The fight for the ‘supermajority’: why Alba lost out in the Holyrood elections

Megan Kenyon | 19th May 2021 | Uncategorised

The Scottish Government. Picture: Chris Watt

The party’s dream of a majority for independence may have come true, but not in the way they had hoped, writes Megan Kenyon

Internal turbulence has become a familiar component in the current incarnation of the Scottish independence movement. The events surrounding the allegations of sexual assault against former first minister Alex Salmond (of which he was acquitted in court) exposed a rift in the SNP’s united front. It came as no surprise then, when Salmond launched his own pro-independence party, Alba. Salmond’s ambitions for Alba were clear in his opening speech as leader. Speaking just six weeks before voters headed to the polls, Salmond announced that the new party would contribute to the creation of an “Independence supermajority.” In the event of such a performance, he said, Boris Johnson would no longer be able to ignore the Scottish people’s clamouring for a second independence referendum. But as the results came in on the weekend of 7 May, Alba’s hopes of offering an electoral contribution to the push for IndyRef2 began to fizzle out. Despite the highest turnout in the history of the Scottish el...

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