SNP veteran Pete Wishart has beaten Tory candidate Luke Graham in Perth and Kinross-shire for his seventh straight election win.
The long-serving nationalist – who first became an MP in 2001 – headed off the challenge from the Conservatives by more than 4,000 votes.
Mr Wishart picked up 18,928 votes in total across the constituency, 37.8% of the overall vote.
Meanwhile, Mr Graham was backed by 14,801 voters.
The SNP veteran’s success comes against the backdrop of a difficult night for the SNP across Scotland, as the party lost seats heavily to Labour.
The newly elected MP said it was a “tough night” for the nationalists, adding: “I don’t think there’s any way we’re going to put any sort of gloss on it.
“What we’re hearing from colleagues across Scotland is pretty grim.”
Speaking to The Courier after the result was announced, he said: “I am absolutely delighted to be back here. It feels particularly sweet this evening.
“Earlier on we weren’t sure how it was going to work out here in Perth.
He added: “We win here because we’re embedded in the community.
“We fight hard in election campaigns, and I think that’s why we’ve won so well.”
Mr Wishart had previously represented the Perth and North Perthshire constituency since 2005, before it was replaced by boundary changes.
The new Perth and Kinross-shire seat was a key target for the Tories, who were hoping to benefit from a slump in the SNP vote despite their own misfortunes.
Victory for the Conservatives here would have been doubly sweet given the seat partially covers First Minister John Swinney’s Holyrood constituency.
Tory hopeful Mr Graham was initially confident he had a much stronger chance at winning after a shock exit poll showed the SNP falling to 10 seats.
After the result was announced, Mr Graham told The Courier: “I’m obviously very disappointed.
“We’ve got a humbling, we’re seeing that across the country.
“As a party we need to look into ourselves. What I want to make sure is we start looking at how we’re not just against the SNP, we’re for a lot of things as well.”
Mr Wishart famously held on against the Tories at the 2017 election by just 21 votes in one of the country’s closest election contests that year.
Tory candidate Mr Graham served as the MP for Ochil and South Perthshire between 2017 and 2019.
Labour picked up 9,018 votes in the constituency, while the Lib Dems finished fourth with 3,681.
Reform UK were backed by 2,970 voters.
See more results from across Scotland on our tracker page.
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