Scottish Parliament election 2026

East Lothian took to the polls on Thursday 7 May for the Scottish Parliament elections.

Our council co-ordinated voting and count arrangements across two new constituencies: Edinburgh Eastern, Musselburgh and Tranent and East Lothian Coast and Lammermuirs. This followed a review of electoral boundaries to take account of Scotland’s changing population and create constituencies that are roughly equal in size.

Paul McLennan (SNP) was elected to represent the East Lothian Coast and Lammermuirs Constituency while Kate Campbell (SNP) was elected to represent Edinburgh Eastern, Musselburgh and Tranent.

Both constituencies are part of the Edinburgh and Lothians East Region which is represented by:

• Kate Nevens - Scottish Green Party
• Angela Ross - Reform UK
• Irshad Ahmed - Scottish Labour Party
• Miles Briggs - Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
• Q Manivannan - Scottish Green Party
• Katherine Sangster - Scottish Labour Party
• Kayleigh Ferguson Kinross-O’Neill - Scottish Green Party

Constituency Depute Returning Officer Hayley Barnett paid tribute to everyone involved, saying: “Facilitating elections across two constituencies was an immense challenge. With a combined electorate of 120,488, over 25,000 postal votes were issued while 248 polling staff worked across 39 polling stations. I’d like to thank everyone who worked at and supported the election and especially our core Elections Team for their dedication and professionalism to ensure the efficient and accurate delivery of results.”

The ballot boxes were delivered to Meadowmill after polls closed at 10pm on 7 May and the pre-count verification process – where checks are carried out to make sure that all boxes have been returned and accompanying paperwork is complete – were undertaken. The boxes remained sealed and were held securely overnight. On Friday 8 May, nearly 200 people came together at East Lothian Indoor Bowling Centre and Meadowmill Sports Centre to count the ballot papers before the results were declared in the bowling centre in front of candidates and their teams.

In figures

Edinburgh Eastern, Musselburgh and Tranent constituency

• electorate: 60,707
• total votes cast: 31,645
• turnout: 52.1%
• total number of rejected ballots: 172

East Lothian Coast and Lammermuirs constituency

• electorate: 59,781
• total votes cast: 35,789
• turnout: 59.9%
• total number of rejected ballots: 137

Edinburgh and Lothians East Region

• electorate: 564,571
• total votes cast: 320,286
• turnout: 56.7%

Full results are available from our website.