Tories' Pro-Union Drive Curbs SNP Dominance

The script was written... until the voters ripped it up, with a little help from a voting system.

Nicola Sturgeon's SNP was set for a thumping majority - the polls had long predicted her party would rule once more in Holyrood.

But it fell short. Thwarted by a voting system that's part proportional representation and is designed not to yield single party rule.

And then there were the voters.

There are a number of reasons for the figures mismatching the poll predictions.

It seems clear that in particular parts of the country, her success was shrunk, principally, by a tactical, anti-SNP vote .

In constituencies like Edinburgh Western and Edinburgh Southern, voters positioned themselves to thwart SNP success, plans for a second independence referendum and over-dominance of a single party.

But if winning was important, so was the degree of losing.

Labour's performance deepens the crisis in the party north of the border.

Scottish Labour suffered from the party's anti-Semitism row down south.

Candidates found that the troubles afflicting their English counterparts were a recurring theme on the Scottish doorstep.

As one weary Labour veteran passing through the Edinburgh count put it: "We're in the Premiership of infighting."

There were a few reasons to be cheerful for Labour, Edinburgh Southern and East Lothian among them.

But a poor finish adds a new layer of crisis .

If it loses its status as the official party of opposition, it would undermine the mission to reconnect with the public in the post-referendum era.

Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale has always said that the recovery was a long-term project.

The long-term just got longer.

The performance of the Scottish Conservatives represents revival in Scotland.

Their success endorses their campaign which was fought on a "strong opposition" ticket.

Party strategists believe they succeeded where Labour failed in styling themselves as a party that would stand up to the SNP and defend the Union against any future push for Scottish independence.