THE Scottish Greens have taken a council seat from Labour in their first ever by-election win.
Seonad Hoy was elected to represent the Hillhead ward in Glasgow, becoming the Glasgow Greens’ second councillor in the area after the votes were counted on Thursday night.
The election was held following the death of long-serving Labour councillor Hanzala Malik in December.
Speaking after the result was announced, Hoy said she was looking forward to representing Hillhead alongside her fellow Green councillor Martha Wardrop.
“I am absolutely delighted to have been elected to represent the people of Hillhead alongside the marvellous Martha Wardrop,” said Hoy.
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“This was a real team effort from the Glasgow Greens. Every single one of our activists worked to make this happen and I can’t thank them all enough.
“But now the hard work really begins. I look forward to bringing that same energy and enthusiasm that saw the Greens win our first ever by-election to my role as councillor in Hillhead.”
It means the Greens now have 11 councillors in Glasgow City Council, compared to Labour’s 35 and the SNP’s 37.
While Labour’s candidate Ruth Hall received the most first preference votes with 1298, with the Scottish Greens following closely behind on 1284.
However, the single-transferable vote system meant the Greens picked up enough surplus votes to secure victory.
Hillhead (Glasgow) by-election, 1st prefs:
— Ballot Box Scotland (@BallotBoxScot) March 7, 2024
Labour: 1298 (31.9%, +9.7)
Green: 1284 (31.5%, -4.7)
SNP: 1015 (24.9%, -3.7)
Con: 217 (5.3%, -1.4)
IGV: 133 (3.3%, new)
LD: 106 (2.6%, -2.8)
Independent: 22 (0.5%, new)
Green elected stage 7. First ever Green by-election victory. pic.twitter.com/V873R9CfMZ
Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie congratulated Hoy on her win.
He said: “I’m so grateful to everyone who helped make this groundbreaking result for the Scottish Greens possible - Seonad, Martha, all our volunteers and every single voter who put their trust in us.
“We’re working hard to make a difference in Glasgow and across Scotland, and it’s clear that Hillhead’s voters understand the urgency of putting Green ideas into practice.”
Hoy said that she intends to give up her job at housing provider Wheatley Group in order to “focus on being a councillor”.
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