Edinburgh Corporation election, 1968

Results by ward.

An Election to the Edinburgh Corporation was held on 7 May 1968, alongside municipal elections across Scotlands. Of the councils 68 seats, 22 were up for election. Despite receiving the most votes of any single party, the SNP won only 7 seats. Unlike in Glasgow, the Progressives and Conservatives did not run on a joint ticket.^[1] Despite that however the parties only ran competing candidates in the Gorgie-Dalry ward.

Following the election Edinburgh Corporation was composed of 34 Progressives (including the Lord Provost), 21 Labour councillors, 8 SNP councillors, 3 Conservatives, 1 Liberal, and 1 independent. Following the election the Progressive/Conservative coalition controlled the council with a majority of 6.

No election was held in the Holyrood ward, where the sitting Labour councillor died the week before the election.

Turnout was 140,987.

Aggregate results

Edinburgh Corporation election, 1968[2]
Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Progressives	10	0	0		45.45	26.87	37,885
	SNP	7	6	0	6	31.82	34.83	49,111
	Labour	3	0	2	2	13.64	19.15	26,997
	Conservative	1	1	0	1	4.55	9.72	13,715
	Liberal	1	0	0		4.55	6.46	9,105
	Communist	0	0	0		0	1.74	2,462
	Independent Conservative	0	0	0		0	1.21	1,712

Ward Results

Broughton

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Progressives	A. Theurer	2239
	SNP	C. MacDougall	2042
	Liberal	E. W. Hall	819
	Labour	I. R. Hoy	744
Majority			197
Turnout				48.31
	Progressives hold		Swing

Calton

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	SNP	W. Thomson	1671
	Progressives	A. D. Wilson	1637
	Labour	S. Cook	1196
Majority			34
Turnout				43.22
	SNP gain from Labour		Swing

Central Leith

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	SNP	F. T. Chalmers	1898
	Labour	T. H. Greig	1393
	Progressives	D. Valentine	706
	Communist	T. C. Taylor	86
Majority			505
Turnout				36.51
	SNP gain from Labour		Swing

Colinton

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Progressives	D. M. Cameron	4671
	SNP	A. Westwood	3389
	Labour	R. D. M. Brown	1450
Majority			1282
Turnout				48.71
	Progressives hold		Swing

Corstorphine

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Progressives	F. Ford	3689
	SNP	A. McCallum	2982
	Liberal	Vera P. Heggie	1795
Majority			707
Turnout				51.29
	Progressives hold		Swing

Craigentinny

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	G. Drummond	2627
	SNP	R. Anderson	2566
	Conservative	Geraldine R. Johnston	1586
Majority			61
Turnout				47.89
	Labour hold		Swing

Craigmillar

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	SNP	R. Dalrymple	2590
	Labour	D. F. Renton	2081
	Conservative	D. R. Anderson	823
	Communist	M. D'Arcy	145
Majority			509
Turnout				40.0
	SNP gain from Labour		Swing

Gorgie-Dalry

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	SNP	T. McCarron	2088
	Labour	J. E. Boyack	1591
	Conservative	M. Pirie	1481
	Progressives	Miss Mar A. M. Hislop	511
	Liberal	R. T. Parker	140
	Communist	M. R. Currie	78
Majority			497
Turnout				44.02
	Labour hold		Swing

West Leith

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Progressives	J. Scott	2925	71.87
	Independent Conservative	A. H. Lester	1145	28.13
Majority			1780	43.73
Turnout			4070	36.90
	Progressives hold		Swing

References

1. http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/17th-may-1968/7/were-all-nationalists-now
2. "Results in the Municipal Elections". The Glasgow Herald. 8 May 1968. p. 12.