DUMFRIES and Galloway now has two high profile politicians from the same family.

Following last Thursday's election, Oliver Mundell was elected as the new MSP for Dumfriesshire after ousting Scottish Labour.

He now joins his father, MP David, in to politics.

Mr Mundell won the constituency seat from his closest rival, the SNP's Joan McAlpine.

Scottish Conservative and Unionist, Mr Mundell racked up 13,536 votes, with Ms McAlpine receiving 12,306.

Elaine Murray, Scottish Labour, was third with 9,151 and the Lib Dems, Richard Brodie fourth with 1,267.

Following his election, Mr Mundell has vowed to stand up for local communities.

He said: "I am delighted and humbled to have been elected to serve Kelloholm, Kirkconnel, Sanquhar and the surrounding communities in the Scottish Parliament.

"It is a huge honour and I will be standing up for the needs of these communities from the very start as your MSP and I'm very grateful to all those who put their trust in me.

"For too long this region has been forgotten by the Scottish Government and I want to see them properly address the needs of rural communities. There are still huge strains on our farming industry and I will be pushing for action not words, starting with my maiden speech in the chamber on farming.

"I will also be challenging the Scottish Government to deliver better transport links in the area and I look forward to welcoming John Swinney to the constituency to chair the transport summit for Dumfriesshire he promised during the campaign.

"Most of all I am looking forward to getting out and about and meeting local people and organisations in order to deliver for this area and I hope to have my office up and running as soon as possible."

There were 101 ballot papers, with 85 rejected as unmarked or void for uncertainty and another 16 people voted for more than one candidate.

The Tories also managed to hold on to the neighbouring Galloway and West Dumfries seat as Finlay Carson was elected ahead of the SNP's Aileen McLeod.

The South Scotland list MP's are Joan McAlpine, Paul Wheelhouse, Emma Harper, Rachael Hamilton, Brian Whittle, Claudia Beamish and Colin Smyth.