KAUKAB Stewart has become the first ever woman from a minority ethnic background to be elected to the Scottish Parliament.

Stewart was elected to represent Glasgow Kelvin at Holyrood with the results announced this afternoon.

She beat her nearest challenger, the Green co-leader Patrick Harvie, by around 5500 votes.

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Stewart’s election in Kelvin ends a journey to Holyrood which began in 1999 when she ran against Donald Dewar in Anniesland.

Her election for the SNP in Glasgow Kelvin will seem symbolic to many, as it was in that constituency in the early 1930s that the party which will now govern Scotland for an historic fourth term was founded.

The National:

SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon with the newly elected Kaukab Stewart

Speaking after her election, Kaukab said she could not thank the voters who had supported her enough.

She went on: “We are lucky to have one of the most diverse, vibrant communities in Kelvin and it is without doubt an honour to be elected as the first woman of colour to the Scottish Parliament.

“It has taken too long, but to all the women and girls of colour out there, the Scottish Parliament belongs to you too. So whilst I may be the first, I will not be the last.”

She later told the BBC that she was “delighted” to have been elected.

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Stewart said: “In 1999, when I stood at that time, I did not think that it would be me that would be the first woman of colour to actually get elected in 2021 but it is.

“You have to keep going, keep persevering, keep working hard, and we got there in the end.”

Stewart won 14,535 votes in Kelvin.

In that constituency, Scottish Tory Grahame Cannell got 2850 votes, LibDem David McKenzie won 977, Labour’s Pam Duncan-Glancy won 8605, and the Greens’ Harvie won 9077.

A second woman from a minority ethnic background was later elected to Holyrood on the regional lists. Pam Gosal won a seat on the West of Scotland list and will represent the Scottish Tories at Holyrood. 

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar and SNP Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf were the only two members of Holyrood from ethnic minority backgrounds elected in 2016.