The Scottish Parliament may be forced to suspend its first sitting of the new session this week because coalition negotiations could prevent new candidates as Presiding Officer from coming forward.

The Scottish Parliament may be forced to suspend its first sitting of the new session this week because coalition negotiations could prevent new candidates as Presiding Officer from coming forward.

Trish Godman, Labour's current deputy presiding officer, is seen by many as an obvious successor to George Reid but there remains a question mark over whether her party would be prepared to lose her vote, given the astonishingly tight arithmetic of the parliament.

Margo MacDonald, the Independent MSP, yesterday confirmed an interest in the post. She said she did not want to be part of a coalition and was thinking about standing for the position, admitting: "I have been considering it but I don't know whether anybody else would like me to be the Presiding Officer and I need to find that out as well."

George Reid, who presided over the parliament's second four-year term, should return for just one more day, on Wednesday, to oversee the process of MSPs selecting a successor.

But by then there may well be no candidates volunteering to put themselves forward to take over as Presiding Officer, because no party will be prepared to sacrifice a single vote.

There is, therefore, a strong chance that if parliament is not yet in a position to elect a new Presiding Officer by Wednesday, George Reid may be prepared to adjourn the sitting for a few days to allow coalition talks to clarify.

With the 47 SNP MSPs, 17 Liberal Democrats and two Greens making up exactly the 65 seats need to command a majority in the 129-member chamber, none of the MSPs can accept the post of Presiding Officer without jeopardising that arithmetic.

But with Labour keeping their powder dry in case coalition talks break down and they become players again in that process, they, too, may be unwilling to give up one of their own for the post, how-ever much prestige and power it carries.

Talk of Tory leader Annabel Goldie shifting across to the Presiding Officer's chair carries much cross-party support but she has firmly ruled this out.

If an SNP-LibDem-Green coalition is put together, and Labour agree one of their number to go forward for the post, then Ms Godman may yet face competition from her own party's ranks.

However, with LibDem and SNP males serving the first two terms, it may be seen as time for a Labour Presiding Officer and for a woman to fill the post.