Scotland votes in decisive 6th parliamentary elections
Saeed Pourreza
Press TV, Edinburgh
Scotland has held its sixth parliamentary election, a vote that could crucially chart the county’s path to a second independence referendum. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson says a second referendum is out of the question, but the Scottish Nationalist party says it will push for one if it wins the majority it needs to do so.
Scotland is at a crossroads yet again, a historic election that’ll set the course for economic recovery and possibly open up a path towards independence from the UK. The electorate in this country of nearly five and half million remains divided.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon whose Scottish nationalist party, judging from the polls, is bound to emerge victorious, has called it the most important election in the country’s history. She says her priority first and foremost will be the economy but if her party wins the majority in the 129-seat legislative body, Sturgeon will take that as her mandate to hold another referendum in 2023.
Parties hoping to unseat her are the Scottish Conservative, Labor, and Liberal Democratic.
The SNP have been in power for more than a decade and haven’t exactly received heaps of praise over their performance in health and education but Nicola Sturgeon’s handling of the pandemic has made her a popular leader leading many voters to largely forgive the SNP for their less successful performance in those other areas.
If the SNP doesn’t achieve a majority, and if there are no surprises once the results are announced over the weekend, Sturgeon may have to enter a coalition with the other two pro independence parties for the 2nd referendum to become possible.
The next hurdle would be approval from British Prime Minister Boris Johnson who hasn't made his position clear.
The first independence referendum was held in was held in 2014. Europhile Scots voted to remain part of the UK so they could stay in the European Union. But then came Brexit and changed that calculus. Now they want back into the EU and the only way to re-enter the bloc would be to exit the United Kingdom.
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