Edinburgh East & Musselburgh LAB Hold

Scottish Parliament election

constituency

	Edinburgh East & Musselburgh	LAB Hold

	CANDIDATE	PARTY	VOTES	%	+/-%
	Susan Deacon	LAB	12654	45.1	-1.2
	Kenny MacAskill	SNP	6497	23.2	-5.0
	John Smart	CON	3863	13.8	+1.3
	Gary Peacock	LD	3582	9.2	-1.9
	Derek Durkin	SSP	2447	8.7	+6.8
		MAJORITY	6158	22.0
		TURNOUT	28044	50.3

ELECTORATE	57704

Top-up region: Lothian

DESCRIPTION: Edinburgh East & Musselburgh

Edinburgh East and Musselburgh stretches from the Port of Leith along the Firth of Forth, taking in the Victorian seaside resort of Portobello with its long sandy beach, to the old fishing village of Musselburgh. Like many Scottish constituencies, Edinburgh East and Musselburgh is a mixture of high-quality housing, some on private estates, and more run-down council housing - in areas like Craigmillar and Niddrie.

This seat has been held by Labour since 1935, and by sitting MP Dr Gavin Strang since 1970. The SNP jumped from third to second place at the 1997 general election, overtaking the Conservatives. Labour’s Susan Deacon was elected the MSP in 1999 with a majority of 6,714. In February 2003 she proposed a motion in parliament expressing concern about the war in Iraq.

PREVIOUS RESULTS

	1999 SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT ELECTION		LAB WIN
	PARTY	VOTES	%
	LAB	17086	46.2
	SNP	10372	28
	CON	4600	12.4
	LD	4100	11.1
	SSP	697	1.9
	IND	134	0.4

	2001 GENERAL ELECTION		LAB WIN
	PARTY	VOTES	%
	LAB	18124	52.6
	SNP	5956	17.3
	LD	4981	14.5
	CON	3906	11.3
	SSP	1487	4.3