First Minister of Scotland elect its members, it is difficult for a single party to gain an overall majority of seats in the Scottish Parliament. The SNP gained an overall majority of seats in the 2011 election, and thus had enough numbers to vote in its leader, Alex Salmond, as First Minister for a second term. After the election of the Scottish Parliament, a First Minister must be nominated within a period of 28 days. Under the terms of the Scotland Act, if the Parliament fails to nominate a First Minister, within this time frame, it will be dissolved and a fresh election held.
James Cockburn (minister) army chaplain, serving in France, Egypt and East Africa. After the war, he returned to Scotland, where on 8 May 1918, he became minister at Dunblane Cathedral. In the following years he served as the Convener of the Business Committee of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, and was Convener of the Committees on Church and Nation and Inter-Church Relations, and was Clerk to the Committee from 1927 until 1929, promoting union between the Church of Scotland and the United Free Church. During World War II, Cockburn served as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of