Thread by @WilliePSPC

Significant voter confusion in the Scottish election #SP21 has meant 2 @scottishgreens seats have gone to unionist parties & changed a media narrative that should have read:
"All unionists parties lose ground".
to
"Unionists hold steady".

With credits to @EuanYours @mehall
1/12

A democratic injustice occurred at the European elections in 1994 when a candidate for the ‘Literal Democrats’ picked up 10,000 votes and snatched victory from the ‘Liberal Democrats’ @LibDems, resulting in the Tories winning with a 700 majority.
2/12

‘The Registration of Political Parties Act 1998’, was supposed to outlaw “the use of names in elections designed to cause confusion with more established parties”.

This law appears to not have been applied in #SP21

bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-pol…
3/12

The most prominent & largest font with the word ‘GREEN’ anywhere on the list ballot paper is in the logo for a far right fringe party called the ‘Independent GREEN Voice’, led by a holocaust denier &with former BNP members as candidates.

Where do you see "GREEN" first?
4/12

A logo change that made the word ‘GREEN’ the most prominent feature of the logo was approved just 6 weeks before the election by the @ElectoralCommUK .

A clear attempt to introduce voter confusion that should not have been allowed.
5/12

‘Independent GREEN Voice’ were 6th from top on the ballot in alphabetical order, versus 10th position for the Scottish Greens.

As you scan down the ballot paper, with a queue of voters behind you, you see ‘Independent GREEN Voice’ first.
6/12

This confusion saw IGV get thousands of votes that were clearly intended for the Scottish Greens.

The impact of that saw 2 less Green MSPs elected, 1 going to the @ScotTories & 1 to @ScottishLabour.

Full breakdown of each region by @mehall here:

https://twitter.com/mehall/status/1391123337762545666?s=20

7/12

‘Independent GREEN Voice’ did no campaigning, had no social media presence and a Google search just comes up with a 2007 manifesto.

You can read more about this far right fringe party here:

https://twitter.com/FerretScot/status/1389863076791455748?s=20

8/12

The seats affected:
Glasgow, Tories seat 2 @Sandeshgulhane should have gone to @CaptainKim
Greens 914 votes short for a 2nd seat, IGV got 2,210.

South, Labour seat 3 @_MWhitfield should have gone to @Laura_Moodie
Greens 115 votes short for their 1st seat, IGV got 1,690.
9/12

.@Sandeshgulhane and @_MWhitfield didn’t cheat, they did nothing wrong & if they stand down the seat would go to the next list candidate.

But by any fair interpretation they are illegitimate MSPs, sitting in the seats of the rightful winners, @CaptainKim & @Laura_Moodie.
10/12

This democratic injustice was facilitated by failures in the @ElectoralCommUK & that failure has benefited @ScotTories & @ScottishLabour.

I believe these parties have integrity & a belief in democracy. They now need to demonstrate that & work towards a solution.
11/12

Correcting this doesn’t significantly change makeup of the Scottish Parliament, as SNP still need to work with other parties to get business through.

But the voters of Glasgow & South Scotland should be represented by those they clearly intended to cast their vote for.
12/12

Full credit to @EuanYours @mehall @donaldson_simon and @conor_matchett for doing all the work on highlighting this and collecting the numbers that show the democratic injustice that has occurred.
#sp21

Twitter broke the thread of replies. Here's 7/12

https://twitter.com/WilliePSPC/status/1391393115584466945?s=20

Credit also to @parcelorogues who I missed when I gave the above credits. Apologies Liam.

https://twitter.com/parcelorogues/status/1391104054449815559

Daily Record dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/…

And Guardian Live Blog at 15:53 theguardian.com/politics/live/…

Have now picked up the story.