Record high number of female MSPS elected

The number of women elected to Holyrood has reached a record high of 45% in what has been a historic election on many fronts.

A total of 58 female MSPS will make their way to the Scottish Parliament and the country has also elected its first woman of colour, the SNP’S Glasgow Kelvin MSP Kaukab Stewart.

The previous record in terms of female representation at parliament was in 2003 – 40% of the individuals elected were women at that time.

Six black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) MSPS have been elected, along with the country’s first permanent wheelchair user MSP, Scottish Labour’s Pam Duncan-glancy, and the party’s first male LGBT member Paul O’kane.

Ms Stewart is joined by five other BAME MSPS in parliament, including Scottish Conservative MSPS Sandesh Gulhane and Pam Gosal, who is the country’s first ever Indian Sikh MSP.

Foysol Choudhury was elected in the Lothian region for Scottish Labour.

The party’s leader, Anas Sarwar, was re-elected in Glasgow, and the SNP’S Humza Yousaf kept his seat in Glasgow Pollok.

Ms Stewart said: “It has taken too long but to all the women and girls of colour out there, the Scottish Parliament belongs to you too, so while I may be the first, I will not be the last.”

Prior to the 2021 election, Holyrood had only ever had a total of four BAME members since the creation of the Scottish Parliament in 1999 – all men of Scots-pakistani heritage.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said Ms Stewart’s election marked a “special and important moment”.

She also paid tribute to Ms Duncan-glancy, saying her election makes the parliament “much more representative”.

Elected on the Glasgow regional list, her win was hailed as another historymaking moment. However, it took Ms Duncan-glancy 45 minutes to enter her election count because the venue was not accessible.

The party breakdown reveals 63% of the Scottish Green MSPS are women, 53% of SNP MSPS, 45% of Labour, 25% of Liberal Democrat and 26% of Scottish Conservatives.