They've done it. The SNP have won the Scottish Election. The results are as follows:SNP 47
Labour 46
Conservative 17
Liberal Democrats 16
Others 3
This is the first time Labour have been voted out in Scotland since 1955!!! This is a historic event. This sends a message to Scottish Labour that being Tony's lapdog is unacceptable.
Alec Salmond (pictured) as the leader of the SNP said:
"There may well be Labour Governments and Labour first ministers in the decades to come but never again will we see the Labour Party assume that it has a divine right to rule Scotland."
I for one hope he is correct.
There is also the problem of the chaos of the election itself with 100,000 spoiled ballots. In a country of five million 100,000 is a sizable chunk. The SNP, if they hold power, have promised an inquiry into the fiasco. I did read that Alec Salmond commented thus:
"The inquiry will have the fullest powers and the most searching remit. It will be charged with laying bare the outrage of why over 100,000 Scots were denied their democratic voice."
Now before anyone in England starts making plans to emigrate to an Independent Scotland this victory means we are still a long ways off such a thing happening. The Scottish Parliament is set up in such a way that the only way to govern is through a coalition. So the SNP need to partner with another party. The stumbling block in this process is likely to be the SNP's wish for a referendum on an Independent Scotland. The Liberal Democrats have their instructions from the UK party not to buddy up with the nationalists if they insist on a referendum. I think Labour would rather jump off a cliff than share power with their sworn separatist enemy. That leaves the wee Greens and the "others". One of the "others" is Margo Macdonald who used to be in the SNP but due to some "issues" between herself and Alec Salmond, she stood and won as an independent candidate. So Alec might have to grovel on bended knee to quite a few old foes ... we'll see.
The behind the scenes bargaining must be chaotic right now but at least there is change afoot. Which way that leads us we can't know. I still hold out the hope that one day we'll quite simply grow up!!
8 comments:
Yeehaw!
Thanks for the neat summary of the election; I hadn't had time to look into it. (Tomorrow's Cinco de Mayo, and I teach Spanish. This means piñatas and chips and salsa and dozens of hyperactive 13-year-olds..... It's been a long day.)
As for the spoiled ballots, please don't tell me it was pregant chad and Florida's doing the recount.... That was how the US got Bush even though he didn't really win the election.
marvin, eat your heart out...
It's a small world right enough, how bizarre!! Yippee SNP have won, but it'll be a while before we know what that really means however we can be sure that Scottish politics is sure going to hot up!
pprbckwrtr - its good news that things are changing in the political stagnation of Scottish politics - it'll be interesting to follow!! The fiasco is depressing....
anon - nobody does it better
sorlil - thanks for visiting. At last something other than small minded same old labour stuff - change is good!
I'd love to see Alec Salmond go on bended knee to Margo MacDonald. She was really badly treated by the SNP. I gave a big cheer when I heard she'd got in. Good on you, Margo.
Scotland is in limbo land at the moment - waiting to see what wheeling and dealing will go on. But since both the Lib Dems and the Torys are against a referendum it doesn't look like a referendum is on the cards for a while yet.
Good luck to Scotland. First comes the determination to independence, next comes the hard work to achieve it.
I'm glad the SNP won, but they've got a tough job ahead of them as they do not have a majority, they may have problems wielding the sort of political power that they would like. It will be interesting to see how they handle the situation.
I think it's terribly encouraging that they have won, even if not by a landslide.
In the eyes of this politically challenged American, Scotland should be an independent nation. In fact, I have always thought of it as such, not that this helps, as are Ireland and Wales.
My reasoning has nothing to do with political boundaries or Parliament, but with the obvious fact that each of these island nations has its own distinct character, none of which could be confused with the others or with England even by someone who hasn't lived in any of them. Their ancient histories are all differen as well, up to the point at which they were all gathered into the same large apron. The original languages and cuisines differ as well, so one has to assume that the national character is also distinct.
I'm sure I'm embarrassing myself with my silly ideas and lack of real knowledge, but I do feel that Scotland is well past the time it needs to be a protectorate of England. I would very much like to see it become its own country on paper as well as in practice.
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