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.
Scotland Act 2012 Professor Jim Gallagher, the civil servant who drafted the Bill, was appointed to advise the Scotland Bill Committee of the Scottish Parliament, convened by Wendy Alexander, whose Parliamentary motion started the whole Calman process. The Bill was presented to the House of Commons by the Secretary of State for Scotland, Michael Moore, on St Andrew's Day (30 November), 2010, and received an unopposed second reading on 27 January 2012. The UK government stated that it would not pass the bill unless it had obtained a legislative consent motion from the Scottish Parliament, although the Parliament of the United Kingdom could