City of Edinburgh Council election, 2012

City of Edinburgh Council election, 2012

← 2007 3 May 2012 (2012-05-03) 2017 →
All 58 seats to City of Edinburgh Council 30 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Leader Andrew Burns Steve Cardownie Jeremy Balfour Party Labour SNP Conservative Leader's seat Fountainbridge/Craiglockhart Forth Corstorphine/Murrayfield Last election 15 seats, 22.93% 12 seats, 20.32% 11 seats, 22.08% Seats before 15 13 11 Seats won 20 18 11 Seat change 5 6 0   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader Maggie Chapman/Steve Burgess Paul Edie Party Scottish Green Liberal Democrats Leader's seat Leith Walk, Southside/Newington Corstorphine/Murrayfield Last election 3 seats, 8.23% 17 seats, 21.99% Seats before 3 17 Seats won 6 3 Seat change 3 14
Map of council wards
Leader of the Council before election Jenny Dawe defeated Liberal Democrats Leader of the Council after election Andrew Burns Labour

Jenny Dawe defeated
Liberal Democrats

Andrew Burns
Labour

Elections to the City of Edinburgh Council were held on 3 May 2012, the same day as the Scottish local elections, 2012. The election was the second using 17 new wards created as a results of the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, each ward elected three or four Councillors using the single transferable vote system a form of proportional representation system of election.

The main feature of the Elections was the near obliteration of the Scottish Liberal Democrats as they collapsed from 17 to just 3 seats on the City Council which sees the party occupying the position as the smallest party. Their leader, and the leader of the Council, Jenny Dawe, lost her seat in Meadows/Morningside, epitomising the poor performance. The Scottish Labour Party replaced the Lib Dems as the largest party as they made 5 gains, winning 20 seats in total. The Scottish National Party became the second largest party gaining 6 seats and 18 seats in total. The Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party retained 11 seats on the Council while the Scottish Green Party doubled their seat numbers to 6.

After the election a Coalition was formed between the Labour Party and the SNP. This replaced the previous Lib Dem – SNP Coalition which had existed from 2007-2012.

Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes. The net gain/loss and percentage changes relate to the result of the previous Scottish local elections on 3 May 2007. This may differ from other published sources showing gain/loss relative to seats held at dissolution of Scotland's councils.