Scottish election 2021: Michelle Thomson wins Falkirk East for SNP
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The former Edinburgh MP will now take her seat at Holyrood, replacing Angus MacDonald who stood down after two terms.
It was a comfortable win for Mrs Thomson as the SNP retained the constituency.
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Hide AdShe polled 18,417 – with Labour's Allyson Black in second place on 10,832. Her majority was 7,585
There was been a swing from SNP to Labour of 3%.Turnout was up to 62.7%, with the SNP majority is down from 25.6% to 19.5%.
Clear emotional, Mrs Thomson thanked her family, supporters and voters.
Neil Benny took 7,618 votes for the Conservative and Unionist Party and Paul Rolfe 1,007 for the Liberal Democrats, while independent candidate Peter Krykant got 971.
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Hide AdAfter a campaign like no other - when candidates and their supporters could not knock on doors and speak to people - it was also a count like no other.
Social distancing measures mean that fewer staff are able to do the counting and it will be done over two days, rather than the traditional overnight.
Later today (Friday) staff will make a start on the regional list vote.
Falkirk West's votes will not be counted until tomorrow (Saturday).
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Hide AdThere has been a sharp increase in the turnout for this election - with 62.89 per cent of voters taking part.
This is well up on the last Holyrood election in 2016 which saw a turnout of 54.1 per cent.
In total 38,960 votes were cast in the constituency.