TWO of the candidates who missed out on becoming East Lothian MSP have been elected to the Scottish Parliament through the South Scotland regional list.

Paul McLennan (SNP) won East Lothian yesterday (Friday) by 1,179 votes, the first time the seat had flipped from Labour in the Scottish Parliament's history.

READ MORE: Paul McLennan wins East Lothian for the SNP

But now, both Martin Whitfield (Labour), who finished second to McLennan, and Craig Hoy (Conservative), who placed third, have joined McLennan in Holyrood after being elected on the regional list.

It means that three of the four candidates who stood in East Lothian at this election are now MSPs, something which has never happened before in the county.

Haddington and Lammermuir councillor Hoy had been third on the Conservatives' list for the South Scotland region but the two candidates ahead of him both were elected by winning their constituencies, making him the Tories' top remaining candidate. In the end, the Conservatives took three seats on the South Scotland list.

And joining him at Holyrood was former East Lothian MP Whitfield, who was third on Labour's list for the region and faced a nailbiting wait before making it in the final of the seven South Scotland regional seats.

The regional list vote is designed to ensure a level of proportional representation at Holyrood, ensuring that parties win a number of seats corresponding to the percentage of vote they win in each region.

The count in the Scottish Parliament Election concluded today (Saturday), with the SNP falling just one seat short of an overall majority, winning 64 of the 129 seats.

The Conservatives were again the second largest party, taking 31 seats, with Labour third with 22, the Greens gaining two seats to finish with eight, and the Liberal Democrats losing one to take just four overall.

For a lookback on all the action as it happened, the link to the live blog we ran today and yesterday is here.