WITH its population having soared to more than 500,000, the City of Edinburgh local authority area has been altered by the Boundary Commission to give the capital five more seats, although it retains the same number of wards. There will be 63 councillors representing 17 wards after tomorrow, with five wards electing four councillors instead their three in 2012. It should be noted that the Meadows/Morningside ward has been renamed as simply Morningside – a matter of some importance to many residents of that famous area.

As the second-largest local authority in Scotland in terms of population, and given that increase in representation, you might think that Edinburgh would have the second-highest number of candidates in tomorrow’s election.

That’s just not the case, as there are just 120 candidates contesting the 63 available seats, which puts Edinburgh behind Glasgow, Fife, Highland, and North and South Lanarkshire in the league table of candidate numbers.

There are also plenty of places available for new faces. Edinburgh is losing some of the country’s best-known and longest-serving councillors, such as council leader Andrew Burns, former lord provosts Lesley Hinds and Eric Milligan, Norma Hart and Paul Godzik – Labour stalwarts all. The Tories are saying goodbye to veteran Allan Jackson and Jeremy Balfour who has been “kicked upstairs” as an MSP. Mark McInnes is also leaving after being elevated to the peerage in David Cameron’s resignation honours list.

Liberal Democrat group leader Paul Edie is standing down as are Stefan Tymkewycz and Steve Cardownie of the SNP. Tymkewycz exposed the repairs scandal that rocked the council and the latter was both SNP group leader, Festivals “czar” and deputy lord provost after moving from the Labour Party.

So no matter what happens, the council will have a new look about it, although some incumbents will surely return – the SNP’s Frank Ross, Alasdair Rankin, Mike Bridgman and Richard Lewis must surely be solid contenders, as are Labour’s Lord Provost Donald Wilson, Ricky Henderson and Cammy Day. It is difficult to see Bob Aldridge of the Liberal Democrats and the Tories’ Joanne Mowat and Cameron Rose failing to keep their seats.

The big question regarding the future control of the city is whether the current coalition of Labour and the SNP will continue. That is also the possible reason why the candidate numbers are lower than expected. No party is putting up enough candidates to take overall control of the council, which in itself is an indication that the status quo might be preserved, although the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and Greens are all making a push.

Nevertheless, the political big guns in this election all belong to Labour and the SNP. When the coalition between the two parties was announced back in 2012, there was disbelief in some quarters – it has remained the only all-out coalition between Labour and the SNP in the country.

Furthermore, thanks largely to the stance of senior individuals in both parties, there was no chance of a coalition with the Conservatives back in 2012, and there’s even less chance of that now.

The only change might be that the SNP will get more seats than Labour and therefore take over the leadership and lord provostship, but the very fact that neither party is making all-out war on the other across the capital suggests they both want things to continue as they are.

The problem for any council, no matter its political colour, is that it gets the blame for the faults of previous administrations, and that has been spectacularly proven in Edinburgh in recent years.

The trams scandal and the collapsing PFI schools were absolutely not the fault of the Capital Coalition, but that message has not been put across to the public quite enough. Indeed, the council could claim the schools debacle as something of a victory given the extraordinary efforts that were put into rehousing pupils over those long worrying months. The trams inquiry hasn’t got into second gear yet, but it promises to be an investigation that will put the blame exactly where it should be, and those at fault pre-date the current council.

Meanwhile the “ordinary” issues of the day are preoccupying the capital’s voters – the 20mph speed limit across most of the city is a big topic, while the perceived poor performance of the city’s cleansing department and the failure to get a grip of the horrendous problems with roadworks and potholes is something that has been raised countless times on the doorsteps.

The capital has its own unique problems – just how much development can take place in a city thirled to a history that has made it a Unesco World Heritage Site? A shortage of housing is a major matter. The SNP has pledged to build 20,000 affordable houses, and Labour 16,000 – but where are they going to go?

Edinburgh’s Capital Coalition has had much to be proud of and – whisper it – Labour and the SNP proved that though they disagree about national issues, they can work together at local level.

The betting has to be that the Capital Coalition will continue in some shape or form.