Far-right spoiler party must be investigated
The Scottish Greens have called on Scotland’s other political parties to back demands for an urgent Electoral Commission investigation into Independent Green Voice, after the far-right spoiler party cost Mid Scotland and Fife a second Green MSP.
The call follows the Holyrood election, where the Scottish Greens won a record 15 MSPs but narrowly missed out on securing Mags Hall as a second MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife. Independent Green Voice received 2,490 votes in the region and around 20,000 nationally, despite having no visible campaign, no manifesto and no meaningful public presence.
This follows revelations by the National, that former Electoral Commission CEO Bob Posner sent an email following the party’s 2021 complaint stating “it does feed into a possible arguable view of deliberately seeking to confuse voters with the better known Scottish Green Party.”
Scottish Greens co-leader Gillian Mackay said:
“Every party that believes in fair elections should back our call for an urgent investigation into Independent Green Voice and the Electoral Commission’s handling of this disgrace.
“This is not just about the Scottish Greens. It is about whether voters can trust that the name on the ballot paper means what they think it means.
“Independent Green Voice is a far-right spoiler party. It is not Green, not progressive and not connected to us in any way. Yet once again its presence on the ballot has confused voters and changed the outcome of a Scottish Parliament election.
“In Mid Scotland and Fife, Mags Hall should have been elected. Instead, voters in the region have been denied a second Green MSP they voted for because the Electoral Commission failed to act on repeated warnings.
“Across the rest of Scotland the same scenes were unfolding. Spoilt ballot after spoilt ballot, with lines crossed out over IGV after clearly realising they are not the Scottish Green Party.
“We warned that this would happen. We warned that their name and branding would cause confusion. The Commission refused to act, and the result has been irreversibly altered, and the people of Scotland have not got the democratic outcome they wanted to vote for.
“I have already said that the Electoral Commission’s Chief Executive should resign and there must be a full investigation into how this was allowed to happen and urgent changes before voters go to the polls again.
“Today it is the Scottish Greens. Tomorrow it could be any party. In less than a year, people vote across Scotland for their local council. We want to see an investigation concluded before that election, to ensure no more spoiler parties remain on the ballot paper."
Gillian added:
“No democratic party should be comfortable with a bad-faith spoiler operation being allowed to mislead voters and distort election results.
“That is why we are calling on the SNP, Labour, Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and every pro-democracy voice in Scotland to back our call for action.”