Who鈥檚 who at the count
Many people are involved in running an election count, but you are most likely to come across the following:
-
the Returning Officer (RO)
- this is the person in charge of the election
- Paul Lawrence is the Constituency Returning Officer for the six constituencies in Edinburgh and the Regional Returning Officer for Edinburgh and Lothians East Region
- Depute Returning Officers will be assisting the RO throughout the count and are able to act on his behalf
- each constituency count for the constituency contest is managed by a Count Manager (CM) and an Assistant Count Manager. Each CM is also a DRO.
- each constituency count for the regional contest is managed by an ACM
- supervisors manage teams of count assistants and report to the ACMs
- count assistants are divided into count teams and will count the ballot papers at verification and then the votes for each candidate / party
- accountants records all the figures and produces the provisional result using spreadsheets
Edinburgh count management team
Download the count team for Friday 7 May
Scottish Parliament Election Count Team 2026
Returning Officer - Paul Lawrence
Depute Returning Officers
- Chris Highcock
- Fran Cattanach
- Scott Russell
Central
Count Manager - Nick Smith
Assistant Count Managers
- Gillie Severin
- Nareen Turnbull
Information Officer - Andrew Rose
North Eastern and Leith
Count Manager - Fraser Rowson
Assistant Count Managers
- Kevin McKee
- Rebecca Andrew
Information Officer - Gavin Brown
North Western
Count Manager - Gareth Barwell
Assistant Count Managers
- Amanda Hatton
- Sat Patel
Information Officer - Elin Williamson
Northern
Count Manager - Gavin King
Assistant Count Managers
- Andy Nichol
- Alison Coburn
Information Officer - Kevin Wilbraham
South Western
Count Manager - Neil Jamieson
Assistant Count Managers
- Innes Edwards
- Lisa Hastie
Information Officer - Chris Lawson
Southern
Count Manager - Debs Smart
Assistant Count Managers
- Derek McGowan
- Richard Lloyd-Bithell
Information Officer - Lindsay Robertson
