Votes for the Scottish Green Party are up across the country but the margins for seat gains on the regional lists are very slim, co-leader Patrick Harvie has said.

Mr Harvie is standing in the Glasgow Kelvin constituency, though the Greens expect to make their gains in the regional list vote.

Polls leading up to the election have repeatedly suggested the Greens will make gains.

He told the PA news agency: “(The regional list vote) seems to be up in most places, some places very strongly like yesterday in Glasgow Southside.

The difference between a result which looks outstanding for us and one that’s a bit more conservative is actually very small

“The tricky thing is the difference between getting our first seat on the board in places like the South of Scotland, Central Scotland, North East – it could be a very marginal difference, a very narrow gap.

“It looks like there’s three or four seats which are in contention for us but potentially close. We’ve still got a way to go yet.”

He added: “The difference between a result which looks outstanding for us and one that’s a bit more conservative is actually very small.”

Following the result in Dumbarton, where Labour saw off an SNP challenge, he said: “I’ve always said that Parliament’s at its best when there’s a balance and ministers are at their best when they’re kept on their toes, whichever political party they’re from.

“The Greens will continue to provide a pro-independence majority and I think that looks likely to be the case.

“We’ve worked hard over the last five years to push the SNP beyond their comfort zone and we’ll keep on doing that.”

The Scottish Greens gained a seat from Labour on the Central Scotland regional list, with Gillian Mackay being elected with 19,512 votes.

Three Scottish Labour MSPs were elected – former party leader Richard Leonard, Monica Lennon and Mark Griffin – compared to four in 2016.

The Scottish Conservatives again returned three MSPs in the region – Stephen Kerr, Graham Simpson and Meghan Gallacher, no change in number from 2016.