THE Scottish Greens have hit out after a “front for fascists” party with a similar name and logo to theirs may have cost them two regional list seats.
Independent Green Voice, whose candidates included an alleged Holocaust denier and two former BNP activists, has been registered with the electoral commission since 2003. But in this election there are concerns their name and logo may have cost the pro-independence party regional seats in Glasgow and South Scotland.
In Glasgow, where Independent Green Voice were not on the ballot paper in 2016, they gained 2210 votes (0.7% vote share). The Scottish Greens were only 1000 votes away from taking a second regional seat that eventually went to the Tories.
Independent Green Voice, set up by Alistair McConnachie, who has been accused of Holocaust denial and was the candidate for Glasgow, also may have had an impact in South Scotland.
There they won 1690 (0.46% vote share) votes that also may have been a result of voter confusion. The Greens only needed 100 votes to take the final regional seat there. The party was also not on the peach ballot in 2016 for South Scotland.
One Green activist pointed out the issue on Twitter. He said: “The Scottish Greens were 1000 votes shy of beating the Tories to the final seat in the Glasgow Region. ‘Independent Green Voice’ got 2000, much higher than any of the other crank parties.
“I think it’s fair to say that voter confusion has cost us a second seat in Glasgow.”
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There are now implications that the fringe party may have stopped the pro-independence seat total from being 74 instead of 72.
A spokesperson for the Scottish Greens said: “Independent Green Voice, now a front for fascists, was allowed to use a logo with ‘green’ in big letters and the other words in small print on the ballot paper. This attracted enough votes to potentially prevent two additional Scottish Green MSPs to be elected, one in Glasgow and one in the South of Scotland.
“There are serious questions about how the Electoral Commission allowed such blatant electoral deceit.”
A spokesperson for the Electoral Commission would not confirm if any complaints had been made or if it was investigating.
She said: “We assess all party applications against the criteria set out in law and consider comments made by the public and other parties. This includes assessing the identity marks that appear on ballot papers to ensure voters would not be misled as to the intention of their vote. If a party’s application meets the legal criteria then it must be registered.”
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