IT was touted as a test case in the battle between the SNP and anti-nationalist tactical voters.

In the end, Gordon appeared to succumb to the same pattern as the rest of Scotland: a groundswell in support for nationalism aided by a collapse in support for the Labour party.

"There is a swing underway in Scotland the likes of which has not been seen in recorded politics," said Mr Salmond in his 4am victory speech in the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre. "It is an extraordinary statement of intent from the people of Scotland.

"The swing is twice the level of any swing recorded in Scotland or indeed across the UK since electoral records began in 1835.
"The Scottish lion has roared this morning across Scotland."

He described the SNP landslide as a "statement of unity" that "cannot be ignored by any administration, whatever its complexion". With rival parties all but wiped out in Scotland and the prospect of a Conservative-led government looming, the spectre of the "legitimacy" of Westminster's rule over Scotland was the first rabbit out the hat for Salmond.

It was the practically the first point he had made in interviews after arriving at the count around 1.15am, hailing an "electoral tsunami on a gigantic scale" for the SNP in Scotland against the likelihood we will once again be governed by a party with barely a toehold north of the Border.

"If a government doesn't have [a reach across these islands], then it doesn't have legitimacy," he said.

He refused to comment on whether such a scenario would trigger a second independence referendum.

The SNP's legitimacy in Gordon, meanwhile, is in no doubt. In a seat where nearly, three in four voters turned out (73.3 per cent), nearly half who voted (48 per cent) backed Salmond.

The share of the SNP's vote has more than doubled compared to the 22 per cent stake the party scooped in 2010.

The surge is owed to a wholesale collapse in support for Labour, whose 20% share in 2010 was slashed by around two thirds.

In comparison the LibDem share - just one in three votes last time - largely held up, but without the predicted boost from tactical voting. Surprisingly given that the Electoral Reform Society had classed Gordon as a marginal seat, the final result was far from narrow and there was no upturn in LibDem support to signify an concerted effort among voters to "keep the SNP out".

After 32 years as a LibDem seat under retiring MP Sir Malcolm Bruce, the SNP have cruised to victory in the north east. Banff & Buchan was held and West Aberdeenshire & Kincardine, also counted at the AECC, turned yellow.

Sir Robert Smith, LibDem MP for West Dunbartonshire & Kincardine since 1997, said the scale of SNP success in the North East underlined the "wholesale failure of our electoral system on an epic proportion", referring to first-past-the-post.

That refrain was echoed by other LibDems at the count who blamed FPTP for their routing, coupled with the migration of the Labour vote to the SNP.

However, Christine Jardine, the LibDem candidate for Gordon who had previously branded Mr Salmond her "best recruiting sergeant" during the campaign, said that the extent of SNP dominance threatened to backfire on Scottish voters by harming democracy itself.
It would be the role of the LibDems to be a strong opposition voice in the north-east, she said.

"What's been lost tonight is a voice in Scottish politics, an opposition, a variety - that diversity that you need to ensure that the Scottish people are properly represented.

"I think we have to be very careful that we don't allow ourselves to get into a rut and become victims.

"Democracy depends on having competing voices and the dynamic that comes from those competing voices.

"We have to go away and come up with a way that we can let those other voices be heard. Yes, we have lost tonight, and we have to respect that.

"But we have to come back and ensure that we give a voice to the people who don't agree with the SNP them that voice
"After tonight, we'll be seen as the only viable opposition in the north east."