Britain:The Scottish National Party was celebrating a historic victory last night, after edging ahead of Labour by just one seat to become the largest party in the new parliament at Holyrood.
Jubilant SNP leader Alex Salmond immediately embarked on a search for willing coalition partners, confidently asserting that he could lead a new Scottish executive. Declaring what he called Labour's "divine right to rule" now over, Mr Salmond promised that his party would lead "with humility but also with passion" and would govern in "the national interest".
However, outgoing Labour first minister Jack McConnell insisted he was keeping "all options open" on how to proceed in the light of the knife-edge election result.
Mr Salmond faced early warnings that he could yet be forced to govern as an unstable, minority administration should the issue of a referendum on Scottish independence prove a barrier to a deal with the Liberal Democrats.
With their 16 seats, plus two Green members and one Independent, Mr Salmond's 47-seat party could in theory assemble a one-vote majority in the 129-member parliament.
During the election campaign, however, Scottish Lib Dem leader Nicol Stephen appeared to suggest the SNP would have to drop its proposal for a referendum on independence, probably in 2010. A key question in the negotiations that will now get under way is whether the Lib Dems would compromise on a multi-choice referendum, in which voters might also be offered the alternative of increased powers for the parliament while Scotland remains within the United Kingdom.
Given his prior need to get into government to ensure any referendum at all, Mr Salmond could alternatively be forced to make the issue one for a second-term government.
Former presiding officer of the Scottish parliament and Liberal leader Lord (David) Steel said yesterday that "a better Alex Salmond" appeared to be on offer from the more "rabid" nationalist politician who had previously spoken of wars of attrition with Westminster.
However, Lord Steel warned Mr Salmond there was no majority in the new parliament for independence and that "there is nothing he can do about that".
Addressing party supporters in the Hub on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh soon after hearing he had won the election, Mr Salmond was focused on the priority of forming a government.
"Most of us have grasped the fact that you need a coalition in the Scottish parliament, and that's going to take some time. It's going to take some time, it's going to take some effort but let me pledge that my approach to that will be one of goodwill," he said:
"I think there is a progressive coalition available that wants to take Scotland forward and the SNP's responsibility is to build that coalition."
There had been less goodwill earlier, when Mr Salmond flew in from Aberdeen with the election outcome still uncertain but already declaring "Scotland has changed for good and forever".
There might well be Labour governments and Labour first ministers in the decades to come, he said, "but never again will we see the Labour Party assume that it has a divine right to rule Scotland."
Mr Salmond also praised a speech he attributed to the late ex-first minister Donald Dewar in which he said the then Labour leader described devolution as "a process, not an event".
Mr Salmond said earlier yesterday that he would hold an independent judicial inquiry into the chaos attending the election, when various technical difficulties with the counting system, confusion about ballot papers and problems with postal votes saw up to 100,000 ballot papers spoilt.
The electoral commission said it had begun an immediate investigation into the voting chaos that caused the suspension of seven election counts.
Mr Salmond said his proposed inquiry would have the fullest powers and the most searching remit, and be tasked with establishing "why over 100,000 Scots were denied their democratic voice".