The polling date for the second Scottish Parliament election was held on May 1, 2003. The results were characterised by the rise in support for parties outwith the "main four" and a decline in support for both the Labour Party and the Scottish National Party (SNP). Despite predictions of a collapse in their support the Conservatives vote held up well and they managed to win three constituencies, as opposed to none in the previous election.
The elections for the ScottishParliament were the first in the UK to use the Additional Member System (AMS), which is a method of proportional representation (although various forms of PR had already been used in EU Parliamentary elections, and in Northern Ireland for local councils and the Assembly).
The ScottishParliament returned after the Restoration of Charles II to the throne in 1660, and, although initially docile, gradually came to exert considerable influence over the Crown—removing the clergy's right to attend in 1689 and finally abolishing the Lords of the Articles in 1690.
At the first meeting of the Parliament in July 1999, the "mother of Parliament" Winnie Ewing, sitting by virtue of being the oldest MSP at the time, declared that the ScottishParliament, which had been adjourned in 1707, was now reconvened, thus explicitly proclaiming a connection with the previous body.
The polling date for the second ScottishParliamentelection was held on May 1, 2003.
The results were characterised by the rise in support for the Scottish Green Party and the Scottish Socialist Party - both parties outwith the "main four" - and a decline in support for both the Labour Party and the Scottish National Party (SNP).
Scottish Senior Citizens Unity Party leader John Swinburne was also elected.
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