What next for the Alba party following Salmond death?
The Alba party, founded by Alex Salmond in 2021, is yet to see any of its candidates win a seat in an election.

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Your support makes all the difference.With the sudden death of its talismanic founder and leader Alex Salmond, the Alba party, with just one MSP and two local councillors, faces difficult questions.
Alex Salmond founded the Alba party in March 2021 with the aim of delivering a āsupermajorityā for Scottish independence in the Scottish Parliament.
In a speech he delivered at the partyās launch, the former first minister said the plan was to use the regional list mechanism in Scotlandās electoral system to mop up ānearly one million wasted SNP votesā.
The partyās strategic aims are clear and unambiguous - to achieve a successful, socially just and environmentally responsible independent country
The aim, he said, was to ensure ā90 or even moreā of Holyroodās 129 seats went to independence-supporting candidates.
āThe partyās strategic aims are clear and unambiguous ā to achieve a successful, socially just and environmentally responsible independent country,ā he said.
āThe tactics are to stand on the regional list to secure the supermajority for independence in our Parliament.ā
In the event the party won just 1.7% of the vote and failed to win any seats, an outcome it repeated at the 2022 local elections and 2024 UK general election, where the party failed to get any of its candidates elected.
Indeed, Albaās only parliamentary representation to date has come from defectors from other parties.
MPs Kenny MacAskill and Neale Hanvey defected from the SNP in 2021, and in 2023 one-time SNP leadership candidate Ash Regan became the partyās only MSP when she defected from the SNP, saying her former party had ālost its focus on independenceā.
Alex had already founded the modern SNP, taking it to success, and he was embarking on doing it yet again in a different political party
Ms Regan had previously served as community safety minister in the Scottish Government, but quit that position in 2022 so she could vote against the SNPās controversial gender recognition reforms as they went through Holyrood.
During the 2024 election campaign Mr Salmond criticised the lack of action to āmove the dial on independenceā since the 2014 referendum.
He described his former partyās approach to independence as a āmysteryā, and insisted that Alba was now the ānatural home for independence supportersā.
Mr MacAskill, who is now the Alba partyās deputy leader, said despite the āissuesā facing the party things were ācoming together,ā and Mr Salmond had been working towards replicating the electoral success he had enjoyed with the SNP.
āWhen I was last meeting with him, and it wasnāt that long ago, very, very recently, things were coming together for Alex, and indeed, things are looking far more propitious for the Alba party,ā he said.
āAlex was chirpy and cheery. He was always a cheery chap in many ways, he certainly gave that public perception, even when privately there were issues challenging.
āBut as I say, I think Alex had already founded the modern SNP, taking it to success, and he was embarking on doing it yet again in a different political party.ā
Mr MacAskill would not be drawn on what the future might hold for an Alba party bereft of a leader whose record in Scottish politics he described as āunsurpassedā.
āAt the present moment, this is a time to grieve. Itās the time to reflect on Alexās legacy,ā he said.
āBut I think all of us who are in the Alba party share Alexās comments that the dream shall never die.
āBut at the present moment, this is the time to remember Alex, what he contributed to our country and the better society that he made.ā