Editing Scottish Greens (section)

==== Successful Scottish elections ====
In the first election to this Parliament, in 1999, the Scottish Green Party got one [[Member of the Scottish Parliament]] (MSP) elected by proportional representation, [[Robin Harper]], the UK's first elected Green parliamentarian.

In the [[2003 Scottish Parliament election]], the Scottish Greens added six new MSPs to their previous total.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Tempest |first=Matthew |date=2003-05-02 |title=Scottish Labour retains power – just |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2003/may/02/elections2003.uk2 |access-date=2024-01-01 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> The result was a surprise for the party.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ballard |first=Mark |date=2012-03-22 |title=Great Green Campaigns: Scotland 2003 |url=http://bright-green.org/2012/03/22/greatgreencampaignsscotland2003/ |access-date=2024-01-01 |website=Bright Green |language=en-GB}}</ref> Afterwards, Harper stood for election for [[First Minister of Scotland|First Minister]], securing six votes.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2003-05-15 |title=Second term for McConnell |language=en-GB |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/3029063.stm |access-date=2024-01-01}}</ref>

Despite the breakthrough in Holyrood, the party failed to elect any candidates in the [[2004 European Parliament election]], [[United Kingdom general election, 2005 (Scotland)|2005 Westminster elections]].

In the [[2007 Scottish Parliament election]], the party lost five seats in [[Scottish Parliament|Holyrood]], leaving the party with just two MSPs. The result was disappointing as polls initially suggested the party would remain with seven MSPs.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2005-11-05 |title=Greens enjoying political climate |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/4409468.stm |access-date=2023-12-31 |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite news |last=Barnes |first=Eddie |date=4 March 2023 |title=Greens face recycle bin as big parties wise up |url=https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=UKNB&req_dat=A1194290412D455C8584EB4D9AE76D7B&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews%252F117B806E18F052B8 |access-date=30 December 2023 |work=[[The Scotsman]]}}</ref> However, in the council elections, taking place under the new [[Single Transferable Vote]] voting system, they gained three Councillors on the [[City of Edinburgh Council]] and five Councillors on [[Glasgow City Council]].

Co-convenor Robin Harper blamed the loss on spoiled ballot papers and the campaign focusing on larger parties.<ref>{{Cite news |date=4 May 2007 |title=Election 2007: The Others: Battle of big two leaves small parties in the cold |work=[[The Scotsman]] |url=https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=UKNB&req_dat=A1194290412D455C8584EB4D9AE76D7B&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews%252F118F433B2CECEA60 |access-date=31 December 2023}}</ref>