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Scotland goes to the polls on May 6, in the sixth general election since the Scottish Parliament was reconvened in 1999.

At the last election in 2016, the SNP lost their parliamentary majority, but were able to rule as a minority government, with the help of the pro-independence Scottish Green Party.

Of the unionist parties, the Conservatives overtook Labour into second place, while the Liberal Democrats finished fifth.

No representatives of minor parties were elected to the Holyrood in 2016, but this time Alex Salmonds newly-founded Alba Party is looking to win seats by contesting the regional list elections.

There are 73 constituency seats up for grabs, under a first-past-the-post voting system, and 56 regional list seats, which are filled using the DHondt voting system.

Using the DHondt system, Mr Salmonds party is aiming to create a pro-independence super-majority, as in previous elections the number of constituency seats the SNP has won has limited the number of list MSPs the party has returned.

Meanwhile, from the unionist side of the political spectrum, George Galloways All For Unity Party is also attempting to use tactical voting to maximise the number of pro-union seats, by urging voters to pick pro-union parties like the Conservatives or Labour in the constituency elections, and to select his party in the regional list.

Eight candidates will contest Edinburgh Central, the most marginal of the Lothian seats, where UKIP, the Scottish Libertarian Party and video artist Bonnie Prince Bob, standing as an independent, join the five main parties.

The Scottish Libertarian Party is also standing in Edinburgh Western, the Scottish Family Party is standing in Edinburgh Pentlands and Edinburgh Southern, and the Scottish Freedom Alliance in Edinburgh Northern and Leith.

And a total of 18 parties and one independent are competing for votes on the Lothian list.

Bonnie Prince Bob - Independent

Scott Douglas Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party

Alison Johnstone Scottish Green Party

Maddy Kirkman Scottish Labour Party

Tam Laird Scottish Libertarian Party

Donald Murdo Mackay UK Independence Party (UKIP)

Angus Robertson Scottish National Party (SNP)

Bruce Roy Wilson Scottish Liberal Democrats

Bill Cook Scottish Labour Party

Ash Denham Scottish National Party (SNP)

Graham Hutchison Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party

Jill Reilly Scottish Liberal Democrats

Edinburgh Northern and Leith

Rebecca Bell Scottish Liberal Democrats

Katrina Faccenda Scottish Labour Party

Callum Laidlaw Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party

Ben Macpherson Scottish National Party (SNP)

Jon Pullman Scottish Freedom Alliance

Lorna Slater Scottish Green Party

Lezley Marion Cameron Scottish Labour Party and Scottish Co-operative Party

Fraser John Ashmore Graham Scottish Liberal Democrats

Gordon Lindhurst Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party

Richard Crewe Lucas Scottish Family Party

Gordon MacDonald Scottish National Party (SNP)

Miles Briggs Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party

Philip Holden Scottish Family Party

Daniel Johnson Scottish Labour Party and Scottish Co-operative Party

Catriona Mary Elizabeth MacDonald Scottish National Party (SNP)

Fred Mackintosh Scottish Liberal Democrats

Alex Cole-Hamilton Scottish Liberal Democrats

Daniel Fraser Scottish Libertarian Party

Margaret Arma Graham Scottish Labour Party

Sarah Masson Scottish National Party (SNP)

Sue Webber Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party

Euan Robert Davidson Scottish Liberal Democrats

Craig Hoy Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party

Paul Stewart McLennan Scottish National Party (SNP)

Martin David Whitfield Scottish Labour Party

Midlothian North & Musselburgh

Colin Beattie Scottish National Party (SNP)

Stephen Curran Scottish Labour Party

Charles Christopher Dundas Scottish Liberal Democrats

Iain Whyte Scottish Conservative

Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale

Dominic Ashmole - Scottish Green Party

Michael James Banks - Vanguard Party

Christine Grahame - Scottish National Party (SNP)

Shona Haslam - Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party

AC May - Scottish Liberal Democrats

Katherine Sangster - Scottish Labour Party and Scottish Co-operative Party

Angela Constance Scottish National Party (SNP)

Damian Doran-Timson Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party

Caron Lindsay Scottish Liberal Democrats

Craig Smith Scottish Labour Party

Fiona Hyslop Scottish National Party (SNP)

Charles Kennedy Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party

Sally Pattle Scottish Liberal Democrats

Kirsteen Sullivan Scottish Labour Party and Scottish Co-operative Party

Abolish the Scottish Parliament Party: John Johnson Leckie; David Lindsay Nichol.

Alba Party: Kenneth Wright MacAskill; Alexander Arthur; Christina Mary Hendry; Irshad Ahmed.

All for Unity: Charlotte Morley; Parvinder Singh; Alan Hogg; Andy Macaulay; David Hamilton; Mike Knox; Derek Clark.

Animal Welfare Party: Vivienne Moir; Gavin Ridley.

Communist Party of Britain: Matthew Finlay Waddell.

Freedom Alliance - Integrity, Society, Economy: Jon Pullman; Cara Patricia Wase; Patricia McCann.

Reform UK: Derek Steven Winton; Mev Brown; Iain Murray Morse; Lesley MacDonald.

Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party: Miles Briggs; Sue Webber; Jeremy Balfour; Rebecca Fraser; Malcolm Offord; Scott Douglas; Gordon Lindhurst; Marie-Clair Munro; Graham Hutchison; Iain Whyte; Callum Laidlaw; Charles Kennedy.

Scottish Family Party: Richard Crewe Lucas; Philip Holden; Norman David Colville; Gareth Kirk; Amy Ireland.

Scottish Greens: Alison Johnstone; Lorna Slater; Kate Nevens; Chas Booth; Steve Burgess; Alys Mumford; Emily Frood; Ben Parker; Elaine Taylor; Bill Wilson; Evelyn Weston; Alex Staniforth.

Scottish Labour Party: Daniel Johnson; Sarah Boyack; Foysol Choudhury; Madelaine Kirkman; Kirsteen Sullivan; Nicholas Ward; Frederick Hessler; Stephen Robert Curran.

Scottish Liberal Democrats: Alex Cole-Hamilton; Fred Mackintosh; Jill Reilly; Rebecca Louise Bell; Sally Pattle; Fraser John Ashmore Graham; Caron Marianne Lindsay; Bruce Roy Wilson; Charles Christopher Dundas.

Scottish Libertarian Party: Tam Laird; Cameron Paul Paterson.

Scottish National Party: Graham Campbell; Angus Robertson; Fiona Hyslop; Ben Macpherson; Catriona MacDonald; Sarah Masson; Greg McCarra; Alison Dickie; Alex Orr; Andrew Ewen; Rob Connell.

Scottish Renew: Heather Jane Astbury; Anna Freemantle-Zee.

Scottish Women's Equality Party: Emma Jane Watt; David Malcolm Alexander Renton; Lucy Hammond.

Social Democratic Party: Alasdair James Young; Neil Peter Manson; Lawrence Sebastian Edwards.

UK Independence Party (UKIP): Donald MacKay; John Laurence Mumford; Steve Hollis; Kenneth Lowry.

Independent: Ashley Graczyk.

Originally posted here:
Scottish election 2021: Full list of candidates in Edinburgh and the Lothians - Edinburgh News