ANKARA
Scottish nationalists have won all but three of the available Scottish seats in the U.K.’s general election.
Votes were still being counted Friday morning to decide the composition of the 650-seat lower house of parliament, but the results for the 59 Scottish seats had all been announced.
The left-wing separatist Scottish National Party won 56 out of the 59 seats, toppling several high-ranking center-left Labour and centrist Liberal Democrat MPs.
SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon tweeted, after all the results in Scottish seats had been announced: "My thanks to everyone who voted the SNP yesterday. You made your voice heard and we will make Scotland's voice heard at Westminster."
Labour's shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander, who was in charge of Labour election’s campaign, lost his seat to 20-year-old SNP student Mhairi Black, who has yet to take her final university exam.
Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy and senior Liberal Democrat government minister Danny Alexander both lost their seats to the SNP.
Kirkcaldy, the seat of former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who was not running for re-election, was swallowed by the SNP juggernaut.
Charles Kennedy, former leader of the Liberal Democrats, also lost his seat to the insurgent Scottish nationalists.
The center-right Conservative, Labour and the Liberal Democrats parties all have one Scottish seat each.
Labour lost 40 of the 41 seats they won in 2010, the Liberal Democrats 11 of their 12 and the Conservatives held their only Scottish seat.
The swings were truly sensational.
The largest swing in any seat in the 2010 general election was 21.9 percent while, by 0300GMT, the SNP had broken the figure 12 fold, with Labour-seat Glenrothes going to the SNP by virtue of a titanic 34.9 percent swing.
Former SNP leader Alex Salmond, who stepped down after his party lost last September’s independence referendum, has been elected to the U.K. parliament.
Nicola Sturgeon, the current SNP leader, did not run in the U.K. general election, deciding to remain a member of the Scottish Parliament.
Polls show the Conservatives are on course to form a majority government.
