FIRST Minister Alex Salmond has paid tribute to an SNP "stalwart" who died after battling cancer.
Allison Hunter spent 12 years as the party's national organiser – a job she took on after helping Jim Sillars win the Glasgow Govan seat in his famous Westminster by-election victory.
As well as being Mr Sillars' election agent for that 1988 by-election, she was Nicola Sturgeon's election agent in the 2007 Holyrood poll – the year the SNP deputy leader won the Glasgow Govan constituency.
Ms Hunter herself was elected as a councillor for Govan in 2007 and went on to become the leader of the SNP group on Glasgow City Council in 2011.
She led the Nationalist campaign in the city in the 2012 local authority elections, but stood down as group leader afterwards, as her health began to fail.
She successfully fought breast cancer in 2011 but was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma last June.
Her cancer went into remission after chemotherapy but recently tests showed she was suffering from an aggressive form of the disease.
She died suddenly yesterday evening, leaving her husband Ian, her three children, Fiona, Mhairi and Roy, and two grandchildren, Kathleen and Andrew, as well as her sister Anne.
First Minister Mr Salmond hailed her "immense" contribution to the SNP.
"Allison Hunter was a party stalwart and much-loved person – her contribution over a period of many years was immense and she was at the heart of some of the SNP's most successful and important campaigns," the SNP leader said.
Paying tribute to her "friend and mentor", Deputy First Minister Ms Sturgeon said: "It is no exaggeration to say that I would not have won Govan in 2007 without the guidance of Allison as my election agent."
A by-election will be held at a date to be announced after Ms Hunter's funeral.
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