The countdown to the General Election has well and truly begun and with 100 days to go, the Enfield Independent introduces the candidates who have so far announced they will be standing.

The borough consists of three constituencies; Enfield North, Enfield Southgate, and Edmonton, all three dominated by Labour and Conservatives for years.

Enfield North

Created from the former constituencies of Enfield East and Enfield West in 1974, Enfield North is set to be a hotly contested seat.

The area consists of Chase, Enfield Highway, Enfield Lock, Highlands, Southbury, Town, Turkey Street wards, equating to some 66,000 people from the borough of Enfield.

The main contenders are Joan Ryan, in the red Labour corner and current Conservative MP Nick de Bois in the blue corner.

The pair have been engaged in a bitter tussle over the Enfield North seat since 2001, after Joan Ryan won the seat in 1997 during Labour’s landslide UK victory.

Since facing de Bois, the competition became closer, with Ms Ryan’s advantage dwindling from 6,000 in 1997 to 1,920 in 2005.

In 2010 she relinquished her seat to de Bois, who won a 1,692 majority.

Yet the former MP has not given up on her previous seat and is back to try and reclaim Enfield North.

There are plenty of outsiders in this intriguing race and these include Deborah Cairns for UKIP, David Flint for the Green Party and Cara Jenkinson for the Liberal Democrats.

Enfield Southgate

Covering the wards of Bowes, Cockfosters, Grange, Palmers Green, Southgate, Southgate Green, and Winchmore Hill, this constituency has been predominantly Tory since its inception in 1950.

It was famously held by former Conservative Defence Secretary Michael Portillo until his surprise defeat to Labour’s Stephen Twigg in 1997, when he lost his 15,563 majority.

The Labour MP held the position until 2005 when he lost to current Conservative MP David Burrowes by 1,747 votes.

MP Burrowes now commands a majority of 7,626 and now faces Labour’s Bambos Charalambous, who contested the seat at the last election.

The Enfield borough councillor was some way off the seat in 2010 and will need to harness the Labour support of 1997 if he is to emerge triumphant in May.

Former Conservative councillor David Schofield will be representing UKIP in the constituency, with former Enfield North candidate Paul Smith representing the Lib Dems.

Jean Robertson-Malloy will represent the Green Party.

Edmonton

The end of an era is coming to Edmonton as long-standing MP Andy Love is stepping down at the election in 100 days.

The Labour MP has been dominant since 1997 but his last majority was 9,613, almost 4,000 fewer than his winning margin in 1997.

Since he announced he would be stepping down, a frenzy has ensued with those declaring themselves in the running including Assembly Member for Enfield Joanne McCartney and leader of the Enfield Council Doug Taylor.

The decision is expected to be made in the next six to eight weeks.

Elsewhere, South West Enfield Action Team founder Gonul Daniels has been selected as the Conservative candidate for Edmonton.

Douglas Coker will be standing for the Greens, Neville Watson will hoping to win the seat for UKIP and David Schmitz will be standing for the Liberal Democrats.

The seat has been held by six Labour MPs and just three Conservatives since 1918 and covers the wards of Bush Hill Park, Edmonton Green, Haselbury, Jubilee, Lower Edmonton, Ponders End, Upper Edmonton.