaries, and not Westminster constituencies.

  • The roles of constituency and regional MSP s to be made clearer and more positive

  • Allowing candidates to both stand for a constituency, and to be on the regional list


Any changes that do come from the report will not be put in place until after the 2007 elections, where a review of parliament boundaries is also scheduled. The Scottish National Party and the Liberal Democrats are the most vocal advocates for introducing STV but the Labour and Conservative And Unionist parties remain firmly against the move. The Scottish Green Party also supports the '' Status Quo '' in electoral system.

  • --interesting, and probably true, but deep into WP:OR territory. Please source highly speculative sections like this
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Possible permutations of a post-2007 government have been speculated since the last election:

  • After a number of public disagreements and an uncomfortable relationship, the Labour party and Liberal Democrats may cease their coalition. If this were to happen, the Labour party could try to seek a coalition with the Scottish Greens.

  • The SNP are not expected to make dramatic gains and so in order for them to take over the executive, a multiparty coalition would be needed, most probably with the Liberal Democrats and the Scottish Greens.


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REFERENCES

http://www.alba.org.uk - Scottish Politics