This blog sets out the election results and what they mean for the make-up of the Session 7 Scottish Parliament.
The seventh general election to the Scottish Parliament was held on 7 May 2026, with counts held on Friday 8 May 2026. This is the first time that the counts have not been held overnight, other than at the 2021 general election where counts were held on the Friday due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Figures on turnout, results and vote share for this election and previous elections are taken from the BBC election results page.
What are the results and what do they mean for the Session 7 Parliament?
The Scottish Parliament is made up of 129 seats: 73 constituency seats and 56 regional seats. There are eight regions across Scotland and each elects seven MSPs. For a political party to secure a majority of seats at the Parliament, it must secure at least 65 seats.
After all seats were declared the results are as follows:
- Reform UK (“Reform”) – 17
- The Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party (“the Conservatives”) – 12
- The Scottish Green Party (“the Greens”) – 15
- The Scottish Labour Party (“Labour”) – 17
- The Scottish Liberal Democrats (“the Liberal Democrats”) – 10
- The Scottish National Party (“SNP”) – 58
The make-up of the Session 7 Parliament
In total, six parties are represented in the Session 7 Parliament. The SNP is the largest party in the Parliament, with Labour and Reform in joint second place, tied on 17 seats each. Although the SNP does not have a majority, the Parliament does have a pro-independence majority of MSPs with the SNP and Greens totalling 73 seats.
Reform won seats in a Scottish Parliament election for the first time winning 17 seats on the regional list. It’s notable that all of the parties other than the SNP have fewer than 20 seats. Despite this fragmented result, the Session 7 Parliament doesn’t rival the second Session of the Parliament (often referred to as the Rainbow Parliament) which saw eight parties represented as well as a number of independents elected.
There are 64 new MSPs, 33 constituency members and 31 regional members. Jackie Baillie and John Swinney are the only Members who have served continuously since 1999. SPICe produces factsheets on MSPs and parliamentary business.
In the Session 6 Parliament the SNP were the largest political party with 64 seats. The Conservatives held 31 seats, Labour were at 22 seats, the Greens held eight seats and the Liberal Democrats had four seats.
By the end of the Session 6 Parliament, however, there had been some changes as the result of members changing party as well as some resignations. The SNP had also lost a seat to Labour in the by-election following the death of Christina McKelvie MSP. The SNP held 60 seats, the Conservatives held 28 seats, Labour had 20 seats and the Liberal Democrats held 5 seats. The Greens held 7 seats and there were also 7 independent members. Reform also held one seat. The final seat was the Presiding Officer who has no political affiliation once elected to that office (Alison Johnstone MSP was elected as a member of the Greens). A SPICe factsheet provides details of all the changes during the Session 6 Parliament.
What do the results mean for the formation of a Scottish Government?
Although the SNP is the largest party, it hasn’t secured the 65 seats needed for a majority. Nevertheless, it’s likely that the SNP will form the next Scottish Government.
For any party that doesn’t secure a majority of seats, there are options. Sometimes, a minority government will be formed – particularly where the party is confident that it can make alliances with other parties to pass budgets and legislation on a case-by-case basis. The SNP ruled as a minority government following the 2007 election and again, in the later part of the Session 6 Parliament.
A minority government can also seek agreement with another party or parties to ensure a parliamentary majority as required. This can include forming a cooperation agreement or choosing to form a more formal coalition. Scotland has seen both a cooperation agreement (between the Scottish Government and the Greens) and formal coalitions (in the first two sessions of the Parliament where Labour and the Liberal Democrats formed coalition governments).
Turnout
In the constituency vote, turnout at this election was 53.2%. This was a fall compared to the 2021 election which saw the largest ever turnout for a Scottish Parliament election at 63.5%. The 2021 turnout beat the previous best of 58.2%, recorded at the first Scottish Parliament election in 1999.
It is worth noting that this year’s turnout of 52.3% compares with an average turnout of 54.9% over all Scottish Parliament elections.
Turnout this year was once again substantially below the 84.6% who voted in the 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum.
A look at some individual seats
Below is a brief look at some of the interesting constituency results.
Banffshire and Buchan Coast
This was the constituency most widely considered to be a possible Reform gain. The SNP’s Karen Adam held the seat with a majority of just 364 votes (the SNP secured 10,374 votes to Reform UK’s 10,010).
At the 2021 election, the SNP won the seat by 14,920 votes or 45.2% to the Conservatives’ 14,148 or 42.9% (a majority of 772). This time around the SNP secured 35.2% of votes to Reform’s 33.9% – a drop of 9.9% for the SNP’s vote share and an increase of 33.9% for Reform. The Conservatives secured 6348 votes at this election.
Edinburgh Central
One of the biggest upsets of the election was the SNP’s Angus Roberton, Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, External Affairs and Culture, losing the Edinburgh Central seat to the Green’s Lorna Slater.
This was the first ever constituency seat for the Greens in the Scottish Parliament and was a significant result with Lorna Slater securing 12,680 votes (36% of the vote share). Labour secured 8098 votes (23% of the voter share), pushing the SNP into third with 7702 votes (21.9 % of the vote share – a drop of over 17% since the 2021 election).
Glasgow Southside
The seat formerly held by Nicola Sturgeon turned Green with Holly Bruce being elected with 14,048 votes (36.5% of the vote share). The win meant the Green’s securing their second constituency seat. The SNP’s Kaukab Stewart, Minister for Equalities, took second place with 10,947 vote (28.4% of the vote share, a drop of 32.5% since 2021).
Island constituencies – Orkney Islands, Shetland Islands and Na h-Eileanan an Iar
Orkney Islands was the first constituency to declare with Liberal Democrat Liam McArthur being returned for the fifth time, with a vote share of just over 70%. Beyond that, the results in Scotland’s island constituencies were more unexpected.
For the first time, the Shetland Islands seat is not held by the Liberal Democrats. The SNP gained the seat with Hannah Goodlad being elected to represent the constituency with 5453 votes (a 1517 majority) and 47.5% of the vote share. The Liberal Democrat candidate secured 3936 votes.
The constituency had seen a by-election in 2019 when Tavish Scott stood down. Beatrice Wishart held the seat for the Liberal Democrats in that by-election with a majority of 1837 (the Lib Dems secured 5659 votes, ahead of the SNP who secured 3822 votes). Beatrice Wishart was also elected in 2021 on 5803 votes.
The SNP’s Alasdair Allan had held the Na h-Eileanan an Iar seat since the 2007 general election. This time around the constituency was a Labour gain, a somewhat unexpected result. Labour’s Donald MacKinnon secured 4665 votes to the SNP’s 4511 (a majority of just 154).
What do the results mean for elections elsewhere?
Dual mandate is the term used to describe those MSPs who, in addition to their seat in the Scottish Parliament, also hold a seat in either the House of Commons (MPs), House of Lords (Peers) or represent a ward in their local council (Councillors).
Following the introduction of rules around MSPs not holding dual mandates, the results for the Scottish Parliament election mean some likely by-elections at the UK Parliament. The SNP’s Stephen Flynn is currently MP for Aberdeen South and Stephen Gethins is MP for Arbroath and Broughty Ferry.
Malcolm Offord (Lord Offord of Garvel) was a member of the House of Lords but resigned from the House in January 2026. Katy Clark (Baroness Clark of Kilwinning) is still a member of the House of Lords and will therefore need to resign her peerage to keep her seat as an MSP. As the House of Lords is not elected, this will not trigger a by-election.
The Scottish Elections (Representation and Reform) Act 2025 and associated secondary legislation means that dual mandates for members of the Scottish Parliament are no longer allowed. There is a grace period during which individuals newly elected are able to resign their mandate elsewhere so as to be able to serve as an MSP. The grace periods are as follows:
- Members of the House of Commons have 49 days to resign
- Members of the House of Lords have 14 days to resign.
- Councillors are allowed to serve as an MSP where the next scheduled local government election is due to occur within 372 days of the election at which the councillor was returned as an MSP. This reflects the current electoral cycle where local government elections will take place the year following a Scottish Parliament election. If an MSP is elected and there is more than 373 days until the next scheduled local government election, the grace period is 49 days.
Looking ahead
SPICe will publish its election results briefing early next week. That briefing will provide a detailed breakdown of all of the results and further analysis of what this means for the Session 7 Parliament.
An explainer blog series will also be published by SPICe over the coming two weeks which will describe what happens in the first few days of the Session 7 Parliament, which is first due to meet on Thursday 14th May 2026.
Sarah McKay, Iain McIver and Andrew Aiton, SPICe research