Clear mandate

My sincere apologies to Ian Lewis (Letters, 6 June). I was not trying to be deliberately oblique.

I simply felt that, as he appeared to have the facts and figures at his fingertips, he could enlighten us as to how many parties contested the 2011 Scottish Government elections.

As he chose not to, as far as I can gather, nine parties contested the constituency and regional elections.

A further 11 (including Ban the Bankers Bonus Party) contested the regional elections only.

Therefore, for the SNP to gain 43.59 per cent of the vote, winning 69 of the 129 seats was a stunning victory.

It certainly makes a nonsense of other contributors’ contention that, because only 25 per cent of the registered electorate voted SNP, they do not have a true mandate.

Oh yes they do and we got the government we voted for.

Douglas Turner

Derby Street

Edinburgh