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6 May 2011
Last updated at 04:27 ET
The Scottish National Party is on the brink of a major victory in elections to the Scottish parliament, seizing seats from its main rivals.
But it still remains to be seen whether the party can achieve an overall majority in the 129-seat parliament.
The other main parties all saw their share of the vote fall, with the Lib Dems losing many of their deposits.
SNP leader Alex Salmond described the unfolding Holyrood election results as "historic".
His party is on course to be the largest party in the Scottish Parliament.
By 1000 BST, the SNP had won 49 seats (up 19), Labour 23 (down nine), Conservatives seven (down three) and Lib Dems two (down eight).
The SNP's share of the first-past-the-post constituency votes was 45.1% - up 12.3% on the last election.
Labour was only down 0.6%, while the Lib Dems were down 7.6%.
Professor John Curtice of Strathclyde University said the SNP was now expected to have a majority at Holyrood.
He also indicated Labour appeared to have had its poorest performance in Scotland for at least 80 years.
He added it was fairly clear that the party's campaign had "badly misfired" and "badly missed its target".
Election 'watershed' Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray was only narrowly re-elected with a majority of 151 votes.
Meanwhile, Scottish Tory leader Annabel Goldie returned to Holyrood on the west of Scotland list.
Continue reading the main story Analysis
For an election campaign which may not go down as the most thrilling of all time, as it stands, it is set to produce what may be a once-in-a-generation event.
One by one, supposed safe Labour seats fell to the SNP, while the Nationalists in turn consolidated their votes in their own areas.
There are still seats to declare but a colossal result is being predicted for the SNP, the party which won its first election in 2007 and could now, for the first time, hold an overall majority at Holyrood.
Rewind to the start of this mammoth, six-week campaign, and the outlook was very different.
Polls put Labour in the lead and, as the weeks progressed, that became level-pegging, until, towards the end, the SNP began to pull ahead.
Mr Salmond has described the election as a watershed and declared his intention to hold a referendum on independence.
The party leader - who held Aberdeenshire East with about 64% of the vote - said: "Firstly, I think it demonstrates that Scotland has outgrown negative campaigning.
"I hope after this result we'll see an end to negativity and scaremongering in Scottish politics - no more insults to the intelligence of the Scottish people."
Referring to an SNP forerunner, the National Party of Scotland, he added: "Some 70 years and more later, the SNP can finally say that we have lived up to that accolade as the national party of Scotland.
"We have reached out to every community across this country."
Key moments so far include:
He said: "What we need to recognise is that the UK coalition did cause our vote to either stay at home or move straight to the SNP.
"People are not happy about us being in the UK coalition and that is what we need to look at and understand."
In his speech following the declaration in East Lothian, Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray acknowledged the emerging picture of overall victory for the SNP.
He said: "Scotland has made a choice tonight too. And while we cannot know for sure what that choice is, the indications are clear."
Reacting to the results, Tory leader Annabel Goldie said the SNP were having "a good night".
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But it still remains to be seen whether the party can achieve an overall majority in the 129-seat parliament.
The other main parties all saw their share of the vote fall, with the Lib Dems losing many of their deposits.
SNP leader Alex Salmond described the unfolding Holyrood election results as "historic".
His party is on course to be the largest party in the Scottish Parliament.
By 1000 BST, the SNP had won 49 seats (up 19), Labour 23 (down nine), Conservatives seven (down three) and Lib Dems two (down eight).
The SNP's share of the first-past-the-post constituency votes was 45.1% - up 12.3% on the last election.
Labour was only down 0.6%, while the Lib Dems were down 7.6%.
Professor John Curtice of Strathclyde University said the SNP was now expected to have a majority at Holyrood.
He also indicated Labour appeared to have had its poorest performance in Scotland for at least 80 years.
He added it was fairly clear that the party's campaign had "badly misfired" and "badly missed its target".
Election 'watershed' Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray was only narrowly re-elected with a majority of 151 votes.
Meanwhile, Scottish Tory leader Annabel Goldie returned to Holyrood on the west of Scotland list.
Continue reading the main story Analysis
For an election campaign which may not go down as the most thrilling of all time, as it stands, it is set to produce what may be a once-in-a-generation event.
One by one, supposed safe Labour seats fell to the SNP, while the Nationalists in turn consolidated their votes in their own areas.
There are still seats to declare but a colossal result is being predicted for the SNP, the party which won its first election in 2007 and could now, for the first time, hold an overall majority at Holyrood.
Rewind to the start of this mammoth, six-week campaign, and the outlook was very different.
Polls put Labour in the lead and, as the weeks progressed, that became level-pegging, until, towards the end, the SNP began to pull ahead.
Mr Salmond has described the election as a watershed and declared his intention to hold a referendum on independence.
The party leader - who held Aberdeenshire East with about 64% of the vote - said: "Firstly, I think it demonstrates that Scotland has outgrown negative campaigning.
"I hope after this result we'll see an end to negativity and scaremongering in Scottish politics - no more insults to the intelligence of the Scottish people."
Referring to an SNP forerunner, the National Party of Scotland, he added: "Some 70 years and more later, the SNP can finally say that we have lived up to that accolade as the national party of Scotland.
"We have reached out to every community across this country."
Key moments so far include:
- Scottish Tory leader Annabel Goldie was returned to Holyrood on the West of Scotland regional list.
- Former Labour MP George Galloway failed in his bid to enter frontline politics at the Scottish parliament after failing to muster enough support on the Glasgow list.
- The Scottish Green Party's Patrick Harvie was returned to parliament after winning a seat on the Glasgow regional list.
- The SNP made big gains in Labour's traditional heartland of Glasgow, winning Anniesland, Cathcart, Kelvin, Shettleston and Southside, as well as two seats on the Glasgow list.
- Labour had better news in Eastwood where it held the Tory target seat. Ken Macintosh fought off advances from Conservative Jackson Carlaw, who was later elected on the west of Scotland list.
- Blushes were spared when Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray held on to his East Lothian seat by just 151 votes.
He said: "What we need to recognise is that the UK coalition did cause our vote to either stay at home or move straight to the SNP.
"People are not happy about us being in the UK coalition and that is what we need to look at and understand."
In his speech following the declaration in East Lothian, Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray acknowledged the emerging picture of overall victory for the SNP.
He said: "Scotland has made a choice tonight too. And while we cannot know for sure what that choice is, the indications are clear."
Reacting to the results, Tory leader Annabel Goldie said the SNP were having "a good night".
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