The leader of the SNP group in the Scottish capital has stood down and a replacement appointed.
Steve Cardownie, SNP councillor for the Forth ward, said he has taken the step in order to be with his family.
He will continue as a councillor and will be replaced by Sandy Howat, who represents Meadows and Morningside, as group leader.
Former financial consultant Mr Howat, 43, stood against SNP legend Winnie Ewing for the party presidency in 2001 in what was said to be a protest against "romantic nationalism" and beat former city council leader Lib Dem Jenny Dawe last time round for the Meadow/Morningside ward.
He said the SNP's priority will be to "engage with the populace, harvest their energy and start driving forward those things that the city needs".
He said: "The main message is that the coalition continues and that it is very much a partnership.
"Another priority will be getting our finances in order."
Mr Cardownie was first elected as a Scottish Labour Party councillor in 1988 after joining the party in 1983.
In 2005 he resigned from the Labour Party and joined the SNP, and has been leader since 2007.
He said: "It had been my intention for some time to relinquish the position as leader, but I wanted to ensure the coalition got to the other side of the referendum intact.
"I have successfully negotiated two coalition deals, first with the Liberal Democrats and then with Labour, which has kept the SNP in the administration for eight years now."
"Having got through the referendum, the coalition is still strong and I felt it was time to give someone else the opportunity to develop their style.
"I have a ten-year-old son and I want to spend a bit more time with him."
Council leader Andrew Burns said: "At a personal level, I've really enjoyed working with Steve, and will be sorry to see him return to the SNP backbenches.
"Politics is though a pretty rough trade, and internal change does sometimes happen.
"Most crucially, despite any changes at an individual level, the local Labour/SNP coalition will continue; as we collectively understand the importance of continuity and stability for Scotland's capital city."
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 hereComments are closed on this article