More than two hours after results were called for Edinburgh North & Leith, South West, West and East the race in Edinburgh South remained hotly contested.

It was an extremely close race which featured intense discussions between candidates, agents and officials, a bundle recount and accusations of missing votes. The seat eventually remained with the Labour party with Ian Murray recieving 15,215 votes to Liberal Democrats Fred Mackintosh's 14,899, a decrease in the Labour majority of 89 votes. 

Edinburgh South was won by Labour in 2005 by only 405 votes. The seat was fifth on the Liberal Democrat target list.

The Liberal Democrats hoped to capitalise upon high popularity with the large student electorate to capture the seat.

Ian Murray, in an acceptance speech in which he thanked all his opponents, and singled out Mackintosh's campaign for praise, admitted that he had not been expecting to be standing on the stage as a victor and accused Liberal Democrat counsellors of letting Mackintosh's campaign down.

A subdued Mackinstosh called for people not to forget the causes of the financial crisis, the necessity for economic and political reform and spoke out against what he called, "the idea that if you frighten people they will vote for you."

The Student will be analysing the election results and thier impact on both students and Edinburgh in depth later today.