Polling places across Edinburgh are open until 10pm this evening for residents to vote in the Scottish Parliament election.
To find your polling place and more information on voting please visit our website.
If you are unable to get to a polling place today you may be able to apply for an emergency proxy vote, allowing someone to vote on your behalf. These applications must be submitted by 5pm.
If you are voting by post, you can return your ballot in person up until 10pm at any polling place in the city or to the reception at the City Chambers.
The Edinburgh count will return 13 Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs). Six are from the city’s constituencies and seven representing the Edinburgh and Lothians East Region. The full list of candidates standing for election is on our website.
Some key facts and figures about this election and our city can be found below.
The 2026 Scottish Parliament Election:
- Edinburgh’s population is approximately 530,000
- Across Edinburgh’s six city constituencies, 387,335 are registered to vote
- 309,564 will vote in a polling place and 77,771 are postal voters
- Voter turnout for Edinburgh was 64.2% at the 2021 Scottish Parliament Election
- 41 candidates are standing across the six city constituencies
- Edinburgh Central has longest constituency ballot paper in Scotland’s 73 constituencies with 11 candidates standing
- Edinburgh and Lothians East is also the longest regional ballot paper with 18 parties and 4 individuals candidates represented
- The region is made up of Edinburgh’s six constituencies alongside Midlothian North, East Lothian Coast and Lammermuirs, and Edinburgh Eastern, Musselburgh and Tranent.
- Across the region, 564,571 people are registered to vote, with 450,099 voting in a polling place and 114,472 postal voters
- This election will see 132 polling places across the city, with 311 polling stations and 933 polling booths.
- Over 850 people will be working at these polling places
- Over 1,100 people will be working at the count
- 1,555 ballot paper pencils
Edinburgh:
- Edinburgh is the UK’s fastest growing major city
- The city’s population has grown by 10% in the last decade to 530,000 people and is projected to grow by almost 60,000 in the next two decades
- The City of Edinburgh Council is the second largest council in Scotland and the ninth largest in the UK
- There are three Universities and one Further Education College
- 94,000 students including more than 23,000 internationals study in Edinburgh
- 62% of the city’s workforce is educated to degree level or higher
- The total surface area in Edinburgh is 264 square kilometres (102 square miles)