Edinburgh Central LAB Hold

Scottish Parliament election

constituency

	Edinburgh Central	LAB Hold

	CANDIDATE	PARTY	VOTES	%	+/-%
	Sarah Boyack	LAB	9066	32.4	-6.0
	Andy Myles	LD	6400	22.8	+6.1
	Kevin Pringle	SNP	4965	17.7	-8.2
	Peter Finnie	CON	4802	17.1	+0.9
	Catriona Grant	SSP	2552	9.1	+6.9
	James O' Neill	SPA	229	0.8	+0.8
		MAJORITY	2666	9.5
		TURNOUT	28014	46.1

ELECTORATE	60824

Top-up region: Lothian

DESCRIPTION: Edinburgh Central

Edinburgh Central has had a fairly recent history of Conservative rule. It has a very high proportion of professional and managerial workers and is one of the most attractive urban seats in Britain, including the landmarks of the Castle, Arthur's Seat, St Giles' Cathedral, Princes Street and Murrayfield rugby stadium. Apart from the financial sector, tourism is in Scotland’s capital is big business.

Edinburgh Central has been held by Labour since 1945 with the exception of a period between 1983 and 1987 when it was represented by the Tory Sir Alex Fletcher. It was regained by Labour in 1987 by Alastair Darling, now transport secretary. Sarah Boyack was elected the MSP in 1999. She was dropped as transport minister when Jack McConnell took over as first minister. In 1999 SNP was in second place, but in the 2001 election the Liberal Democrats were the runners-up and the SNP dropped to fourth place.

PREVIOUS RESULTS

	1999 SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT ELECTION		LAB WIN
	PARTY	VOTES	%
	LAB	14224	38
	SNP	9598	25.7
	LD	6187	16.5
	CON	6018	16.1
	SSP	830	2.2
	IND	364	1
	IND	191	0.5

	2001 GENERAL ELECTION		LAB WIN
	PARTY	VOTES	%
	LAB	14495	42.1
	LD	6353	18.5
	CON	5643	16.4
	SNP	4832	14.1
	GRN	1809	5.3
	SSP	1258	3.7