With General Election voting over across Britain, Meadowbank Stadium was a flurry of activity as counting took place for all five Edinburgh constituencies.

As of 00:25, all constituencies but Edinburgh West had begun their second count. There is a preliminary count to verify the number of votes, with the longer process of sorting ballots by party to follow.

Officials at Meadowbank have said that Edinburgh East will be the first seat with results, but that the count will likely not finish before 02:00. 

Counters are seated 4 to a table in 3 halls. Officials expect counting to last into the early hours of Friday morning, perhaps as late as 04:00.

The latest exit poll figures predict a hung Parliament with the Conservative party short of a majority by 21 seats.

Labour is predicted to win 255 seats and the Liberal Democrats are set to take 61. Exit polls do not include postal votes.

Edinburgh constituencies have so far defied national trends, with all five seats predicted to go either to Labour or the Liberal Democrats.

The Times have predicted that Edinburgh South and Edinburgh North and Leith will swing from Labour to the Liberal Democrats, to candidates Fred Mackintosh and Kevin Lang respectively.

Michael Crockart is expected to maintain the Liberal Democrat hold on Edinburgh West.

Labour is predicted to retain Edinburgh South West, currently held by Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling and Edinburgh East for candidate Sheila Gilmore.

EUSA President-elect Liz Rawlings told The Student that she regards Labour and the Liberal Democrats as the parties which "best represent students' interests", having both supported the Pledge for Students to vote against university tuition fee increases. She added, however, that the positions of individual candidates are extremely important: "It is, for example, disappointing that Chancellor Alistair Darling has not signed the pledge".

Ms. Rawlings said that she had voted in Edinburgh South but declined to tell The Student for whom.

Regarding the importance of the student vote in Edinburgh, she said: "It's huge, and turnout has been very high in student areas".

Speaking toThe Student at Meadowbank, Conservative MSP David McLetchie said he. expects his party to keep it's lone Scottish Westminster seat and take four or five more.

With regards to the speculation surrounding a Conservative minority government with the unionist parties in Northern Ireland, he said: “No, no, I don't think there’s much of a prospect of a coalition deal with the unionist parties in Ulster.”

“I don’t think it would be possible, given the number of seats Labour have lost going by the exit polls and Lib Dem levels of support, that there could be a coalition deal to keep David Cameron from becoming Prime Minister.”

Labour MSP Lord Foulkes said he was 'very sceptical' with regards to the exit poll figures. "We’ve got such a different political make up here with the regional variations in the UK".

“I think we’ve got five excellent candidates in Edinburgh, and I think we’ve got a chance in all five seats.  In Edinburgh South, Ian Murray has ran an excellent campaign, but I think he’s been hampered by coming in fairly late as a candidate.”

Beverly Hope, Liberal Democrat candidate for Edinburgh East and campaign manager for Michael Crockart in Edinburgh West told The Student: “I’ve been very happy with our campaign in Edinburgh East, although it has been difficult running against Labour and the Scottish National Party. Edinburgh West has been seamless.”

With regards to the news that the party faces a declining vote despite recent surges in popularity, Hope said the figures were “maybe not very optimistic, but exit polls are often not that reliable”.

“We expect to hold all 12 of our seats in Scotland and are targeting a further 16. I’m confident that we will hold Edinburgh West, and gain both Edinburgh North and Leith and Edinburgh South.”

In spite of a result predicted in her disfavour, Scottish National Party candidate for Edinburgh West Sheena Cleland maintained a positive outlook, saying that she felt 'confident' and 'was looking forward to change'.