Next Scottish Parliament election

Next Scottish Parliament election

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 23
Seats needed 4 35 42

 
Leader TBD subject to leadership election Alex Cole-Hamilton Kenny MacAskill
Party Scottish Green Liberal Democrats Alba
Leader since TBD 20 August 2021 26 March 2025
Leader's seat TBD 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.