Next Scottish Parliament election

Next Scottish Parliament election

← 2021 On or before 7 May 2026
All 129 seats to the Scottish Parliament 65 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Leader John Swinney Russell Findlay Anas Sarwar Party SNP Conservative Labour Leader since 6 May 2024 27 September 2024 27 February 2021 Leader's seat Perthshire North West Scotland Glasgow Last election 64 seats 31 seats 22 seats Current seats 61 30 22 Seats needed 4 35 43   Leader TBC & Lorna Slater Alex Cole-Hamilton Kenny MacAskill Party Scottish Green Liberal Democrats Alba Leader since 1 August 2019 (Slater) 20 August 2021 26 March 2025 Leader's seat Lothian (Slater) Edinburgh Western None Last election 8 seats 4 seats 0 seats Current seats 7 5 1 Seats needed 58 60 64
Incumbent First Minister John Swinney SNP

The next Scottish Parliament election is required to be held no later than Thursday 7 May 2026, to elect 129 members to the Scottish Parliament. It will be the seventh general election since the parliament was re-established in 1999.

Six parties have MSPs in the sixth parliament: Scottish National Party (SNP) led by First Minister John Swinney, the Scottish Conservatives led by Russell Findlay, Scottish Labour led by Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Greens, led by outgoing co-leader Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater, and the Scottish Liberal Democrats, led by Alex Cole-Hamilton. Of these parties, four have changed their leaders since the last Scottish Parliament election in 2021. Alba also have one MSP following a defection from the SNP, and John Mason sits as an independent after being expelled from the SNP.