The count for the six Edinburgh constituencies for Scottish Parliamentary Elections will take place overnight on Thursday, 5 May at Ingliston in the Highland Hall. The next day, fresh staff will come into Ingliston to count from 4pm for the Referendum on the voting system for the UK Parliament.
Declarations of the results for the six Edinburgh constituencies and the Lothian Region will take place in the Highland Hall. The result for the Lothian Region is made up of nine constituencies (six from Edinburgh, 2 from West Lothian and one from Mid Lothian).
A final decision is still to be taken by the Electoral Commission on arrangements for declaring the Referendum results, but as this is a UK wide event it will be done at a UK level.
Sue Bruce, Returning Officer for Edinburgh, said:
“The decision to count overnight will ensure that the Referendum does not impact on the Scottish Parliamentary counts and declarations in any way. That is our priority as well as an accurate, transparent count in which voters have full confidence.
“The count at Ingliston will be on a scale never before experienced in Edinburgh. To achieve this, we are using the largest hall in the city and 1,200 counters overnight and 400 others the next day.”
