Kenneth Wright MacAskill is a Scottish politician who was Member of Parliament (MP) for East Lothian from 2019 to 2024. He previously served as Cabinet Secretary for Justice from 2007 to 2014 and was a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) from 1999 to 2016. A former member of the Scottish National Party (SNP),he defected to the Alba Party in 2021 and currently serves as the party's acting leader,following former leader Alex Salmond's death in October 2024.
North East Fife is a county constituency in Fife,Scotland,represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament by Wendy Chamberlain of the Liberal Democrats since the 2019 general election.
Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy is a county constituency representing the areas around the towns of Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath,in Fife,Scotland,in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
The 2006 Dunfermline and West Fife by-election was held on 9 February 2006,following the death of the sitting Labour MP Rachel Squire,on 6 January. The by-election was the first seat to change hands in the 2005 Parliament,when Willie Rennie won the seat for the Liberal Democrats,gaining it from Labour by 1,800 votes. The BBC reported a swing from Labour to the Liberal Democrats of 16.24%.
Scotland has elections to several bodies:the Scottish Parliament,the United Kingdom Parliament,local councils and community councils. Before the United Kingdom left the European Union,Scotland elected members to the European Parliament.
Dunfermline is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood) covering part of the council area of Fife. It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the plurality method of election. It is one of nine constituencies in the Mid Scotland and Fife electoral region,which elects seven additional members,in addition to the nine constituency MSPs,to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.
Cowdenbeath is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood) covering part of the council area of Fife. It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the plurality method of election. It is one of nine constituencies in the Mid Scotland and Fife electoral region,which elects seven additional members,in addition to the nine constituency MSPs,to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.
Alexander Andrew Penman Rowley is a Scottish politician who served as Deputy Leader of the Scottish Labour Party from 2015 to 2017 and acting leader of the party from August to November 2017. He has been a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) since 2014,firstly for the Cowdenbeath constituency and the Mid Scotland and Fife region since 2016. He has been described as being on the political left of the party.
Cara Laura Hilton is a Scottish Labour politician,who was the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Dunfermline from 2013 to 2016. She has served as a councillor for Dunfermline South since 2022.
Douglas Chapman is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician. He served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Dunfermline and West Fife from the 2015 general election until he stood down at the 2024 general election. He served as the SNP's Small Business,Enterprise and Innovation spokesperson whilst in Parliament.
William Arthur Roger Mullin is a former Scottish National Party (SNP) politician. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath from May 2015,until being defeated at the 2017 snap general election.
Elections to Fife Council were held on 4 May 2017,the same day as the other Scottish local government elections. The election used the 22 wards created as a result of the Local Government Commission for Scotland's 5th review which was published in September 2016,with each ward electing three or four councillors using the single transferable vote system form of proportional representation,with 75 councillors elected;a decrease of three seats from 2012 as one ward,The Lochs,was abolished.
Lesley Margaret Laird is a Scottish politician who served as Deputy Leader of the Scottish Labour Party from 2017 to 2019. She was Member of Parliament (MP) for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath from 2017 to 2019,and Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland during the same period. Laird was a Member of Fife Council from 2012 to 2018 and served as the Deputy Leader of the Council.
The Frontbench Team of Ian Blackford was the team of Scottish National Party Spokespersons in the House of Commons from 2017 to 2022.
The 2020 Scottish Labour deputy leadership election was triggered on 16 December 2019 following the defeat of Lesley Laird as MP for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath in the 2019 general election. The result of the Deputy Leadership Election was announced on Twitter on 3 April 2020.
The Alba Party is a Scottish nationalist and pro-independence political party in Scotland. Founded in February 2021,it was led by former first minister of Scotland and SNP leader Alex Salmond until his death in 2024. Salmond launched the party's 2021 Scottish Parliament election campaign in March 2021,with the party standing list-only candidates.
Elections to Fife Council took place on 5 May 2022 on the same day as the 31 other Scottish local government elections. As with other Scottish council elections,it was held using single transferable vote (STV) –a form of proportional representation –in which multiple candidates are elected in each ward and voters rank candidates in order of preference.
Melanie Claire Ward is a Scottish Labour Party politician who has served as Member of Parliament for Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy since 2024.
