2012 City of Edinburgh Council election

Main article: 2012 Scottish local elections

Elections to the City of Edinburgh Council were held on 3 May 2012, the same day as the 2012 Scottish local elections. The election was the second using 17 new wards created as a result of the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, each ward elected three or four Councillors using the single transferable vote system form of proportional representation system of election.

2012 City of Edinburgh Council election

← 2007 3 May 2012 (2012-05-03) 2017 →
All 58 seats to City of Edinburgh Council 30 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Leader Andrew Burns Steve Cardownie Jeremy Balfour Party Labour SNP Conservative Leader's seat Fountainbridge /Craiglockhart Forth Corstorphine /Murrayfield Last election 15 seats, 22.93% 12 seats, 20.32% 11 seats, 22.08% Seats before 15 13 11 Seats won 20 18 11 Seat change 5 6 0 Popular vote 39,286 37,537 27,588 Percentage 28.13% 26.87% 19.75% Swing 5.45% 6.55% 2.33%   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader Maggie Chapman  and Steve Burgess Paul Edie Party Scottish Green Liberal Democrats Leader's seat Leith Walk, Southside /Newington Corstorphine /Murrayfield Last election 3 seats, 8.23% 17 seats, 21.99% Seats before 3 17 Seats won 6 3 Seat change 3 14 Popular vote 15,978 13,040 Percentage 11.44% 9.34% Swing 3.21% 12.65%
Map of council wards
Leader of the Council before election Jenny Dawe defeated Liberal Democrats Leader of the council after election Andrew Burns Labour

The main feature of the elections was the near obliteration of the Scottish Liberal Democrats as they collapsed from 17 seats on the city council to just 3, which saw them occupying the position as the smallest party. Their leader, and the leader of the council, Jenny Dawe, lost her seat in Meadows/Morningside, epitomising the poor performance. Scottish Labour replaced the Lib Dems as the largest party as they made 5 gains, winning 20 seats in total. The Scottish National Party became the second largest party, gaining 6 seats and 18 seats in total. The Scottish Conservatives retained 11 seats on the council while the Scottish Greens doubled their seat numbers to 6.

After the election a coalition was formed between the Labour Party and the SNP. This replaced the previous Lib Dem – SNP Coalition which had existed from 2007 to 2012.

Election result

2012 City of Edinburgh Council election
Electorate: 331,954
Turnout: 141,552 (42.6%)
Total Valid: 139,684^[1]

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Labour	20	6	1	5	34.48	28.13	39,286	5.45
	SNP	18	6	0	6	31.03	26.87	37,537	6.55
	Conservative	11	1	1	0	18.97	19.75	27,588	2.33
	Scottish Green	6	3	0	3	10.34	11.44	15,978	3.21
	Liberal Democrats	3	0	14	14	5.17	9.34	13,040	12.65
	Independent	0	0	0	0	0.00	1.84	2,565	New
	UKIP	0	0	0	0	0.00	0.34	480	New
	TUSC	0	0	0	0	0.00	0.33	463	New
	Liberal	0	0	0	0	0.00	0.26	368	New
	Scottish Socialist	0	0	0	0	0.00	0.16	228	New
	Pirate	0	0	0	0	0.00	0.14	195	New

Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes. The net gain/loss and percentage changes relate to the result of the previous Scottish local elections on 3 May 2007. This may differ from other published sources showing gain/loss relative to seats held at dissolution of Scotland's councils.

Ward summary

Map of Council Wards showing parties elected in each ward

Results of the 2012 City of Edinburgh Council election by ward

Ward	%	Seats	%	Seats	%	Seats	%	Seats	%	Seats	%	Seats	Total
	Labour		SNP		Conservative		Green		Lib Dem		Others
Almond	14.92	0	32.55	1	26.24	1	6.17	0	15.89	1	4.22	0	3
Pentland Hills	28.85	1	29.16	1	27.70	1	4.05	0	4.66	0	5.59	0	3
Drum Brae/Gyle	26.46	1	27.00	1	16.04	0	3.62	0	18.77	1	8.12	0	3
Forth	34.01	2	29.06	1	22.64	1	7.08	0	5.06	0	2.14	0	4
Inverleith	24.99	1	20.22	1	29.50	1	14.92	1	10.38	0	-	-	4
Corstorphine/Murrayfield	20.45	0	24.74	1	24.96	1	6.11	0	22.77	1	1.96	0	3
Sighthill/Gorgie	42.1	2	37.4	2	9.2	0	8.2	0	3.2	0	-	-	4
Colinton/Fairmilehead	17.87	0	20.59	1	52.00	2	4.91	0	3.62	0	1.01	0	3
Fountainbridge/Craiglockhart	23.24	1	23.54	1	21.15	0	24.07	1	7.34	0	0.66	0	3
Meadows/Morningside	19.64	1	15.78	1	29.90	1	19.75	1	12.30	0	2.63	0	4
City Centre	21.33	1	24.97	1	27.69	1	17.06	0	7.94	0	1.01	0	3
Leith Walk	33.24	2	28.48	1	8.11	0	20.28	1	5.09	0	4.81	0	4
Leith	32.1	1	32.4	1	6.5	0	18.9	1	9.0	0	1.1	0	3
Craigentinny/Duddingston	36.2	2	36.9	1	10.2	0	7.0	0	8.0	0	1.8	0	3
Southside/Newington	19.78	1	18.34	1	16.72	1	19.97	1	13.97	0	11.22	0	4
Liberton/Gilmerton	40.9	2	31.6	1	12.3	1	5.2	0	7.6	0	2.5	0	4
Portobello/Craigmillar	47.4	2	32.0	1	7.2	0	8.5	0	1.9	0	2.9	0	3
Total	28.13	20	26.87	18	19.75	11	11.55	6	9.34	3		0	58

Ward results

Almond

2007: 1xCon; 1xLib Dem; 1xSNP
2012: 1xSNP; 1xCon; 1xLib Dem
2007-2012 Change: No Change

2012 Council election: Almond – 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	SNP	Norman Work (incumbent)	32.55%	2,722
	Conservative	Lindsay Paterson	26.24%	2,194
	Liberal Democrats	Alastair Shields††††††	15.89%	1,329	1,460	1,500	1,515	1,579	1,804	2,426
	Labour	Billy Fitzpatrick	14.92%	1,248	1,350	1,356	1,373	1,421	1,623
	Scottish Green	Moira Dunworth	6.17%	516	651	657	683	768
	Independent	John Longstaff	2.49%	208	268	276	338
	UKIP	Otto Inglis	1.73%	145	168	181
Electorate: 18,996   Valid: 8,362   Spoilt: 51   Quota: 2,091   Turnout: 8,413 (44.3%)

Pentland Hills

2007: 1xCon; 1xSNP; 1xLab
2012: 1xSNP; 1xLab; 1xCon
2007-2012 Change: No Change

Pentland Hills – 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	SNP	Bill Henderson	29.16%	2,317
	Labour	Ricky Henderson (incumbent)	28.85%	2,293
	Conservative	Dominic Heslop	15.09%	1,199	1,224	1,249	1,335	1,397	1,502	2,446
	Conservative	Shelia Low	12.61%	1,002	1,017	1,040	1,099	1,154	1,240
	Scottish Green	Phyl Meyer	4.05%	322	400	468	607	840
	Independent	Mike 'Professor Pongoo' Ferrigan	5.59%	444	491	531	590
	Liberal Democrats	Stuart Bridges	4.66%	370	414	462
Electorate: 18,002   Valid: 7,947   Spoilt: 51   Quota: 1,987   Turnout: 7,998 (44.4%)

Drum Brae/Gyle

2007: 2xLib Dem; 1xSNP
2012: 1xLab; 1xSNP; 1xLib Dem
2007-2012 Change: Lab gain one seat from Lib Dem

Drum Brae/Gyle – 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	Labour	Karen Keil	26.46%	1,981
	Liberal Democrats	Robert Aldridge (incumbent)	18.77%	1,405	1,425	1,431	1,490	1,636	1,695	1,735	2,312
	SNP	Ron Cairns *	18.34%	1,373	1,383	1,386	1,406	1,466	2,052
	Conservative	Mark Brown	16.04%	1,201	1,207	1,212	1,233	1,349	1,370	1,383
	SNP	Alison Lindsay	8.66%	648	657	661	699	750
	Independent	Steven Binney	6.92%	518	532	588	663
	Scottish Green	Linda Hendry	3.62%	271	285	296
	Independent	John Scott	1.20%	90	95
Electorate: 17,123   Valid: 7,487   Spoilt: 78   Quota: 1,872   Turnout: 7,565 (44.2%)

• =Outgoing Councillor from a different Ward.

Forth

• 2007: 1xSNP; 1xCon; 1xLib Dem; 1xLab
• 2012: 2xLab; 1xSNP; 1xCon
• 2007-2012 Change: Lab gain one seat from Lib Dem

Forth – 4 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	Labour	Cammy Day (incumbent)	27.54%	2,230
	Conservative	Allan Jackson (incumbent)	22.64%	1,833
	SNP	Steve Cardownie (incumbent)	17.01%	1,377	1,407	1,422	1,432	1,443	1,482	1,554	2,377
	SNP	George Gordon	12.05%	976	1,008	1,017	1,019	1,034	1,070	1,187
	Scottish Green	Kate Joester	7.08%	573	598	626	637	683	850
	Labour	Vicki Redpath	6.47%	524	962	976	987	1,009	1,099	1,347	1,446
	Liberal Democrats	Tim Wight	5.06%	410	423	473	495	500
	TUSC	Ruth Ann Henderson	1.44%	117	127	130	132
	Liberal	Seumas Stiubhard MacMhicean	0.70%	57	64	73
Electorate: 21,796   Valid: 8,097   Spoilt: 136 (1.65%)   Quota: 1,620   Turnout: 8,233 (37.8%)

Inverleith

• 2007: 1xLab; 1xCon; 1xSNP; 1xLib Dem
• 2012: 1xSNP; 1xCon; 1xLab; 1xGreen
• 2007-2012 Change: Green gain one seat from Lib Dem

Inverleith – 4 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4
	Labour	Lesley Hinds (incumbent)	24.99%	2,751
	Conservative	Iain Whyte (incumbent)	17.77%	1,956	1,989	2,019	2,279
	Scottish Green	Nigel Bagshaw	14.92%	1,642	1,815	1,865	2,325
	SNP	Gavin Barrie	13.03%	1,434	1,489	2,148	2,264
	Conservative	Scott Douglas	11.73%	1,291	1,312	1,326	1,487
	Liberal Democrats	Tim McKay (incumbent)	10.38%	1,143	1,226	1,252
	SNP	John Young	7.19%	792	820
Electorate: 23,235   Valid: 11,009   Spoilt: 118 (1.06%)   Quota: 2,202   Turnout: 11,127 (47.9%)

Corstorphine/Murrayfield

• 2007: 2xLib Dem; 1xCon
• 2012: 1xCon; 1xSNP; 1xLib Dem
• 2007-2012 Change: SNP gain one seat from Lib Dem

Corstorphine/Murrayfield – 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	Conservative	Jeremy Balfour (incumbent)	24.96%	2,050	2,100
	SNP	Frank Ross	24.74%	2,032	2,053	2,056
	Liberal Democrats	Paul Edie (incumbent)	21.77%	1,788	1,798	1,817	1,818	1,993	2,798
	Labour	Tom McInally	20.45%	1,679	1,698	1,702	1,702	1,884
	Scottish Green	Dominic Hinde	6.11%	502	526	530	530
	UKIP	James Nisbet	1.96%	161
Electorate: 17,445   Valid: 8,212   Spoilt: 56 (0.68%)   Quota: 2,054   Turnout: 8,268 (47.4%)

Sighthill/Gorgie

2007: 2xLab; 1xSNP; 1xLib Dem
2012: 2xLab; 2xSNP;
2007-2012 Change: SNP gain one seat from Lib Dem

Sighthill/Gorgie – 4 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	Labour	Eric Milligan (incumbent)	28.3	2,266
	SNP	Catherine Fullerton	20.3	1,624
	SNP	Denis Dixon	17.1	1,368	1,389	1,396	1,414	1,462	1,688
	Labour	Donald Wilson (incumbent)	13.8	1,107	1,677
	Conservative	Susan Dewhurst	9.2	736	745	749	750	808	917
	Scottish Green	Lindsay Ashford	8.2	658	674	690	691	776
	Liberal Democrats	Neil MacLean	3.2	253	260	267	267
Electorate: 23,877   Valid: 8,012   Spoilt: 240 (2.91%)   Quota: 1,603   Turnout: 8,252 (34.6%)

Colinton/Fairmilehead

• 2007: 2xCon; 1xLab
• 2012: 2xCon; 1xSNP
• 2007-2012 Change: SNP gain one seat from Lab

Colinton/Fairmilehead – 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	Conservative	Jason Rust (incumbent)	28.71%	2,692
	Conservative	Elaine Aitken (incumbent)	23.29%	2,184	2,427
	SNP	Richard Lewis	20.59%	1,931	1,953	1,962	1,975	2,021	2,187	2,816
	Labour	Eric Barry (incumbent)	17.87%	1,676	1,699	1,708	1,724	1,831	2,070
	Scottish Green	Andy Saunders	4.91%	460	474	484	501	647
	Liberal Democrats	Alan Beal	3.62%	339	350	365	368
	UKIP	Malcolm MacKay	1.01%	95	100	105
Electorate: 18,521   Valid: 9,377   Spoilt: 74 (0.78%)   Quota: 2,345   Turnout: 9,451 (51%)

Fountainbridge/Craiglockhart

• 2007: 1xCon; 1xLab; 1xLib Dem
• 2012: 1xGrn; 1xLab; 1xSNP
• 2007-2012 Change: Grn and SNP gain one seat each from Con and Lib Dem

2007 Council election: Fountainbridge/Craiglockhart – 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	Scottish Green	Gavin Corbett	24.07%	1,789	1,801	2,004
	SNP	David Key	23.54%	1,750	1,755	1,811	1,848	1,861
	Labour	Andrew Burns (incumbent)	23.24%	1,728	1,734	1,851	1,905
	Conservative	Will Searle	21.15%	1,572	1,578	1,714	1,731	1,738
	Liberal Democrats	Jim Lowrie (incumbent)	7.34%	546	561
	Liberal	Tim Strode	0.66%	49
Electorate: 17,069   Valid: 7,434   Spoilt: 70 (0.93%)   Quota: 1,859   Turnout: 7,504 (44%)

Meadows/Morningside

• 2007: 1xCon; 1xLib Dem; 1xGRN; 1xLab
• 2012: 1xCon; 1xGRN; 1xLab; 1xSNP
• 2007-2012 Change: SNP gain one seat from Lib Dem

Meadows/Morningside – 4 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	Conservative	Mark McInnes (incumbent)	29.90	3,125
	Scottish Green	Melanie Main	19.75	2,064	2,209
	Labour	Paul Godzik (incumbent)	19.64	2,053	2,171	2171
	SNP	Sandy Howat	15.79	1,650	1,723	1,754	1,767	1,784	1,857	2,390
	Liberal Democrats	Jenny Dawe *	12.30	1,285	1,574	1,615	1,639	1,661	1,730
	Pirate	Phil Hunt	1.87	195	211	224	230	264
	UKIP	William Macadam	0.76	79	170	173	175
Electorate: 22,328   Valid: 10,451   Spoilt: 39   Quota: 2,091   Turnout: 10,490 (47%)

• = Outgoing Councillor from a different Ward.

City Centre

• 2007: 1xSNP; 1xCon; 1xLib Dem
• 2012: 1xCon; 1xSNP; 1xLab
• 2007-2012 Change: Lab gain one seat from Lib Dem

City Centre – 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	Conservative	Joanna Mowat (incumbent)	27.69%	1,402
	SNP	Alasdair Rankin (incumbent)	24.97%	1,264	1,272
	Labour	Karen Doran	21.33%	1,080	1,093	1,094	1,101	1,235	1,777
	Scottish Green	Julita Mazurek	17.06%	864	887	890	907	1,111
	Liberal Democrats	Iain Coleman	7.94%	402	439	440	463
	Liberal	Karen Hetherington	1.01%	51	58	59
Electorate: 13,943   Valid: 5,063   Spoilt: 38 (0.74%)   Quota: 1,266   Turnout: 5,101 (36.6%)

Leith Walk

• 2007: 1xSNP; 1xLib Dem; 1xLab; 1xGRN
• 2012: 2xLab; 1xSNP; 1xGRN
• 2007-2012 Change: Lab gain one seat from Lib Dem

Leith Walk – 4 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11
	SNP	Deidre Brock (incumbent)†††	22.1	1735
	Labour	Angela Blacklock (incumbent)	21.3	1674
	Scottish Green	Maggie Chapman †††† (incumbent)	20.3	1593
	Labour	Nick Gardner	11.9	937	947	1029	1035	1050	1065	1089	1115	1225	1350	1519
	Conservative	Miles Briggs	8.1	637	640	644	645	651	653	656	675	784	816
	SNP	Seumas Ross Skinner	6.4	502	630	632	635	639	649	674	708	741
	Liberal Democrats	Jamie Paterson	5.1	400	403	406	410	424	429	434	445
	TUSC	John McArdle	1.4	109	110	111	113	119	128
	Independent	Alex Wilson	1.4	109	110	110	111	112	153	181
	Independent	Jimmy McIntosh	1.2	91	92	93	93	97
	Liberal	John Hein	0.9	69	71	72	72
Electorate: 22,147   Valid: 7,856   Spoilt: 156   Quota: 1572   Turnout: 35.47%

Leith

• 2007: 1xSNP; 1xLib Dem; 1xLab
• 2012: 1xLab; 1xGRN; 1xSNP
• 2007-2012 Change: GRN gain one seat from Lib Dem

2007 Council election: Leith – 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	Labour	Gordon Munro (incumbent)	32.1%	2010
	Scottish Green	Chas Booth	18.9%	1181	1306	1331	1427	1780
	SNP	Adam McVey	17.6%	1104	1140	1145	1163	1228	1280	2240
	SNP	Rob Munn (incumbent)	14.8%	926	984	993	1013	1135	1169
	Liberal Democrats	Marjorie Thomas (incumbent)	9.0%	565	618	641	825
	Conservative	Nicola Ross	6.5%	405	428	433
	Liberal	Irvine McMinn	1.1%	71	85
Electorate: 16,972   Valid: 6262   Spoilt: 122   Quota: 1566   Turnout: 32.6%

Craigentinny/Duddingston

• 2007: 1xLab; 1xSNP; 1xLib Dem
• 2012: 2xLab; 1xSNP
• 2007-2012 Change: Lab gain one seat from Lib Dem

Craigentinny/Duddingston – 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	SNP	Stefan Tymkewycz (incumbent)	25.8%	2180
	Labour	Joan Griffiths	25.7%	2174
	SNP	Colin Williamson	11.1%	937	989	991	1008	1138	1260	1354
	Labour	Alex Lunn††	10.5%	886	887	935	954	1080	1261	1430	1740
	Conservative	Jason Lingiah	10.2%	866	867	868	877	911	1080
	Liberal Democrats	Gary Peacock (incumbent)	8.0%	673	675	677	688	836
	Scottish Green	John Palmer	7.0%	590	592	594	661
	TUSC	Kevin Furguson	1.8%	150	150	151
Electorate: 18,871   Valid: 8,456   Spoilt: 212   Quota: 2115   Turnout: 45.9%

Southside/Newington

• 2007: 1xLab; 1xCon; 1xLib Dem; 1xGRN
• 2012: 1xGrn; 1xLab; 1xSNP; 1xCon
• 2007-2012 Change: SNP gain one seat from Lib Dem

Southside/Newington – 4 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	Scottish Green	Steve Burgess (incumbent)	19.97%	1,869	1,883
	Labour	Ian Perry (incumbent)	19.78%	1,851	1,856	1,858	1,886
	SNP	Jim Orr†††	18.34%	1,717	1,723	1,725	1,742	1,744	1,886
	Conservative	Cameron Rose (incumbent)	16.72%	1,565	1,568	1,568	1,570	1,571	1,855	1,857	2,501
	Liberal Democrats	Gordon MacKenzie (incumbent)	13.97%	1,308	1,341	1,343	1,348	1,351	1,548	1,551
	Independent	Gordon Murdie	9.53%	892	895	896	921	923
	TUSC	William Black	0.93%	87	90	91
	Liberal	Margaret Lea	0.76%	71
Electorate: 20,821   Valid: 9,360   Spoilt: 67 (0.71%)   Quota: 1,873   Turnout: 9,427 (45.3%)

Liberton/Gilmerton

• 2007: 2xLab; 1xSNP; 1xLib Dem
• 2012: 2xLab; 1xSNP; 1xCon
• 2007-2012 Change: Con gain one seat from Lib Dem

Liberton/Gilmerton – 4 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	Labour	Norma Austin-Hart (incumbent)	21.4	1,941
	SNP	Tom Buchanan (incumbent)†	19.6	1,780	1,789	1,794	1,826
	Labour	Bill Cook (incumbent)	19.5	1,768	1,868
	Conservative	Nick Cook	12.3	1,111	1,112	1,115	1,124	1,125	1,171	1,455	1,696
	SNP	Derek Howie	12.0	1,084	1,086	1,090	1,127	1,138	1,268	1,441
	Liberal Democrats	John Knox	7.6	687	689	694	711	711	848
	Scottish Green	Joan Carter	5.2	469	473	480	549	550
	Scottish Socialist	Colin Fox	2.5	228	229	233
Electorate: 23,187   Valid: 9,068   Spoilt: 191 (2.06%)   Quota: 1,814   Turnout: 9,259 (39.9%)

Portobello/Craigmillar

• 2007: 1xSNP; 1xLab; 1xLib Dem
• 2012: 2xLab; 1xSNP
• 2007-2012 Change: Lab gain one seat from Lib Dem

Portobello/Craigmillar – 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	Labour	Maureen Child (incumbent)	36.6	2,645
	SNP	Michael A. Bridgeman (incumbent)	20.4	1,477	1,559	1,565	1,607	1,649	2,381
	SNP	David Manson	11.6	837	879	891	921	953
	Labour	David Walker	10.8	784	1,212	1,237	1,270	1,319	1,356	1,431	1,744
	Scottish Green	Peter McColl	8.5	615	723	768	825	974	1,059	1,203
	Conservative	Henry Christian	7.2	523	549	574	601
	Independent	Norrie Davies	2.9	213	253	261
	Liberal Democrats	Martin Veart	1.9	137	155
Electorate: 17,603   Valid: 7,231   Spoilt: 169 (2.28%)   Quota: 1,808   Turnout: 7,400 (42%)

Post-election changes

• † Liberton/Gilmerton SNP councillor Tom Buchanan died on 3 April 2013. A by-election was held on 20 June 2013 and was won by Labour's Keith John Robson.^[2]
• †† Craigentinny/Duddingston Labour councillor Alex Dunn defected from the Labour Party and joined the SNP on 4 December 2013.^[3]
• ††† On 1 March 2014 Southside/Newington SNP councillor Jim Orr resigned from the party and became an Independent citing disillusionment with internal political spats.^[4]
• †††† Leith Walk SNP councillor Deidre Brock was elected as an MP for Edinburgh North and Leith (UK Parliament constituency) on 7 May 2015 and resigned her Council seat on 24 June 2015.^[5] Leith Walk Green councillor Maggie Chapman resigned her seat on 30 June 2015 to focus her efforts on winning a Scottish Parliament seat in North East Scotland.^[6] A by-election for both seats was held on 10 September 2015, Lewis Ritchie defending the SNP seat and Labour's Marion Donaldson taking the other.^[7]
• †††††† Almond Liberal Democrat councillor Alastair Shields resigned from the party and became an Independent after having been de-selected. He originally indicated that he would contest the 2017 local elections as an Independent, but ruled this out in October 2016.^[8][9]

By Elections since 2012

Liberton/Gilmerton By-election (20 June 2013)- 1 Seat

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	Labour	Keith John Robson	39.47	2,892	2,896	2,906	2,941	3,070	3,255	3,448
	SNP	Derek Howie	30.69	2,249	2,251	2,256	2,287	2,403	2,523	2,633
	Conservative	Stephanie Murray	11.23	823	824	836	903	934	1,098
	Liberal Democrats	John Christopher Knox	8.26	605	611	616	625	708
	Scottish Green	Alys Mumford	5.62	412	430	440	471
	UKIP	Jonathan Stanley	3.21	235	239	251
	Independent	John Scott	0.87	64	70
	Pirate	Phil Hunt	0.64	47
Electorate: 24,177   Valid: 7,246   Spoilt: 81   Quota: 3,664   Turnout: 7,327 (30.6%)

Leith Walk By-election (10 September 2015)- 2 Seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
	SNP	John Ritchie	36.2%	2,290
	Labour	Marion Donaldson	25.7%	1,623	1,650.1	1,653.1	1,659.6	1,661.7	1,680.4	1,697.6	1,798.2	1,990.2	2,717.3
	Scottish Green	Susan Rae	21.8%	1,381	1,464.6	1,469.8	1,483.4	1,495.3	1,502.7	1,576.1	1,653.3	1,729.9
	Conservative	Gordon Murdie	7.9%	501	503.8	505.8	506.9	507	540.2	541.2	574.6
	Liberal Democrats	Mo Hussain	4.0%	255	261.6	263	265.3	265.3	267.4	271.6
	UKIP	Alan Melville	1.6%	102	105.6	105.6	106.8	106.8
	Scottish Socialist	Natalie Reid	1.5%	97	107.7	107.7	108.2	122	125.2
	Left Unity	Bruce Whitehead	0.5%	32	33.6	33.7	33.9
	Independent	John Scott	0.4%	26	29	30
	Scottish Libertarian	Tom Laird	0.3%	17	17.9
Electorate: 25,521   Valid: 6,324   Spoilt: 83   Quota: 2,109   Turnout: 6,407 (25.1%)