Henry Mcleish: Spotlight falls on Johnson over indyref2
Regardless of the party political outcome of the Scottish elections, the increased turnout is a significant and positive sign of the success of the Parliament, a boost for democracy, and a measure of the political importance of Holyrood.
Now competing with the number of people in Scotland voting in Westminster elections, it is an endorsement of the wisdom of devolution in a still over-centralised UK.
This will be the highest turnout of the six Holyrood elections held since 1999, possibly 10 per cent higher than the previous highest in that year.
Early results suggest the SNP will again form the Scottish Government with no overall majority, but, with the support of the Greens in some form. The Greens do not figure in these early results as their efforts are focused on the list ballot. Polls suggest they are likely to do well, increasing their vote share and number of MSPS.
There is no doubt the high turnout will add to the legitimacy of any demands placed on Prime Minister Boris Johnson in the months ahead.
There appears to have been some tactical voting. Despite the efforts of the Scottish Tory
leader Douglas Ross, his pleas for a “Better Together” assault on the SNP and independence were rejected by Labour leader Anas Sarwar, who had a good campaign on his theme of “recovery first”.
This may result in an increase in seats or vote share. Labour’s goal is second place. Ross’s embrace of Johnson’s “muscular unionism” has made little impact.
But clearly Scotland remains divided on the SNP’S signature issue of independence – a political split personality. The overall results in percentage share of the vote varies widely throughout Scotland.
Despite the high turnout
there have been few surprises, and this reflects a campaign in which the overhang of the pandemic and the restrictions on traditional campaigning have been significant.
But this has also been a largely single issue campaign. Independence has dominated the hustings. Two parties arguing for the right of Scotland to decide its future in another referendum, while the traditional parties argued against.
When the dust settles independence will continue to dominate. The pandemic and recovery must come first, but afterwards, Johnson will be centre stage.