Alex Salmond has predicted that his party could be on course for a second majority in Holyrood aided by a “clean sweep” in Glasgow.
Pointing out the PR system predicated against achieving a majority, the former First Minister told the BBC: "It is a hugely difficult ask to try and do this but at this point in the evening we can say we are at least in the running to have that extraordinary achievement by Nicola Sturgeon."
The Herald revealed yesterday how insiders in the SNP had previously voiced concerns about the party’s ability to win an overall majority in the election, especially if turn out is low.
Fears remained that the party could increase its share of the vote compared with the 2011 election but still win fewer seats under Holyrood's complex semi-proportional system if, as expected, the independence-supporting Greens also do well.
READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon tries to steer election debate away from constitution amid fears over majority win
Polls leading up to the vote put closest rivals Labour and the Conservatives neck and neck, although Labour insiders remained confident of finishing in second place.
Despite being sure of the SNP’s chances, Mr Salmond fell short of predicting a full house in the constituency vote.
Asked if the Nationalists could pick up all the seats, the MP for Gordon insisted such talk was "total nonsense".
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel