Election 2021 | Scottish Parliament

Election 2021

Author: Andrew Aiton, Sarah Atherton, Ross Burnside, Allan Campbell, Nicola Hudson, Iain McIver and Emma Robinson

PDF Published: Tuesday 11 May 2021 (SB 21-24)

The SNP won the most seats with 64, the Conservative party won 31, Labour won 22, the Green party 8 and the Liberal Democrats 4.

Image: Figure 1: 2021 election result

The SNP won 62 out of the 73 constituency seats. The Conservative party won the most regional seats and all of the Green party seats were won from the regional vote.

Image: Figure 2: Constituencies and regional seats

The SNP and Green party both increased the number of seats from the 2016 election. Labour and the Liberal Democrats saw a decrease, while the number of seats the Conservatives won was unchanged.

Image: Figure 3: Change in seats, 2016 to 2021

The turnout in the 2021 election was the highest for a Scottish Parliamentary election, at 63.5%.

Image: Figure 4: Historic turnouts

In 1999 and 2003 Labour won the most seats. Since then the SNP have had the most seats, wining a majority in 2011.

Image: Figure 5: Composition of Scottish Parliaments, 1999-2021

Image: Figure 6: Historic share of seats, 1999-2021

Image: Figure 7: Change in seats by political party

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Image: Figure 8: Change in share of the vote, by political party

Since 1999, the SNP has increased their share of the Constituency vote from 28.8% to 47.7%.

Image: Figure 9: Historic share of the vote, 1999-2021

The SNP have 19 new member, the Conservatives 11, Labour 9 and the Green Party 4

Image: Figure 10: New members by political party

The Green party have the highest proportion of female members at 63% while the Liberal Democrats and the Conservative party both have around a quarter.

Image: Figure 11: Female Members by political party

The turnout in the 2021 election was the highest for a Scottish Parliamentary election, at 63.5%.

Image: Figure 12: Historic turnouts

Every constutuency in Scotland saw an increase in turnout.

Image: Figure 13: Turnout increase by constituency

Image: Figure 14: Historic turnout by region

The average of the last seven opinion polls for all parties was within plus or minus 3% margin of error.

Image: Figure 15: Average of last 7 opinion polls vs final result

Last Updated: 27/4 1:16am

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