The first meeting of the fifth session of the Parliament is now resumed. I have received five valid nominations for the position of Presiding Officer. I shall now announce the nominations and ask all candidates, as their names are announced, to make themselves known to the chamber.
In alphabetical order, the nominations are Murdo Fraser, Johann Lamont, Ken Macintosh, John Scott and Elaine Smith.
13:31 Meeting suspended.
The first meeting of the fifth session of the Parliament is resumed for the election of the Presiding Officer. As previously announced, I have received five valid nominations. In alphabetical order, the nominations are Murdo Fraser, Johann Lamont, Ken Macintosh, John Scott and Elaine Smith.
The election will proceed in accordance with rule 11.9 of standing orders. If no member receives an overall majority in the first round of voting, there will be subsequent rounds. Members should remain in their seats until I invite them to collect their ballot papers from the clerks at the back of the chamber. Members with surnames from Adam to Gilruth should collect their ballot papers from the desk to my left, members with surnames from Golden to McDonald should use the desk at the back, which is right in front of me, and members with surnames from McKee to Yousaf should use the desk to my right—they told me to do this.
Members should confirm their name with the clerks before being issued with a ballot paper. For members’ privacy in marking ballot papers, voting booths are available at the back of the chamber. Ballot papers should be marked with an X, before being folded and placed in one of the ballot boxes provided at the rear of the chamber.
At the end of each voting period, I will invite any scrutineers who have been nominated by each candidate to monitor the counting of votes at the back of the chamber. There, clerks will empty the ballot boxes and begin counting the votes. Candidates may also observe the count. I will announce the results of each round of voting when all the votes have been counted and verified.
I declare the election of the Presiding Officer open. Members should proceed to the appropriate desk to collect their ballot papers and then vote.
Members voted by secret ballot.
In the first round of voting in the election of the Presiding Officer, the total number of votes cast was 128 and the number of votes cast for each candidate was as follows: Murdo Fraser 23, Johann Lamont 23, Ken Macintosh 58, John Scott 17, Elaine Smith 7. As no member has received an overall majority of the votes cast, and as Elaine Smith received the fewest votes, she is eliminated from the election and a further round will take place with the following candidates: Murdo Fraser, Johann Lamont, Ken Macintosh and John Scott.
We will have a short break while new ballot papers are printed.
14:48 Meeting suspended.
The voting period is now open. Members should use the same voting procedure as before. I am not going to do my air hostess bit again and indicate “left”, “right” and “in the middle”. Ms Baillie—I am sure that you will remember where you are supposed to go without an explanation. [Laughter.]
Members voted by secret ballot.
The voting round is now closed. As before, candidates and scrutineers should, if they wish to see the votes being counted, join the clerks at the back of the chamber.
The result of the round of voting is as follows. The total number of votes cast was 128, and there was one spoiled ballot paper. The results are: Murdo Fraser 26, Johann Lamont 26, Ken Macintosh 60, John Scott 15.
Accordingly, as no candidate received an overall majority of the votes cast, and as John Scott received the fewest votes, he is eliminated from the election and a further round will take place with the following candidates: Murdo Fraser, Johann Lamont and Ken Macintosh. I suspend the meeting for five minutes to allow ballot papers to be printed.
15:08 Meeting suspended.
This round of voting is now open. Members should vote at the back of the chamber, and it would be helpful if they resumed their seats immediately after that.
Members voted by secret ballot.
This round of voting is now closed. Again, if the candidates and their agents want to go to the back of the chamber to witness the count, they are welcome to do so.
The result of the vote in the third round of voting is as follows. There were 128 votes cast: Murdo Fraser 31, Johann Lamont 26 and Ken Macintosh 71.
Accordingly, as Ken Macintosh has received more votes than the total number of votes received by the other candidates, and as more than 25 per cent of members have voted, Ken Macintosh is elected as Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament. [Applause.]
I thank the other candidates who put themselves forward: Murdo Fraser, Johann Lamont, John Scott and Elaine Smith. I am sure that members will wish to join me in thanking them. [Applause.]
I have known Ken Macintosh as a colleague and a friend since 1999, and I wish him well in what is the best job in Scotland.
I present the new Presiding Officer. Thank you very much. [Applause.]
I thank you all, my fellow MSPs. I am very grateful indeed for the honour and privilege that you have granted me of being the next Presiding Officer. I also thank my fellow candidates.
I pay particular tribute to my predecessor as Presiding Officer, Tricia Marwick, who will be going up to join her family in the gallery. I imagine that she will be full of many and mixed emotions today, but I suggest that she find room for at least a small feeling of pride. She should be proud that she has served her constituency, her region and her country with distinction over 17 years. She should be proud, too, that she had the courage as Presiding Officer to begin the process of parliamentary reform—a process in which I will be honoured to follow in her footsteps. She should also be proud that she has left the Parliament more mature, more established and more confident than ever before—ready for our new powers and for the new challenges that undoubtedly lie ahead.
As Tricia and many of our former colleagues step down, it gives me great pleasure to welcome and thank you all—the class of 2016. I see around me many familiar faces and friends. I welcome you back. I see, too, a huge—a record—number of new, freshly elected members. The energy, the infectious enthusiasm and the optimism with which you have already filled this building in the few days that you have been here have invigorated me, refreshed this place and reminded us of the opportunity that the Scottish Parliament offers us all to make a better Scotland.
As we look ahead over the next five years, I hope that we can work together. However, I wish to apologise now. With a record number of new faces, I am sure that I will make some mistakes in the next few days. I am bound to misidentify you; I will probably relocate your region or your constituency to another part of Scotland. In the past few days, I have warmly congratulated on their election to this Parliament two members of our catering staff, a BBC journalist and, last night, a special branch officer working for Prince Charles. [Laughter.]
The revitalising of this Parliament reminds me of the promise offered by devolution: to work together across the party divide for the common good. I imagine that all of you and your families are filled with pride that you serve as MSPs in the Scottish Parliament—I know that my family is. My late father, who was a headteacher, would have enjoyed this moment. He was never elected. He never stood for office, but he was asked to be a candidate three times—on three different occasions. The most revealing aspect about him was that he was asked to stand by three different political parties. Perhaps for the first time in my life, I hope that I have inherited that quality from him.
I am conscious that each one of us—each one of you—has a tremendous responsibility and a duty to the people of Scotland. I see it as my responsibility and my duty to help you in that task. Thank you very much. [Applause.]
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