THE Scottish Greens have urged Scotland’s other political parties to back their demands for an urgent investigation into a “far-right spoiler party” appearing to cost them an MSP.
Earlier this week, co-leader Gillian Mackay called for the chief executive of the Electoral Commission (EC) to resign over the watchdog’s handling of the far-right party Independent Green Voice (IGV).
Mackay has also called for a full investigation by the EC to take place, after IGV appeared to cost the party a crucial seat during last week’s Holyrood election.
The IGV received 2490 votes in the Mid Scotland and Fife region, where one of the Scottish Greens candidates, Mags Hall, narrowly missed out on a spot on the list, despite the far-right party doing no campaigning or having any social media presence.
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Nationally, they received around 20,000 votes.
The Scottish Greens have repeatedly complained to the Electoral Commission over the IGV's branding, after the campaign group changed their logo from a forearm with a thumbs up to a leaf with the words “Independent Green Voice”, with Green in larger letters.
And now, Mackay has urged other parties to support their call as the row rumbles on.
We previously told how former EC CEO Bob Posner sent an email following the Greens 2021 complaint stating “it does feed into a possible arguable view of deliberately seeking to confuse voters with the better known Scottish Green Party.”
Urging other parties to support calls for a probe, 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.
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“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."
Mackay 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.”
The Scottish LibDems have backed the Scottish Greens call.
North East Fife MSP Willie Rennie said: "The question of voter confusion is not unique to the Scottish Greens - there is a separate Liberal Party and a Socialist Labour Party for example.
"However, I think there are reasonable grounds for questioning the handling of a party who do not appear to actively campaign, yet polled almost 20,000 votes, well above the usual fringe parties and candidates."
The SNP, Scottish Labour, Tories and Reform UK did not respond to our request for comment.
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