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Sunday, 2.5.2012

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CIEMEN - Who we are

Scotland

Scotland/Alba

General information
Population: 5.116.900 inhabitants (2005)
Area: 78.772 km²
Institutions: Government of Scotland
State administration: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Major cities: Edinburgh, Glasgow
Territorial language: Scottish Gaelic, Scots
Official language: English, Scottish Gaelic and Scots
National Day: 30 November
Major religion: Christianity (Protestantism)

Politics

Capital: Edinburgh
First Minister: Alex Salmond, SNP (2007)
Political system: Scotland is one of the nations which made up the United Kingdom Distribution of seats in Parliament (2007).
129 members: Scottish National Party (SNP) - 47
Labour Party - 46
Conservative Party - 17
Liberal Democrats - 16
Scottish Green Party - 2
Independent - 1
Electoral system: First-past-the-post for 73 individual constituencies and 56 members selected from "party lists" in the country's eight electoral regions.
Government: SNP minority administration

Degree of autonomy
Scotland recovered its national Parliament in 1999, what was the most important step towards decentralization since in 1707 the realms of Scotland and England united under the Acts of Union.

Comments
The 2007 Scottish Parliament election gave the victory to the main secessionist party in the house, SNP, for the first time in history. Alex Salmond, its leader, has repeatedly declared its intention of holding a self-determination referendum in 2010, before the end of the current legislature.