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Scotland to call a referendum on independence

Impressive majority in Scottish Parliament election gives the SNP the capacity and legitimacy to call the vote · Alex Salmond thinks of organizing the referendum in the second half of the term · The UK government has announced that it will not block the vote · No party had achieved an overall majority in Holyrood since 1999, when the Parliament was established

Referendum on Scottish independence is set to become a reality in the years to come following a massive vote for Scottish National Party (SNP) in last week's election. Scottish prime minister Alex Salmond's SNP has achieved the widest majority ever at the Scottish Parliament, securing 69 out of 129 seats. Pro-independence candidates have won even in Labour and Liberal Democrat historical strongholds.

Out of 22 target constituencies, SNP has won in 18. This includes a big chunk of the Scottish Central Belt (area between Glasgow and Edinburgh) that formerly supported Labour candidates.

SNP candidates have obtained the most votes in 53 out of 73 single member constituencies. Labour has only won in 15 of them, the Tories in 3 and the LibDems in 2. This has turned Scottish political map into yellow (SNP's colour). Regional lists have on the other hand helped Labour to slightly balance SNP's overall power.

According to BBC Scotland political editor Brian Taylor, SNP's overall majority is even more praiseworthy since the electoral system "was designed by a Labour goverrnment at Westminster with the explicit intention of preventing the SNP from gaining a majority of the seats on a minority of the popular vote".

Referendum on sight, green light from London

Labour, LibDem and Tories are recalling now that a vote for SNP does not necessarily mean a vote for independence. That being true, Salmond has now a large majority (69 SNP seats plus another three pro-independence MPs: the two Greens and Margo MacDonald) that will be able to pass the piece of legislation allowing for a referendum on independence.

Salmond has said that the first priority of his new government will be economic recovery. He will call the referendum only in the second half of his five-year term. It might be called in 2015. The Secretary of State for Scotland, LibDem MP Michael Moore, has announced that the UK government will not block the referendum. ""If the issue of the day is to decide the future of Scotland within the United Kingdom, then that's more important we have that debate, rather than have a debate about whether or not we can have the debate", Moore said.

Further information:

  • Full results on BBC