Electoral Commission head must resign over IGV disgrace
The Electoral Commission’s Chief Executive must resign over the Holyrood 2026 results, say the Scottish Greens.
This follows a wrecking move by the far right Independent Green Voice (IGV) blocking the Scottish Greens from securing a second MSP for the Mid Scotland and Fife region.
The party has a similar name to the Scottish Greens and the word ‘Greens’ incorporated into their logo in such a way as to cause confusion with voters.
The IGV received 2,490 votes in the region, and 20,000 nationally, despite doing no campaigning, and having no manifesto, ground campaign or media coverage.
This confusion had previously been reflected in the results of the 2021 Holyrood election, where the party benefited from voters assuming they were backing the Scottish Greens. It cost the Greens seats in South Scotland and Glasgow.
The Hillhead Council by-election in 2023 added further weight to concerns, with IGV coming ahead of the Liberal Democrats despite never standing before, and the disproportionate level of transferred votes between the Scottish Greens and IGV highlighting clear confusion.
Following last week’s result, Scottish elections expert Ballot Box Scotland wrote “The Greens were 0.3% short of beating the Conservatives in Mid Scotland and Fife, but IGV won 0.87%. Something has got to be done about this before 2031. Whatever you think of the Greens, it cannot be the case in a fair and democratic society that one party, and only one, is the victim of a deliberately and malicious spoiler campaign.”
The Scottish Greens have written to the Electoral Commission about the issue multiple times warning that this would happen, with the Commission refusing to take action.
Party co-leader Gillian Mackay said:
“It is disgraceful that this has been allowed to happen again, and there must be accountability. It is time for the Electoral Commission to take action and for their Chief Executive to resign.
“The IGV is a far right spoiler party that has nothing in common with the Scottish Greens and has set out to trick voters.
“They are not Green, not progressive and not connected to us in any way, but their presence on the ballot has clearly confused voters and cost Mid Scotland and Fife a second Scottish Green MSP.
“This is exactly what happened in 2021 and what we warned would happen again. It has irreversibly altered the results and cost the people of Mid Scotland and Fife the Green MSP that they voted for.
“The fact this has been allowed to happen again and again undermines our democracy and the integrity of our election results. The Electoral Commission is there to ensure that people get the results they vote for, and they have failed to do so.”
