the party with the largest number of seats in the scottish parliament is the scottish national party (snp), which campaigns for scottish independence. the current first minister of scotland is snp leader nicola sturgeon, who has led a government since november 2014. the previous first minister, alex salmond, led the snp to an overall majority victory in the may 2011 general election, which was then lost in 2016 and now forms a minority government. other parties represented in the parliament are the labour party, conservative party which form the official opposition, liberal democrats and the scottish green party. the next scottish parliament election is due to be held in may 2021.