DENNIS Goldie will fight the Falkirk West seat for Labour at the Scottish Parliament election in May.
He took took two thirds of the vote at the final selection meeting on Sunday, beating his closest rival, Kilsyth lawyer Ian Smart, by 59 votes to 2
3.
Mr Goldie now faces the biggest political battle of his life to take advantage of indepedent MSP Dennis Canavan's retiral and grab Falkirk West back for Labour after an eight-year gap.
The 57-year-old Falkirk Council veteran admitted he was "humbled" to get the chance – and thanked the "grass root membership" for their support.
He said: "Between now and polling day I will be concentrating all my energy on convincing the people of Falkirk West I deserve to be their MSP."
Falkirk's former Provost knows Mr Canavan, controversially ditched by Labour in 1999 before going on to win two elections as an independent, will be a hard a hard act to follow.
He said: "Eight years ago Labour locally was left in a position not of their making and had to live with it. I'm not underestimating the job ahead because I don't believe Dennis Canavan was just handed votes by unhappy Labour supporters. He had to campaign hard to earn them and I'm going to have to work even harder to win them back."
Mr Goldie can expect a tough fight for the seat which is also being targeted by the Scottish National Party, who pushed Labour into third place at the last election.
They will be represented by Michael Matheson, who currently sits in the Scottish Parliament as a list MSP.
s.barber@falkirtherald.co.uk