Tag: democracy

Could you represent your community?

Become a member of Muirhouse Salvesen Community Council, but hurry – nominations close on Friday!

Community councils have been part of our democratic structures for over forty years, speaking out as a local voices on issues of concern – and you can play your part if you live in Muirhouse or Salvesen by becoming a community councillor.  Continue reading Could you represent your community?

42% of young voters steered clear of snap General Election

LUKE CAMPBELL reflects on the general election results and says more must be done to engage young people in the democratic process:

A YouGov poll, published on Tuesday 13 June has suggested that UK-wide 42% of all eligible voters aged under 25 did not vote in the snap General Election of Thursday 8th June (writes Luke Campbell). Continue reading 42% of young voters steered clear of snap General Election

Mothers protest against ‘cruel cuts’

Mums and children facing eviction staged a peaceful protest at Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson’s constituency office yesterday to demand an end to the benefits cap. At least 11 families and 42 children face eviction from their privately rented homes in North Edinburgh due to ‘cruel’ welfare reforms. Continue reading Mothers protest against ‘cruel cuts’

Edinburgh’s general election by numbers

With less than a week to go until the UK General Election, preparations are well under way in Edinburgh. Here are some of the numbers that go into running the election in the Capital’s five constituencies:

143: the number of polling places across the city (buildings in which people vote), which house 336 polling stations, each with one ballot box.

There are five constituencies in Edinburgh: Edinburgh East, Edinburgh North and Leith, Edinburgh South, Edinburgh South West and Edinburgh West.

22 candidates are standing across the five constituencies, representing 6 different parties.

There are 352,600 people registered to vote in Edinburgh, with 79,963 of these postal voters. This is an increase of 8.3% in postal voters compared to the local elections on 4 May (74,481) and the highest number of postal voters since the Scottish Independence Referendum in 2014 (81,666).

As of Tuesday 30 May, Edinburgh has had 33.1% of all the postal votes returned.

3000 books of ballot papers will be used by polling staff on 8 June.

More than 3600 pencils will be available and attached to polling stations using a total of 360 balls of string (more than two miles in length) – though voters do not have to use pencil and can bring their own pens.

745 polling staff will make sure voting runs smoothly in Edinburgh during the day on 8 June, while 510 count staff will count the city’s votes that night.

There is one mobile polling place in Edinburgh, the mobile library, which is parked at Forrester Park Avenue.

Amongst the equipment used across polling places during the day will be approximately 300 yellow post-its, 150 black bin bags, 84 sets of pliers and 500 fingerettes.

While 16 and 17-year-olds were able to vote in the Scottish Referendum and the recent local elections, voters must be 18 to take part in the General Election.

More numbers still…

At the recent Scottish Local Government Elections on 4 May 2017, Edinburgh had more postal votes returned – 55,056 – than any other council in Scotland.  Edinburgh also had more votes to count 187,157 than any other of the 32 councils.

Edinburgh counts for around 9% of Scotland’s electorate – second most behind Glasgow.

Sweet spot: count staff will eat around 2800 boiled sweets on the night of 8 June.

Edinburgh uses cardboard polling booths – they are recyclable and save over £5000 in repair and maintenance costs for each election.

Polls open at 7am on 8 June and close at 10pm.

Find out more about when, where and how to vote.

Hustings to focus on Euro Brexit

Monday 5th June, 6pm

Royal Overseas League, Princes Street

Brexit is the most monumental change that British society has experienced in decades. The outcome of the June 8 general election will be key in determining who will represent Britain in the exit negotiations, and with what positions. Continue reading Hustings to focus on Euro Brexit

It’s all about the Union as Edinburgh elects new council

Resurgent Tories run SNP close 
The Local Government Election results for Edinburgh’s 17 wards were announced at Meadowbank Sports Centre yesterday following the 4 May vote. The SNP is now the biggest party – but only just. Campaigning on the Indyref2 issue, Conservative and Unionists ran the SNP very close, with the outcome of the election hanging in the balance and going down to the declaration of the final ward result.

Continue reading It’s all about the Union as Edinburgh elects new council

It’s Polling Day

The City of Edinburgh Council election – Thursday 4th May 2017

Scotland goes to the polls to elect new local councillors today. There are seventeen wards within the City of Edinburgh Council area and a total of 63 councillors. Three or four candidates are elected in each ward.

Your polling place will be on your poll card or you can find your polling place using the Find your polling place tool Polling stations are open from 7am – 10pm.

The voting system for this election is the Single Transferable Vote (STV). You should vote using numbers (1 for your first choice candidate, 2 for your second, etc) and can vote for as many or as few as you wish.

The names of the candidates for each ward are listed below in te order that they appear on the ballot paper:

Ward 1 – Almond – Four candidates will be elected

FRASER, Daniel (Scottish Libertarian Party)

HUTCHISON, Graham (Scottish Conservative and Unionist)

INGLIS, Otto (UKIP)

LANG, Kevin (Scottish Liberal Democrats)

LONGSTAFF, John (Independent)

MCKINNON-WADDELL, Iain (Scottish Green Party)

MITCHELL, Pamela (Scottish National Party (SNP))

WHITEHEAD, Bruce (Scottish Labour Party)

WORK, Norrie (Scottish National Party (SNP))

YOUNG, Louise (Scottish Liberal Democrats)

Ward 2 – Pentland Hills – Four candidates will be elected

BRUCE, Graeme (Scottish Conservative and Unionist)

FARTHING, Emma (Scottish Liberal Democrats)

GARDINER, Neil (Scottish National Party (SNP))

HENDERSON, Ricky (Scottish Labour Party)

NOREIKIENE, Ernesta (Scottish National Party (SNP))

WEBBER, Susan (Scottish Conservative and Unionist)

WESTON, Evelyn (Scottish Green Party)

Ward 3 – Drum Brae/Gyle – Three candidates will be elected

ALDRIDGE, Robert Christopher (Scottish Liberal Democrats)

BRIDGMAN, Claire (Scottish National Party (SNP))

BROWN, Mark (Scottish Conservative and Unionist)

KEIL, Karen Ann (Scottish Labour Party)

MEYER, Phyl (Scottish Green Party)

Ward 4 – Forth – Four candidates will be elected

BIRD, Eleanor (Scottish National Party (SNP))

CAMPBELL, Jim (Scottish Conservative and Unionist)

DAY, Cammy (Scottish Labour Party)

GORDON, George (Scottish National Party (SNP))

MACKAY, Gillian (Scottish Green Party)

PUGH, Heather (Scottish Labour Party)

ROSS, Nicola (Independent)

WIGHT, Tim (Scottish Liberal Democrats)

Ward 5 – Inverleith – Four candidates will be elected

BAGSHAW, Nigel (Scottish Green Party)

BARRIE, Gavin (Scottish National Party (SNP))

DALGLEISH, James (Scottish Labour Party)

LAIRD, Tom (Scottish Libertarian Party)

MITCHELL, Max (Scottish Conservative and Unionist)

OSLER, Hal (Scottish Liberal Democrats)

WHYTE, Iain (Scottish Conservative and Unionist)

WOOLNOUGH, Tina (Independent)

Ward 6 – Corstorphine/Murrayfield – Three candidates will be elected

DOUGLAS, Scott (Scottish Conservative and Unionist)

GLOYER, Gillian (Scottish Liberal Democrats)

NEVENS, Kate (Scottish Green Party)

NISBET, James (UKIP)

ROSS, Frank (Scottish National Party (SNP))

SCOTT, John Ferguson (Independent)

WHITELAW, June (Scottish Labour Party)

Ward 7 – Sighthill/Gorgie – Four candidates will be elected

DIXON, Denis (Scottish National Party (SNP))

FULLERTON, Catherine (Scottish National Party (SNP))

GRACZYK, Ashley (Scottish Conservative and Unionist)

HAYTER, Simon (Scottish National Party (SNP))

HEAP, Dan (Scottish Green Party)

SCOBIE, Devin Scott (Scottish Liberal Democrats)

SMITH, Carmel (Scottish Labour Party)

STRANGE, Calum (Scottish Libertarian Party)

WILSON, Donald (Scottish Labour Party)

Ward 8 – Colinton/Fairmilehead – Three candidates will be elected

ARTHUR, Scott (Scottish Labour Party)

DOGGART, Phil (Scottish Conservative and Unionist)

LEWIS, Richard John (Scottish National Party (SNP))

MARSDEN, Sara (Scottish Green Party)

RUST, Jason (Scottish Conservative and Unionist)

WALKER, David Richard (Scottish Liberal Democrats)

Ward 9 – Fountainbridge/Craiglockhart – Three candidates will be elected

CORBETT, Gavin (Scottish Green Party)

JOHNSTON, Andrew (Scottish Conservative and Unionist)

KEY, David (Scottish National Party (SNP))

LANG, Jenni (Scottish Liberal Democrats)

SUBRAMANI, Rojan (Independent)

WIMBERLEY, Anne (Scottish Labour Party)

Ward 10 – Morningside – Four candidates will be elected

COOK, Nick (Scottish Conservative and Unionist)

HOWAT, Sandy (Scottish National Party (SNP))

LAND, Chris (Scottish Conservative and Unionist)

MAIN, Melanie (Scottish Green Party)

ROSS, Neil (Scottish Liberal Democrats)

WATT, Mandy (Scottish Labour Party)

Ward 11 – City Centre  – Four candidates will be elected

DORAN, Karen (Scottish Labour Party)

MILLER, Claire (Scottish Green Party)

MOWAT, Jo (Scottish Conservative and Unionist)

RANKIN, Alasdair (Scottish National Party (SNP))

SIDOR, Peter (Scottish Libertarian Party)

STEVENS, David (Scottish Liberal Democrats)

Ward 12 – Leith Walk  – Four candidates will be elected

DONALDSON, Marion (Scottish Labour Party)

GARDNER, Nick (Scottish Labour Party)

JACOBSEN, David Don (Socialist Labour Party)

MARGA, Cristina (Scottish Conservative and Unionist)

MCNEESE-MECHAN, Amy (Scottish National Party (SNP))

MELVILLE, Alan Gordon (Independent)

RAE, Susan (Scottish Green Party)

RITCHIE, Lewis (Scottish National Party (SNP))

TOBERMANN, Harald (Independent)

ZAPOROZCENKO, Vita (Scottish Liberal Democrats)

Ward 13 – Leith – Three candidates will be elected

BOOTH, Chas (Scottish Green Party)

DIJKSTRA-DOWNIE, Sanne (Scottish Liberal Democrats)

MCVEY, Adam (Scottish National Party (SNP))

MUNRO, Gordon John (Labour and Co-operative Party)

PENMAN, Paul (Scottish Conservative and Unionist)

Ward 14 – Craigentinny/Duddingston  – Four candidates will be elected

CAMPBELL, Ian (Scottish National Party (SNP))

GRIFFITHS, Joan (Labour and Co-operative Party)

HADFIELD, Patrick (Scottish Liberal Democrats)

LUNN, Alex (Scottish National Party (SNP))

MARTIN, Lyndsay (Labour and Co-operative Party)

MCLELLAN, John (Scottish Conservative and Unionist)

STANIFORTH, Alex (Scottish Green Party)

WADHWA, Mridul (Scottish National Party (SNP))

Ward 15 – Southside/Newington  – Four candidates will be elected

BURGESS, Steve (Scottish Green Party)

DICKIE, Alison (Scottish National Party (SNP))

FARTHING, Dan (Scottish Liberal Democrats)

PERRY, Ian (Scottish Labour Party)

ROSE, Cameron (Scottish Conservative and Unionist)

Ward 16 – Liberton/Gilmerton  – Four candidates will be elected

CAMERON, Lezley Marion (Scottish Labour Party)

HOWIE, Derek (Scottish National Party (SNP))

KNOX, John Christopher (Scottish Liberal Democrats)

MACINNES, Lesley (Scottish National Party (SNP))

NICHOL, John (Scottish Green Party)

POGSON, Tim (Scottish Labour Party)

SMITH, Stephanie (Scottish Conservative and Unionist)

Ward 17 – Portobello/Craigmillar – Four candidates will be elected

BRIDGMAN, Mike (Scottish National Party (SNP))

CAMPBELL, Kate (Scottish National Party (SNP))

CAMPBELL, Mary (Scottish Green Party)

CHILD, Maureen (Scottish Labour Party)

LAIDLAW, Callum (Scottish Conservative and Unionist)

LESLIE, Callum (Scottish Liberal Democrats)

WALKER, David (Scottish Labour Party)