Update: List MSPs elected

FOLLOWING the conclusion of the election count in the Highlands and Islands the seven list MSPs who will be representing the area for the next five years were announced in Inverness earlier this afternoon.

The Conservatives are the big winners of this particular contest with four MSPs, one more than in the previous parliament, including party leader Douglas Ross.

Edward Mountain, Donald Cameron and Jamie Halcro Johnston all return to Holyrood as Conservative MSPs.

Labour lost one of its two seats and will only return veteran MSP Rhoda Grant. The other two seats go to the Greens’ Ariane Burgess and to Emma Roddick of the SNP.

There were some hopes locally that SNP candidate Tom Wills might have had a slim chance to be elected via the list, but his party did not get a sufficient number of votes for this to happen.

The list MSPs are being elected via the additional member system, which is explained here (scroll down to 13.27).

The Highlands and Islands list result was as follows:

ABOLISH THE SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT PARTY (686)

ALBA PARTY (3,828)

ALL FOR UNITY (1,540)

FREEDOM ALLIANCE- INTEGRITY, SOCIETY, ECONOMY (671)

REFORM UK (547)

RESTORE SCOTLAND (437)

SCOTTISH CONSERVATIVE AND UNIONIST PARTY (60,779)

SCOTTISH FAMILY PARTY (1,976)

SCOTTISH GREEN PARTY (17,729)

SCOTTISH LABOUR PARTY (22,713)

SCOTTISH LIBERAL DEMOCRATS (26,771)

SCOTTISH LIBERTARIAN PARTY (488)

SCOTTISH NATIONAL PARTY (SNP) (96,433)

SCOTTISH TRADE UNIONIST AND SOCIALIST COALITION (280)

UK INDEPENDENCE PARTY (UKIP) (457)

MANSFIELD, HAZEL (219)

WIGHTMAN, ANDY (3,367)