It's all about the trams. Five years ago, the LibDems and SNP entered a fragile coalition to steer Edinburgh through one of the largest infrastructure crises in the country.
But last year, the SNP won five out of six of the Edinburgh seats at Holyrood, with Malcolm Chisholm of Labour taking the last one, and at council level it is the Nationalists' group leader, Steve Cardownie, who has been one of the most outspoken against trams, a position that could give the party a boost this time round.
The SNP members are coming up against a LibDem group that has said the trams project could be extended if it is re-elected to council leadership, and a Labour group that has promised a moratorium on roadworks.
The LibDems, led by Jenny Dawe in Edinburgh, said in their manifesto they will look at extending lines to Leith in the north and Little France in the south.
The Edinburgh Labour group, headed by Andrew Burns, made a pledge to curb major traffic projects in the city for two years after the completion of the tram scheme if it wins control.
Transport is also high on the capital's Tory group's agenda, led by Jeremy Balfour. It says it will ensure the tram system "is delivered on time and at the best possible price", and will push for better cycling routes and an extension of the city car club.
The Edinburgh Greens said the group wants to end the culture of the "we know best" council of recent years and is hoping to increase its presence from three councillors at present to between six and eight.
The statutory repairs scandal may also have an effect on voters and one, quantity surveyor Gordon Murdie, is to stand in the Southside and Newington ward on the issue.
There are 127 candidates competing for the 58 seats in Edinburgh's 17 multi-member wards. The SNP has 26, Labour 23, the Tories 20 and LibDems and the Greens 17 each.
Scottish Socialist Party leader Colin Fox is standing in Liberton and Gilmerton wards.
Current make-up: Lab 15; SNP 13; Green 3; LibDem 16, Con 11.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article