First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and Scotland’s other party leaders have been sworn in as MSPs.
Returning and new members of the Scottish Parliament were sworn in on Thursday morning following last week’s Holyrood election.
Outgoing Presiding Officer Ken Macintosh, who decided not to stand in the election, ran proceedings, which require MSPs to pledge their allegiance to the Queen before they are allowed to undertake any parliamentary duties or receive their MSP salary.
If the oath or affirmation is not taken within two months, they will lose their seat.
The First Minister made an affirmation, followed by Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross and Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar taking the oath.
Beforehand, Sturgeon said the SNP “pledges loyalty to the people of Scotland in line with the Scottish constitutional tradition of the sovereignty of the people”.
Ahead of his affirmation, Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie said he wanted to reassert that his party’s “allegiance lies with the people of Scotland who elected this Parliament and who are sovereign, and we look forward to the day when they can choose their own elected head of state”.
His fellow Greens co-leader Lorna Slater also chose to affirm.
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie was the last party leader to be sworn in and he took the oath.
The rest of the MSPs are being sworn in in alphabetical order.
Ariane Burgess, who gave her affirmation in Gaelic, said beforehand she believes “the people of Scotland are sovereign”.
A number of MSPs will take their oath in a language other than English, including Scots, Gaelic, Urdu, Orcadian, Doric and even, in the case of Zimbabwe-born North East Green MSP Maggie Chapman, Zimbabwean Shona.
The oath will be followed by the election of the new Presiding Officer, who will take charge of proceedings in Parliament for the next five years.
No MSP has yet signalled their intent publicly to stand for the position, which requires elected members to renounce their party affiliation and act cross-party for the duration.
Parliamentary arithmetic could prevent some MSPs from putting themselves forward for the position, given the SNP is just one seat short of a majority.
If the SNP puts someone forward, it would drop further away from the 65 MSPs needed to pass legislation on its own – whereas the chamber would be tied if an opposition MSP takes the role.
Friday will see the election of deputy presiding officers, who do not have to relinquish their party affiliation.
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