The number of people reportedly walking to polling stations wearing kilts in Scotland was an immediate giveaway to the Scottish National Party’s (SNP) electoral victory last Friday.
Alex Salmond’s party won 47 council seats, beating the Labour Party’s 46 seats in the area that has been dubbed ‘Gordon Brown’s backyard’.

The Scottish National Party is now the biggest in Scotland, and a pleased Salmond said these results banish any idea that Labour have a “divine right to rule Scotland”.

Dundee has become the first Scottish city to ever be completely ruled by the SNP. However, the results were not as clear-cut as either party might have hoped, with various problems arising that were initially thought to compromise the outcome.

Both local and parliamentary elections were held on the same day, and having two different ballot papers is thought to have confused voters, thus spoiling, according to estimates, 100,000 ballot papers, which had to be scrapped.

There had been strong independent advice that this overlap should be avoided, but the Scottish Office decided to go ahead the system of electors marking their chosen candidates for both local councils and the Scottish Parliament at the same time.

This is mostly worrying because in some constituencies, the number of rejected votes (an average of 1,000) is higher than the margin by which the majority have won.

Other problems have occurred with postal votes, including those supposedly lost in the Atlantic mist on the morning of the elections, as well as difficulties with the computers counting the ballot papers not working properly.

Parties are asking for clarifications and even investigations, specifically on the Holyrood Constituency, formerly Brown’s stronghold, but it would seem that the current results are mostly correct.

The victory can be seen as the first step on the road to independence for Scotland, and while Salmond has promised to re-think his 2010 referendum on an independent Scotland, one cannot deny the fact that, whether they are willing to take the next step or not, they are nonetheless that little bit closer.

Elsewhere, Labour have had their worst result in Wales since 1945. Blair’s party has lost their control over regions from Llanelli to Plaid Cymru.

The Welsh Party advocated secession, while the Conservative Party won three constituencies, making them a force to be reckoned with in Welsh politics.

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