SCOTTISH Labour have taken a council seat from the SNP in a by-election.
South Lanarkshire Council now has one more Labour representative after Kirsty Williams won the race to replace former SNP councillor Ali Salamati.
Salamati had resigned his position on the Unionist-run council in May due to his other work commitments taking him overseas.
A by-election to replace him in the three-member East Kilbride West ward was held on July 6, with voting open between 7am and 10pm.
Once the votes were counted, Scottish Labour’s Williams emerged on top with the Tories’ Bill Dorrian coming in second place.
The SNP – who fielded Robert Gillies as a candidate – were relegated to third position in a disappointing result for the party.
Both the Tories and Labour saw their percentage vote share increase by 6.4 points and 14 points respectively, while the SNP’s dropped by 8.2 points, according to Ballot Box Scotland.
🚨 LABOUR GAIN 🚨 Congratulations Kirsty Williams for her win in East Kilbride West - and well done to the amazing team who worked hard campaigning! Change is coming with Labour. pic.twitter.com/2UUuOQpq5E
— Scottish Labour (@ScottishLabour) July 6, 2023
Williams also beat contenders including Cameron Eadie from the Greens, LibDem Jake Stevenson, independent Kristofer Keane, and Jonathan Jack Richardson from the Scottish Family Party.
After the 2022 election, the ward had one Labour, one SNP, and one independent representative. It now has two Labour councillors and one independent.
According to South Lanarkshire Council, the ward had an electorate of around 13,350 people. The turnout was just 25.7%.
The local authority is run as a minority Labour administration propped up by votes from the Conservatives and LibDems, although the SNP emerged from the 2022 elections as the largest group.
