Former Labour member Clare Haughey takes Holyrood seat for SNP
The SNP has secured its first victory of the 2016 Holyrood election, with the party ousting Labour's James Kelly in Rutherglen.
The SNP has secured its first victory of the 2016 Holyrood election, with the party ousting Labour's James Kelly in Rutherglen.
The result, the second of the night to be declared, saw Clare Haughey elected as the new MSP for the area - which Labour had held since the first Scottish Parliament election in 1999.
Ms Haughey polled 15,222 votes, comfortably ahead of Mr Kelly on 11,479.
Mental health nurse Clare Haughey was a member of Labour before she switched her allegiance to the SNP. The 48-year-old, who has long believed in an independent Scotland, joined Nicola Sturgeon's party after the 2014 referendum, during which she campaigned with Labour for Indy.
She was an active campaigner for the SNP during the general election last year, and fought off the competition to be selected to fight the Rutherglen seat at Holyrood for the party in September.
Ms Haughey grew up in the constituency, and has vowed to prioritise local issues alongside improving healthcare services and reducing health inequalities.
In her role with the NHS, the mother-of-three specialised in working with mothers who are pregnant or have a baby under one.
She is also an active trade unionist and a divisional convenor in Unison, and the treasurer of a mental health charity.
The result in Rutherglen came after the Liberal Democrats held the Orkney seat, with Liam McArthur returned as the MSP for the island constituency.
The result from Rutherglen came amid speculation that Labour could lose all its constituency seats in Glasgow.
The party suffered an electoral wipeout in the city in the 2015 general election, when the SNP took all of the seats.
Amid signs that the party could suffer a similar fate in the Holyrood poll, SNP depute leader Stewart Hosie said: "The early indications here in Glasgow are that we are doing very, very well indeed."
He added: "Now, some of the Labour majorities in seats around the country are quite substantial and it will be a challenge to overcome them.
"But we've put the shift in, we've done the work, I think the manifesto was bold and ambitious, so we now need to wait until the declarations are made."
The SNP's John Mason said things are looking very positive'' for the party in Glasgow.
Mr Mason, who is standing in the Shettleston constituency, said: Looking at things it seems very positive for us and I get the impression that it's consistent throughout Glasgow.
As with the MPs last year, that would be our hope, that we take all the MSP seats this year.''
He added: I'm picking up that maybe the Conservative vote is holding up, which doesn't affect Glasgow, but nationally that's interesting.''
But he said the turnout in Scotland's largest city could be disappointing'', with indications that only between a third and two-fifths of people may have voted in some constituencies.
Voter turnout reached a record high in 2014 in the independence referendum, with 85% of those registered to have a say casting their ballot.
Scotland also had a higher than normal turnout in the general election last year, with Mr Mason saying: When I was elected in Shettleston in 2011 it was 37%, so I'm very hopeful it'll be a bit up on that.
The referendum was so high, Westminster was pretty high, but I think inevitably it was going to come down from the Westminster election.''
Glasgow City Council leader and former Labour MSP Frank McAveety said the defeat of Mr Kelly was a tough one''.
He added: They've lost a local champion in James Kelly.''