Lib Dem Jean Davis Wins Council By-Election
Jean Davis has been declared the winner of the by-election for Aird and Loch Ness.
The Liberal Democrats narrowly defeated the SNP to take a Scottish council seat in their first victory at the ballot box north of the border since May.
The Lib Dem success came after four rounds of voting with the two parties neck and neck in the contest in the Aird and Loch Ness ward at Highland Council.
The final votes tally - after transfers - was: LD 1,511, SNP 1,167.
The by-election followed the resignation as a councillor of the SNP's Drew Hendry, who was elected as MP for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch & Strathspey at the general election.
The Lib Dems topped the first-preference votes in the council poll, coming ahead of the SNP by just 29 votes.
First-count voting was: LD 1,029, SNP 1,000, C 467, Ind 293, Green 287.
At the 2012 elections when four seats were up in this ward, an independent topped the first preference votes and two independents, one Lib Dem and Mr Hendry for the SNP were elected.
The by-election followed seven Scottish council by-elections last week, six of which were won by the SNP.
The Lib Dems were reduced to just one MP north of the border in their general election defeat in May.
In another by-election earlier this week, an independent won at Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, the Western Isles Council, in a contest in the An Taobh Siar Agus Nis ward following the death of an independent councillor.
Scottish Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie hailed the party's by-election win, saying: This is the first time that the SNP have been beaten in a council by-election since the general election and it is the Scottish Liberal Democrats that have done it.''
He added: This was a seat held by the SNP's former leader on Highland Council. This result is a clear endorsement of localism over the SNP centralisation agenda.''