Edinburgh Lib Dem councillor will fight target seat and lead regional list in next year's Holyrood elections
An Edinburgh Lib Dem councillor has been selected both as the party's candidate for a top target seat at next year's Holyrood elections and in first place on its regional list.
Sanne Dijkstra-Downie, who represents Forth ward on the city council, will stand in the new Edinburgh Northern seat for the Scottish Parliament, which the Lib Dems believe they can win.
But she is also number one on the party's list for the Edinburgh and Lothians East region, giving her a second chance to be elected if she fails to take the constituency seat.
Cllr Dijkstra-Downie grew up in the Netherlands and came to Scotland to study at Edinburgh University and has now lived in the Capital for 23 years.
She works as a fundraiser for climate research and teaching at the university and has also helped set up an ocean protection initiative. She was first elected a councillor in 2022, topping the poll in her ward, and sits on the council's finance and policy committees.
The Lib Dems currently have only one Lib Dem MSP from the Lothians - Scottish party leader Alex Cole-Hamilton, who at the last election in 2021 won his Edinburgh Western seat with more votes than any other candidate in the history of devolution.
The party says it is confident he will hold the seat next year, despite boundary changes - which sees it renamed Edinburgh North Western. He is not standing on the regional list.
And the Lib Dems also claim those boundary changes have presented them with a real chance of winning a second constituency in the city.
The new Edinburgh Northern seat takes in a large chunk of the current Edinburgh Western and also parts of the current Edinburgh Northern and Leith seat, including Trinity.
A Lib Dem source said: "Based on the local election results, we are basically neck and neck with the SNP to win the seat. We think Sanne has a really, really strong chance of winning that seat."
She will be up against fellow councillor Euan Hyslop, who is the SNP's candidate for Edinburgh Northern. He lives and has a business in the constituency and is a rising star in the council group. It will be a fiercely fought contest.
Cllr Dijkstra-Downie, who also lives in the area with her husband and two young children, has just been named as the Lib Dems’ lead candidate on the Edinburgh and Lothians East regional list for the elections.
Edinburgh-based mental health counsellor Jane Pickard will be in the party’s number two slot, charity chief executive Charles Dundas number three and Edinburgh councillor Lewis Younie number four.
Mr Cole-Hamilton said: “Scottish Liberal Democrats have a formidable list of candidates who will speak up for residents on the issues that matter most.
“At the next Scottish Parliament election, there is everything to play for in the Edinburgh and Lothians East region. Council by-elections show that support for Labour, the SNP and the Conservatives is collapsing. Meanwhile, Scottish Liberal Democrats are on the up. “