The SNP will form a minority Scottish Government, Nicola Sturgeon has said.

Speaking on the steps of the First Minister's official residence the SNP leader said she will not seek any formal arrangement with another party. The SNP won 63 seats, two short of an overall majority.

Sturgeon said: "We won a clear and unequivocal mandate and I secured the personal mandate I sought to implement the bold and ambitious programme for government that I asked the country to vote for.

"I can confirm that when it reconvenes in the coming days I will ask the Scottish Parliament to formally re-elect me as the First Minister of Scotland. It will then be my intention to form and to lead an SNP government.

"With such a large group of MSPs elected I don't intend to seek any formal arrangement with any other parties."

This will be the second SNP minority government since the Scottish Parliament was reconvened in 1999. The Nationalists formed their first minority administration in 2007.

Sturgeon says her government, despite not formally including other parties, "will reach out across the Parliament" to work with them.

The SNP leader also reaffirmed her commitment to independence.

She said: "The SNP will also make our case with passion, with patience and with respect. But our aim is to persuade not to divide.

"We will always respect the people - now and in the future. We simply ask that other parties do likewise".

The First Minister said she has a duty to "rise above party politics" to serve all Scots.

This will be the third successive term for the SNP.