This Thursday it is decision day for voters in Dumbarton and the Vale.

After months of campaigning from local candidates, election day is May 5, and a MSP will be chosen to represent locals.

Contesting the seat are Jackie Baillie, Scottish Labour; Maurice Corry, Scottish Conservatives; Gail Robertson, SNP; Aileen Morton, Scottish Liberal Democrats; and Andrew Muir, independent.

Over the past few months, the candidates have been campaigning, with the Vale of Leven Hospital set as one of the top priorities for all of the candidates.

Each of them has spoken about ways they would work to save services being cut from the local hospital.

Other key issues have included the base, which is the single largest employer in the Dumbarton area.

For Scottish Parliament elections, Dumbarton is one of the 10 constituencies making up the West of Scotland, which will see seven more MSPs elected on top of the 10 constituency MSPs.

Even if they are not elected as the Dumbarton MSP, four of the candidates still stand a chance of making it to Holyrood as they are on their party's lists.

Voters will pick a person and a party on the ballot paper on Thursday.

Jackie Baillie is top of the list for Labour, and Aileen Morton, Gail Robertson, and Maurice Corry also made the list for their respective parties.

Ms Baillie has held the Dumbarton seat since the formation of the Scottish Parliament in 1999. Last week she declared it to be a two-horse race between herself and current Leven councillor Gail Robertson.

Ms Robertson's father came second to Ms Baillie in a close fought race in the 2011 election.

Last year saw a significant swing from Labour to the SNP in West Dunbartonshire, with Martin Docherty being elected MP. The seat was previously a Labour stronghold.

It is not the first race for parliament for two of the other candidates: Helensburgh and Lomond councillors Maurice Corry and Aileen Morton both contested the West Dunbartonshire seat hoping to become MPs in May last year.

Andrew Muir has spent his time on the campaign trail discussing mental health. He previously ran in West Dunbartonshire Council elections in 2012.

The team at the Dumbarton and Vale of Leven Reporter will be at the count on Thursday evening, which is being held in Clydebank's Play Drome.

We will be bringing updates online on our website, as well as Facebook and Twitter pages.