Two journalists at The Scotsman are seeking election to the Scottish Parliament next year after being chosen as candidates.

George Kerevan and Joan McAlpine, who are both columnists for the daily newspaper, have been picked to represent the Scottish National Party at next May’s elections, where they will hope to become MSPs.

The party has announced its regional list of candidates which sees George named in fifth place on the Lothians list and Joan placed fourth for the South of Scotland.

Earlier this year, George was a candidate for the SNP at the General Election in Edinburgh East but lost out to Labour.

Under the voting system for the Scottish Parliament, 73 members are chosen through individual constituencies, while a further 56 are returned from eight regions using a form of proportional representation.

For the regional lists, people vote for a particular party rather than individual candidates and those ranked highest are most likely to secure election.