THE SNP's Annabelle Ewing has secured a sensational victory in the Cowdenbeath constituency in the Scottish Parliament elections.

Ms Ewing was declared as the area's new MSP in Glenrothes this morning, defeating Labour's Alex Rowley.

The unseating of former Fife Council leader Rowley, his party's deputy leader, by overturning a 5488 majority in the process.

That was achieved by Rowley in a 2014 by-election over the SNP's Natalie McGarry, held after the passing of sitting MSP Helen Eadie.

Results from elsewhere in the Kingdom - including Willie Rennie winning North East Fife for the Liberal Democrats - means that Labour has no constituency MSP's in Fife.

Ewing's victory sparked scenes of delight from those resplendant in the yellow colours of the SNP, which was in stark contrast to those in Labour red, who were left to reflect on a bad night for their party.

The winning majority of 3,041 saw the nationalists' share of the vote increase by 4.5 per cent from the 2011 election, while Labour's decreased by 10.6 per cent.

Conservative candidate Dave Dempsey, who polled 4,251 votes, also enjoyed success as his party's vote share increased by 7.3 per cent.

The first ballot boxes began to arrive just after the close of the polls at 10pm and, little more than an hour later, all of the 126 being used across Cowdenbeath had arrived at the count at Glenrothes' Rothes Halls.

Dunfermline MP Douglas Chapman - who arrived at the count to support Ewing and her colleague standing in Dunfermline, Shirley Anne-Somerville - suggested in the evening's early stages that the SNP were confident of success, citing polls and expected nationalist support across the board.

Meanwhile Labour had felt in the evening's early stages that the outcome was likely to provide a "mixed bag" from their point of view, with one source predicting that the Conservatives were likely to do well in the regional list vote.

As news of SNP victories from across the country - as well as Labour losses - came in, nationalist supports became more confident it would be their night in Cowdenbeath too and that confidence proved to be well-founded.

The declaration was made ahead of the predicted time of between 3.30-4am, and when it arrived, it sparked wild scenes of jubilation from SNP supporters in the hall.

Labour had been hopeful of holding the seat but Ewing polled 13,715 votes in comparison to Rowley's 10,674, ensuring a memorable victory for the nationalists.

Full results:

29,857 ballot papers were verified, with 123 rejected ballots.

Annabelle Ewing, SNP: 13,715.

Alex Rowley, Labour: 10,674.

Dave Dempsey, Conservatives: 4,251.

Bryn Jones, Liberal Democrats: 1,094.

Voter turnout: 54.69%.

The results of the Cowdenbeath list vote were:

Total votes cast - 29,876.

RISE - 92.

Conservatives - 4,601.

Greens - 1,315.

Labour - 8,825.

Liberal Democrats - 1,087.

Scottish Libertarian Party- 69.

SNP - 13,050.

Solidarity - 149.

UKIP - 631.

29,819 valid votes.