See main article: 2012 Scottish local elections.
| Election Name: | 2012 City of Edinburgh Council election |
| Country: | Scotland |
| Flag Image: | Flag of Edinburgh.svg |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 2007 City of Edinburgh Council election |
| Previous Year: | 2007 |
| Next Election: | 2017 City of Edinburgh Council election |
| Next Year: | 2017 |
| Seats For Election: | All 58 seats to City of Edinburgh Council |
| Majority Seats: | 30 |
| Leader1: | Andrew Burns |
| Party1: | Scottish Labour |
| Last Election1: | 15 seats, 22.93% |
| Leaders Seat1: | Fountainbridge /Craiglockhart |
| Seats Before1: | 15 |
| Seats1: | 20 |
| Seat Change1: | 5 |
| Popular Vote1: | 39,286 |
| Percentage1: | 28.13% |
| Swing1: | 5.45% |
| Party2: | Scottish National Party |
| Last Election2: | 12 seats, 20.32% |
| Leaders Seat2: | Forth |
| Seats Before2: | 13 |
| Seats2: | 18 |
| Seat Change2: | 6 |
| Popular Vote2: | 37,537 |
| Percentage2: | 26.87% |
| Swing2: | 6.55% |
| Leader3: | Jeremy Balfour |
| Party3: | Scottish Conservatives |
| Last Election3: | 11 seats, 22.08% |
| Leaders Seat3: | Corstorphine /Murrayfield |
| Seats Before3: | 11 |
| Seats3: | 11 |
| Seat Change3: | 0 |
| Popular Vote3: | 27,588 |
| Percentage3: | 19.75% |
| Swing3: | 2.33% |
| Leader4: | Maggie Chapman and Steve Burgess |
| Party4: | Scottish Greens |
| Last Election4: | 3 seats, 8.23% |
| Leaders Seat4: | Leith Walk, Southside /Newington |
| Seats Before4: | 3 |
| Seats4: | 6 |
| Seat Change4: | 3 |
| Popular Vote4: | 15,978 |
| Percentage4: | 11.44% |
| Swing4: | 3.21% |
| Leader5: | Paul Edie |
| Party5: | Scottish Liberal Democrats |
| Last Election5: | 17 seats, 21.99% |
| Leaders Seat5: | Corstorphine /Murrayfield |
| Seats Before5: | 17 |
| Seats5: | 3 |
| Seat Change5: | 14 |
| Popular Vote5: | 13,040 |
| Percentage5: | 9.34% |
| Swing5: | 12.65% |
| Map Size: | 400px |
| Leader of the Council | |
| Before Election: | Jenny Dawe defeated |
| Before Party: | Scottish Liberal Democrats |
| Posttitle: | Leader of the council after election |
| After Election: | Andrew Burns |
| After Party: | Scottish Labour |
Elections to the City of Edinburgh Council were held on 3 May 2012, the same day as the 2012 Scottish local elections. The election was the second using 17 new wards created as a result of the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, each ward elected three or four Councillors using the single transferable vote system form of proportional representation system of election.
The main feature of the elections was the near obliteration of the Scottish Liberal Democrats as they collapsed from 17 seats on the city council to just 3, which saw them occupying the position as the smallest party. Their leader, and the leader of the council, Jenny Dawe, lost her seat in Meadows/Morningside, epitomising the poor performance. Scottish Labour replaced the Lib Dems as the largest party as they made 5 gains, winning 20 seats in total. The Scottish National Party became the second largest party, gaining 6 seats and 18 seats in total. The Scottish Conservatives retained 11 seats on the council while the Scottish Greens doubled their seat numbers to 6.
After the election a coalition was formed between the Labour Party and the SNP. This replaced the previous Lib Dem – SNP Coalition which had existed from 2007 to 2012.
Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes. The net gain/loss and percentage changes relate to the result of the previous Scottish local elections on 3 May 2007. This may differ from other published sources showing gain/loss relative to seats held at dissolution of Scotland's councils.
|- class="unsortable" align="centre"!rowspan=2 align="left"|Ward! % !Seats! %!Seats! %!Seats! %!Seats! %!Seats! %!Seats!rowspan=2|Total|- class="unsortable" align="center"!colspan=2 | Labour!colspan=2 | SNP!colspan=2 | Conservative!colspan=2 | Green!colspan=2 | Lib Dem!colspan=2 | Others|-|align="left"|Almond|14.92|0|32.55|1|26.24|1|6.17|0|15.89|1|4.22|0|3|-|align="left"|Pentland Hills|28.85|1|29.16|1|27.70|1|4.05|0|4.66|0|5.59|0|3|-|align="left"|Drum Brae/Gyle|26.46|1|27.00|1|16.04|0|3.62|0|18.77|1|8.12|0|3|-|align="left"|Forth|34.01|2|29.06|1|22.64|1|7.08|0|5.06|0|2.14|0|4|-|align="left"|Inverleith|24.99|1|20.22|1|29.50|1|14.92|1|10.38|0| -| -|4|-|align="left"|Corstorphine/Murrayfield|20.45|0|24.74|1|24.96|1|6.11|0|22.77|1|1.96|0|3|-|align="left"|Sighthill/Gorgie|42.1|2|37.4|2|9.2|0|8.2|0|3.2|0
| -| -|4|-|align="left"|Colinton/Fairmilehead|17.87|0|20.59|1|52.00|2|4.91|0|3.62|0|1.01|0|3|-|align="left"| Fountainbridge/Craiglockhart|23.24|1|23.54|1|21.15|0|24.07|1|7.34|0|0.66|0|3|-|align="left"|Meadows/Morningside|19.64|1|15.78|1|29.90|1|19.75|1|12.30|0|2.63|0|4|-|align="left"|City Centre|21.33|1|24.97|1|27.69|1|17.06|0|7.94|0|1.01|0|3|-|align="left"|Leith Walk|33.24|2|28.48|1|8.11|0|20.28|1|5.09|0|4.81|0|4|-|align="left"|Leith|32.1|1|32.4|1|6.5|0|18.9|1|9.0|0|1.1|0|3|-|align="left"|Craigentinny/Duddingston|36.2|2|36.9|1|10.2|0|7.0|0|8.0|0|1.8|0|3|-|align="left"|Southside/Newington|19.78|1|18.34|1|16.72|1|19.97|1|13.97|0|11.22|0|4|-|align="left"|Liberton/Gilmerton|40.9|2|31.6|1|12.3|1|5.2|0|7.6|0|2.5|0|4|-|align="left"|Portobello/Craigmillar|47.4|2|32.0|1|7.2|0|8.5|0|1.9|0|2.9|0|3|- class="unsortable" class="sortbottom"!align="left"| Total!28.13!20!26.87!18!19.75!11!11.55!6!9.34!3!!0!58|-|}
2007: 1xCon; 1xLib Dem; 1xSNP
2012: 1xSNP; 1xCon; 1xLib Dem
2007-2012 Change: No Change
2007: 1xCon; 1xSNP; 1xLab
2012: 1xSNP; 1xLab; 1xCon
2007-2012 Change: No Change
2007: 2xLib Dem; 1xSNP
2012: 1xLab; 1xSNP; 1xLib Dem
2007-2012 Change: Lab gain one seat from Lib Dem
2007: 2xLab; 1xSNP; 1xLib Dem
2012: 2xLab; 2xSNP;
2007-2012 Change: SNP gain one seat from Lib Dem