Editing Scottish National Party (section)

=== First Salmond era (1990s) ===
[[File:Tayside Regional Council 1994.svg|thumb|181x181px|In [[1994 Tayside Regional Council election|1994]] the SNP gained control of [[Tayside]], the only time the party controlled a regional council, albeit without a majority.]]
[[Alex Salmond]] had been elected MP for [[Banff and Buchan (UK Parliament constituency)|Banff and Buchan]] in 1987, after the re-admittance of 79 Group members, and was able to seize the party leadership after Wilson's resignation in [[1990 Scottish National Party leadership election|1990]] after a contest with [[Margaret Ewing]]. This was a surprise victory as Ewing had the backing of much of the party establishment, including Sillars and then-Party Secretary [[John Swinney]]. The defection of Labour MP [[Dick Douglas]] further evidenced the party's clear left-wing positioning, particularly regarding opposition to the [[Poll tax (Great Britain)|poll tax]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=13 May 2014 |title=Former MP Dick Douglas dies aged 82 |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-27388579 |url-status=live |access-date=5 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210321075241/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-27388579 |archive-date=21 March 2021}}</ref> Despite this, Salmond's leadership was unable to avert a fourth successive general election disappointment in [[1992 United Kingdom general election|1992]] with the party reduced back from 5 to 3 MPs.

The mid-90s offered some successes for the party, with [[North East Scotland (European Parliament constituency)|North East Scotland]] being gained at the [[1994 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom|1994 European elections]] and the party securing a [[1995 Perth and Kinross by-election|by-election]] at [[Perth and Kinross (UK Parliament constituency)|Perth and Kinross]] in 1995 after a near-miss at [[1994 Monklands East by-election|Monklands East]] the previous year. Nineteen ninety-seven offered the party's most successful [[1997 United Kingdom general election|general election]] for 23 years, although in the face of the Labour landslide the party was unable to match either of the two 1974 elections. That September, the party joined with the members of the [[Scottish Constitutional Convention]] in the successful Yes-Yes campaign in the [[1997 Scottish devolution referendum|devolution referendum]] which lead to the establishment of a [[Scottish Parliament]] with tax-varying powers.

By 1999, the [[1999 Scottish Parliament election|first elections]] to the parliament were being held, although the party suffered a disappointing result, gaining just 35 MSPs in the face of Salmond's unpopular '[[Kosovo]] Broadcast' which opposed [[NATO intervention in Kosovo|NATO intervention]] in the country.<ref>{{Cite web |date=13 April 1999 |title=Politics: Anti-bombing Salmond hits an all-time low with voters |url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/politics-anti-bombing-salmond-hits-an-all-time-low-with-voters-1086961.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210321075241/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/politics-antibombing-salmond-hits-an-alltime-low-with-voters-1086961.html |archive-date=21 March 2021 |access-date=5 April 2020 |website=The Independent |language=en}}</ref>