Gordon MacDonald said the SNP has a chance to complete “unfinished business” from the 2014 independence referendum after he was re-elected as the party’s MSP for Edinburgh Pentlands.

Mr MacDonald said it was “just a matter of time” until Scotland becomes independent and said the country has “spoken loud and clear” that it wants another referendum.

The SNP candidate won 16,227 votes, a majority of 3,897 over his nearest challenger, the Scottish Conservative candidate Gordon Lindhurst.

He increased both the number of votes and his majority, up from 13,181 in 2016 when he was 2,456 ahead of his Tory rival.

Speaking after his re-election, Mr MacDonald said: “You have all spoken loud and clear, we will have that referendum.

“It is a democratic wish of the people that they should have a choice over Scotland’s future.

“When the time is right, we will complete that unfinished business that we failed to complete in 2014.

“The world is watching and Scotland wants to join the family of nations – it’s just a matter of time.”

Former SNP Westminster leader Angus Robertson won in Edinburgh Central with 16,276 votes, a majority of 4,732 over the Conservatives.

Scottish Labour’s Daniel Johnson held Edinburgh Southern and Liberal Democrat Alex Cole-Hamilton retained the Edinburgh Western seat with 25,578 votes – more votes than any other Holyrood candidate has ever received – giving him a majority of 9,885.

Turnout in all three Edinburgh constituencies counted on Friday was higher than at any other Scottish Parliament election, with Edinburgh Southern receiving 45,466 votes (71.11%), Central getting 41,833 (62.69%) and 46,901 (71.46%) in Western.

These were increases of 8,307 voters, 7,664 and 7,135 respectively from the 2016 Holyrood election turnouts.