Central Fife was a constituency of the Scottish Parliament. It elected one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the plurality (first past the post) method of election. It was also one of nine constituencies in the Mid Scotland and Fife electoral region, which elected seven additional members, in addition to nine constituency MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole. From the 2011 Scottish Parliament election Central Fife was redrawn and renamed Mid Fife and Glenrothes.
The former First Minister Henry McLeish represented the constituency from 1999 to 2003.
The other eight initial constituencies of the Mid Scotland and Fife region were; Dunfermline East, Dunfermline West, Fife North East, Kirkcaldy, Ochil, Perth, Stirling and Tayside North. The region covered all of the Clackmannanshire council area, all of the Fife council area, all of the Perth and Kinross council area, all of the Stirling council area and parts of the Angus council area.
The constituency was created at the same time as the Scottish Parliament, in 1999, with the name and boundaries of a pre-existing UK House of Commons constituency. Ahead of the 2005 House of Commons constituencies in Scotland were mostly replaced with new constituencies.
The Scottish Parliament constituency of Central Fife was one of five Mid Scotland and Fife constituencies covering the Fife council area, the others being Dunfermline East, Dunfermline West, Fife North East and Kirkcaldy. All were entirely within the council area. Fife Central covered a central portion of the council area, south-west of Fife North East, north of Kirkcaldy, and north-west of Dunfermline East.
The constituency included the new town of Glenrothes and the industrial ports of Leven and Methil. The main industries in this region were once coal and linoleum, but nowadays Glenrothes is a centre for the electronics and off-shore oil industries.
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