THE winner of the Scottish Greens’ first major leadership contest is due to be announced by the end of the week after voting closes at midday tomorrow.
Current female convener Maggie Chapman is facing a challenge from Glasgow Greens’ co-convener Zara Kitson ahead of the party’s push to get their biggest number of seats at Holyrood in the elections next May.
Nine thousand members are eligible to vote after the party experienced a membership surge of more than 7,000 following its involvement in the campaign for a Yes vote in the independence referendum. Voting is being carried out electronically via the Electoral Reform Services.
“This is a completely different contest from any we have seen before in the party,” said a source.
“In our last one in 2013 we had just 1,000 members, and the numbers who took part were in the low hundreds, but now we have nine times as many members and are expected a high turnout.”
Unlike other political parties the Scottish Greens have two leaders, one of each gender to convey its commitment to gender equality.
Chapman, who is top of the Green’s regional candidates list for north east Scotland, is being backed to continue as co-convener by MSP John Finnie.
She joined the party in 2004 and was elected at the age of 26 to City of Edinburgh Council to represent Leith Walk ward. She has been co-convener since November 2013.
She was also involved in campaigning for a Yes vote and has worked to combat the perception of the Greens a single-issue party by campaigning, becoming the first politician to call for public bodies to pay the Living Wages.
“Over the past two years I’ve worked hard to extend the appeal of the Scottish Green Party,” she said.
“That produced our strongest Scotland-wide result in the European elections, and a Green Yes campaign that brought the Green message to more people than ever before.
“Our record membership and radically improved election results show that widening our appeal has been the right thing to do. As we go into our most important election yet in May next year, I believe I can continue to take that appeal to the electorate. We need to put ourselves in a position to become the main party of opposition by 2021. I have the track record and ability of doing that. That’s why I believe I am the best candidate to take us into this election.”
Kitson is second on the Glasgow regional list of candidates for Holyrood and has been endorsed by MSP and party co-convener Patrick Harvie.
Commenting on the contest Harvie said: “Constructive opposition and a bolder Holyrood have never been more important, and the Scottish Greens are best placed to provide those qualities.
“With our surging membership and our highly credible field of MSP candidates already active we are determined to deliver a record result in May, with Green MSPs from every region.
“Healthy competition for key internal positions shows how vibrant our party is following the referendum and as we look towards an election in which we’re polling strongly while other opposition parties are flat-lining or sinking. Many members have already voted for their preferred candidates for party positions and I’d urge those who haven’t to use their vote today.”
More than one in ten of the Scottish Greens’ 9,000 members are former Labour members. Opinion polls suggest Green MSPs will be elected across Scotland’s eight regions in May.
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