There was a Scottish National Party leadership election to choose the new National Convener of the Scottish National Party (SNP) in 2000. The election followed the announcement by SNP Leader

Alex Salmond Alexander Elliot Anderson Salmond (; born 31 December 1954) is a Scottish politician and economist who served as First Minister of Scotland from 2007 to 2014. A prominent figure on the Scottish nationalist movement, he has served as leader ...

, that he would be stepping down as SNP leader in 2000. Salmond's announcement came in the face of internal criticism after a series of high-profile fall-outs with party members. Elections were also held for the position of Depute Leader. The election saw John Swinney become National Convener, and

Roseanna Cunningham Roseanna Cunningham (born 27 July 1951) is a retired Scottish National Party (SNP) politician who served as Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform from 2016 to 2021. She was previously Cabinet Secretary for Fair Wor ...

become Depute Leader.

National Convener election

Candidates

Two candidates presented themselves for election; SNP Depute Leader and spokesman on enterprise and lifelong learning, John Swinney; and the SNP vice-convener for policy and social security spokesman, Alex Neil. Swinney was simultaneously serving as both an MP and MSP, and Neil was a serving MSP.

Issues

Whilst both candidates supported the position of the SNP on the

centre-left Centre-left politics lean to the left on the left–right political spectrum but are closer to the centre than other left-wing politics. Those on the centre-left believe in working within the established systems to improve social justice. The ...

, Neil was seen as the more left-wing of the two, and individuals associated with the Neil campaign argued that a Swinney administration would drag the SNP to the

right Rights are legal, social, or ethical principles of freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal system, social convention, or ethical ...

. In someways the fight was seen as being between the SNP's Fundamentalists and gradualists. Swinney was seen as representing the SNP gradualist wing, advocating devolution as a stepping stone towards Scottish independence. Neil however was far more critical and suspicious of devolution, viewing it as a means of undermining the case for independence, and was more forceful in pushing for a party emphasis on Scottish independence. Swinney, as a gradualist, argued that independence could only follow a successful vote in a referendum, whilst Neil believed that an SNP victory would be enough to secure negotiations for independence. Both candidates opposed trident, and were largely pro-European Union. Swinney however advocated joining the Euro at the earliest opportunity, whilst Neil believed pre-emptive joining of the Euro could undermine Scottish jobs. Swinney also favoured greater European integration on issues such as defence, whilst Neil favoured a weaker EU, and opposed the pooling of defence forces.

Results

Voting system

Each SNP branch sent delegates to the election, with larger branches sending more members. Some 700 delegates had the right to vote.

Results

=Leadership

= The result of the election was announced at the party conference on 23 September. John Swinney won the election by 547 votes to 268.

=Depute

=Treasurer

Endorsements

John Swinney

* Mike Russell *

Kenny MacAskill Kenneth Wright MacAskill (born 28 April 1958) is a Scottish politician who has been Member of Parliament (MP) for East Lothian since 2019. He previously served as Cabinet Secretary for Justice from 2007 to 2014 and was a Member of the Scottish ...

Alex Neil

Federation of Student Nationalists SNP Students (also known as the Federation of Student Nationalists) is the student wing of the Scottish National Party (SNP), representing students in Scottish higher education. It was formed in 1961 when various student organisations supportiv ...

* Adam Ingram *

Peter Kearney Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...

References

{{SNP

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

2000 in British politics 2000 in Scotland 2000s elections in Scotland 2000 elections in the United Kingdom Scottish National Party leadership election