WHY is it that the SNP leadership are talking such rubbish about the voting system in the Scottish election? Do they not understand the situation, or are they trying to treat us supporters as fools?

I am not a member of the SNP but I am a committed supporter of Scottish independence and I will vote SNP with my constituency vote as I have always done.

However, like most people who are interested in elections, I looked at how seats were allocated and recognised that the SNP were managing to do what the designers of the system did not think was possible – they were picking up seats all across Scotland in every type of community. The old traditional pattern had been Tories taking rural seats, while Labour took urban. Tories got the seats in wealthy areas while Labour got seats in the poor areas. The SNP began to break the mould in the Scottish system and to win seats all over Scotland of every kind, taking them from both Tory and Labour. 

READ MORE: Don’t take us for fools with ‘overly simplistic’ SNP 1&2 arguments

Starting from a very low base of just seven constituency seats in 1999, with the LibDems in third place with 11, the SNP needed regional list seats at the beginning. However, the SNP has developed over the years in one steady direction. They have increased their vote consistently and this has put them in a powerful position as regards the constituency seats.

In 2016 they won 59 constituency seats, but only four regional list seats. This was hardly surprising because of their strong showing and success in the constituency vote. Looking at how the system works this can be no surprise to anyone. In six of the eight regions of Scotland they got no list seats for hundreds of thousands of votes. Will it be different this time? Now that is possible, but extremely unlikely. If the SNP retains all its constituency seats – or more likely increases its number of seats – then it will not get more list seats. However, many Yes supporters vote SNP in the second ballot. I know this, anyone who looks at the system knows this, and the SNP leadership know this, so why are they misleading people? What is the purpose of that?

The SNP leadership need to be more honest with people and stop trying to mislead us about the vast number of discounted votes indy supporter like me would waste if we were foolish enough to take their advice and use both votes for the SNP. In addition, if we did that we would allow Tories and Labour to hoover up the list seats so they can have another go at getting rid of the First Minister.

Politics is not about personalities, it is about policies, and the policy of securing Scottish independence is too important to mess about with. Vote SNP 1 ALBA 2 and let us go for the super majority which will make Bojo think again.

Andy Anderson
Saltcoats

WHAT a fankle! I think we have to be honest about the second vote issue.

Firstly I’ll state that I will almost certainly vote SNP 1 & 2, because I live in the Highland region and we do have a good chance of electing a SNP list candidate.

What I find disingenuous about the SNP’s arguments against lending your second vote is two-fold. Firstly they say it is playing the system, which appears to be acceptable if you are lending your vote to the Greens but let's be honest the Unionists are already lending votes to gain seats. In 2016 the Conservative list vote went up by over 100%; votes from Labour and LibDem voters that saw this as the acceptable way to fight for the Union.

READ MORE: It’s nonsense to imply list-only parties are somehow cheating

Secondly, their vociferous arguments that we must forget any qualms we have about the SNP, put indy first and vote for them. The elephant in the room is the reason of self-interest, they do not want folk to vote Alba because that is the end of the monopoly on being “the” independence party. The SNP know fine that if Alba get a foot in the door, at the next election it will be the constituencies too they will be fighting for, and how quickly have they resorted to name-calling and ridicule as the form of politics in which they wish to indulge. 

I remind the SNP that if they do wish to win over voters to independence then good reasoned argument is the best way, not name-calling.

Neil Morison
Dornie