Edinburgh council by-election in Colinton/Fairmilehead today- full list of candidates

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Council chiefs in Edinburgh fear a low turn-out in today's Colinton/Fairmilehead by-election.

It's the second time voters are being asked to go to the polls within 10 weeks. And this time there are two vacancies to fill.

The Lib Dems won a surprise victory in a by-election on November 14 but new councillor Louise Spence resigned a week later after it emerged that, despite stressing during the campaign that she lived in the ward, her house was up for sale and she planned to move to Dubai where her husband had a new job.

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A couple of days before she quit, Maro Biagi, SNP councillor in Colinton/Fairmilehead, was appointed a special adviser to the Scottish Government and resigned his council seat.

Turnouts in council elections are consistently lower than for Holyrood or Westminster elections - and turnout in council by-elections is lower still.

At the council elections in 2022, Colinton/Fairmilehead had the highest turnout of any ward in Edinburgh at 59.3 per cent.The turn-out at the by-election in November was 37.4 per cent.

But with the latest by-election following so close on the heels of the last one, the feeling is that the number of people motivated to turn out again will result in a significantly lower participation rate.

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One inside said: "If it's above 25 per cent, that'll be good."

Turnout in Edinburgh's recent council by-elections has varied quite a lot. The Corstorphine/Murrayfield by-election in March 2023, which followed the resignation of former Lord Provost Frank Ross, saw a 42.3 per cent turnout.

A by-election in Craigentinny/Duddingston in November 2020 recorded a 31.6 per cent turnout. In April 2019, 30.3 per cent of votes in Leith Walk turned out.

But in Edinburgh's last double by-election, also in Leith Walk, in September 2015 the turnout was just 25.1 per cent.

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Polling stations are open from 7am-10pm. The votes will be counted tomorrow.

Full list of candidates

- Bonnie Prince Bob, Independent

- Mev Brown, Independent

- Mairianna Clyde, Scottish National Party (SNP)

- Neil Cuthbert, Scottish Conservative and Unionist

- David Henry, Independent

- Nick Hornig, Independent

- Grant Lidster, Reform UK

- Richard Crewe Lucas, Scottish Family Party

- Daniel Aleksanteri Milligan, Scottish Green

- Mark Ney-Party, Independent

- Peter Alexander Nicholson, Scottish Liberal Democrats

- Conor Savage, Scottish Labour Party

- Marc Wilkinson, Independent

Results last time

Louise Spence - Liberal Democrat 2,683

Neil Cuthbert - Consrvative 1,454

Sheila Gilmore - Labour 1,441

Mairianna Clyde - SNP 800

Daniel Milligan - Greens 393

Grant Lidster - Reform UK 268

Marc Wilkinson - Independent 173

David Henry - Independent 57

Richard Lucas - Scottish Family Party 51

Mev Brown - Independent 50

Bonnie Prince Bob - Independent 22

Tam Laird - Scottish Libertarian Party 9

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