Nicola Sturgeon has said it was always going to be a “very, very long shot” for the SNP to win a majority at Holyrood, as early election results suggested swings to Labour and the Conservatives in key Scottish seats.
Scotland’s first minister said she was “extremely happy” that her party was on course for a fourth government term, however.
Her deputy also said the SNP would be the “largest party” after the elections, but refused to be drawn on the chances of his party securing an outright majority.
The SNP argues that winning most seats in the Scottish Parliament would bolster its mandate for another independence referendum.
John Swinney, who is also the Scottish Government’s education secretary, comfortably held his own Perthshire North seat, increasing his majority over the Tories.
But the SNP only narrowly held on to Banffshire and Buchan Coast, where the candidate Karen Adam won with 14,920 votes, just ahead of the Tories’ Mark Findlater on 14,148.
The SNP had previously had a majority of 6,683 in the seat, but that was cut to just 772.
The SNP also held Clydebank and Milngavie, as the Labour vote in the seat increased by almost 10 per cent.
Although it is early days, the mixed bag of early results could suggest pro-UK voters are lending other parties their votes in a bid to deny the SNP a majority.
Mr Swinney said: “It is an enormous pleasure to see the prospects of the return of an SNP government for a fourth historic term, given the scale of the vote that my party is experiencing the length and breadth of the country.”
On the issue of a second independence referendum, Mr Swinney vowed he would “do all that I can” to “ensure that the people of Scotland have a choice on their future as they should have”.
He added: “That is an absolutely gigantic feat for the Scottish National Party to have achieved, to be on the brink of a fourth continuous term.”
The first seat to be declared in the race for Holyrood was Orkney, a long time Liberal Democrat stronghold, where the party’s candidate Liam McArthur was re-elected.
The SNP also held Aberdeen Donside, a seat previously filled by Mark McDonald, who resigned from the party after allegations of inappropriate behaviour.
Early results suggest turnout among voters was up on the last election in 2016.
