There was a Scottish National Party leadership election in 2004 following the resignation of John Swinney as National Convener of the Scottish National Party (SNP). The election saw the return of Alex Salmond to the party fore, and a deal between Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon saw Sturgeon drop out of the leadership race and instead run for the Depute leadership on a joint campaign with Salmond. Both Salmond and Sturgeon won their respective positions in the first round.