The SNP has suffered a shock defeat in the Irvine West by-election after Nicola Sturgeon's dad lost out on the seat to Labour.
Robin Sturgeon stood for the SNP in the contest in the Irvine West ward of North Ayrshire Council.
However, he was beaten by Labour's Louise McPhater.
The SNP topped the first-preference votes in the council by-election but lost the seat on second preferences.
Read more: Nicola Sturgeon leads tributes to 'inspirational' Govan minister Moyna McGlynn
First-preference voting was: SNP 1,164, Lab 1,029, C 639, Soc Lab 131, Green 94, LD 48. Turnout was 20.9%.
The defeat means that Labour are now the biggest party in North Ayrshire and could cost the SNP control of the council.
The by-election was prompted by the resignation of the SNP's Ruth Maguire following her election as MSP for Cunninghame South in May.
Ms Sturgeon tweeted that she was proud of her dad following the shock defeat.
I'm proud of him too. Very. https://t.co/VC6r71ERUY
— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) August 12, 2016
The First Minister's dad was aiming to follow in the footsteps of his wife Joan Sturgeon, who is a councillor for Irvine East and the Provost of North Ayrshire.
Meanwhile, the SNP took a Renfrewshire Council seat from Labour in a by-election in the Renfrew South and Gallowhill ward following the death of a Labour councillor.
First-preference voting was: SNP 1,309, Lab 1,012, C 366, LD 53. Turnout 26.2%.
South of the border, in the only other by-election taking place, Conservatives were reported to have comfortably held a seat in the Ombersley division of Worcestershire County Council in a contest following the death of a Tory councillor.
Read more: SNP must map out its vision for Scotland's future, says festival chief
Derek Mackay, the SNP business convener and MSP for Renfrewshire North and West, said his party had enjoyed a "fantastic win" in Renfrew South and Gallowhill.
Mr Mackay stated: "I look forward to working closely with Jim Paterson, who I know will strive to do his very best for the local community.
"It's a clear endorsement of the SNP's strong record in local and national government, and a great launchpad as we look towards next year's council elections across Scotland.
"In Irvine West we were pleased to secure more first-preference votes than any other party and increase the SNP's share of the vote from 2012."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel