AN SNP selection hustings went ahead with just one candidate yesterday after two others refused to participate.
Party members in Cunninghame North were invited to attend an online hustings as the delayed selection process restarted. It was held back amidst allegations about the conduct of sitting MSP Kenneth Gibson, who has represented the area for 13 years and took almost 52% of the vote last time.
But challengers Corri Wilson and Osama Bhutta refused to appear on the panel as a result of those claims.
Allegations of bullying by Gibson were put to the party last year and recently surfaced in the Sunday Mail. After this, the Sunday National learned national secretary Angus MacLeod had started a probe. The long-serving MSP denies any wrongdoing and has accused critics of seeking to discredit him for political reasons.
Candidates were given 48 hours’ notice of the hustings, but Bhutta, a former aide to Alex Salmond, and ex-MP Wilson issued a joint statement which said they would not share a platform with someone facing “such serious allegations”.
The statement reads: “As candidates we are committed to a robust and fair selection process and stand ready to answer any and all questions members wish to ask. However, this contest takes place in the shadow of bullying and other serious allegations.
READ MORE: SNP selection race suspended as probe launched into sitting MSP’s conduct
“SNP HQ has commissioned an external law firm to look into these allegations. Our preference was that this was concluded before the contest took place so that potential victims could receive redress or accused parties could clear their name. While this process is active and live, it is inappropriate, in our eyes, for hustings or indeed the process to go ahead.”
It goes on: “We will therefore not be attending in protest.”
The pair have set up “alternative forums” to take questions from members, adding: “We are available to you and are committed to working towards healing the divisions and hurt in the constituency.”
Bhutta, who left a senior role at Amnesty International to enter the race, further commented: “The situation in Cunninghame North is fixable, but this needs attention.
“We have to win the hearts of the public and that starts by winning each other’s.”
Wilson, one of “the 56” SNP members elected to Westminster in 2015, said she is “completely disheartened by the shenanigans of this contest”.
The SNP has said it does not comment on internal matters and while Gibson has not commented on the latest development, he previously said: “It is desperately sad that some members have chosen to try and subvert the process by trying to discredit me publicly in a newspaper.
“I am amazed that a campaign of malice like this, apparently long in preparation, has been launched.
“I am also very humbled and comforted to hear from so many others in the constituency, at Holyrood and from across the SNP how appalled they are at this vicious and mendacious smear campaign unworthy of SNP members; or anyone else.
“I’m no angel but any actions that may have offended are done in the passion of the moment and not calculated, whereas the actions by this group are deliberate, vicious and spiteful.”
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