Skip to content

Greens say fringe party cost them Holyrood seat by 'confusing' voters

News imageBBC Gillian Mackay, who has light brown hair, sits in front of Green branding. She is wearing a pink jacket over a white top BBC
Green co-leader Gillian Mackay has called for the head of the Electoral Commission to resign

The Scottish Greens have claimed that they lost out on a seat at the Holyrood election because a fringe party with a similar name tricked voters.

The Greens say the Independent Green Voice (IGV), founded by a former Ukip organiser, cost the party an MSP in Mid Scotland and Fife.

Co-leader Gillian Mackay said the Electoral Commission had failed to take action after a similar issue at the 2021 election, and called on the organisation's chief executive Vijay Rangarajan to resign.

Both the Electoral Commission and IGV have been asked to comment.

The Greens won a record 15 seats at the election, but they believe they would have won another in Mid Scotland and Fife had IGV not stood for election in the area.

Mackay's party says IGV intentionally confused voters by choosing a similar name and including the word "green" in its logo.

The Greens, who returned one MSP in the region, were just 869 votes behind the Conservatives, who returned two MSPs.

IGV won 2,490 votes in Mid Scotland and Fife, and about 20,000 votes nationally. The party did not receive any media coverage, did not run a social media campaign and is alleged not to have done any on-the-ground campaigning.

News imageThe logos for Independent Green Voice and the Scottish Greens. The IGV logo is a black leaf, while the Scottish Greens one is the name of the party surrounded by a white jaggy border.

IGV is organised by Alistair McConnachie, an anti-immigration and anti-independence activist who was reportedly excluded from Ukip in 2001 after questioning the Holocaust.

The Greens also allege IGV cost them two seats at the 2021 election in Glasgow and South Scotland.

They said the Electoral Commission - the independent body that oversees elections and regulates political finance in the UK - should have taken action.

Mackay said: "It is disgraceful that this has been allowed to happen again, and there must be accountability."

She described IGV as a "spoiler party that has nothing in common with the Scottish Greens and has set out to trick voters".

News imageGetty Images Alistair McConnachie, who has short brown hair, speaks into a microphone. He is wearing a union flag coloured shirt. Getty Images
IGV is run by former Ukip member Alistair McConnachie

Calling on the chief executive of the Electoral Commission to resign, Mackay added: "The fact this has been allowed to happen again and again undermines our democracy and the integrity of our election results.

"The Electoral Commission is there to ensure that people get the results they vote for, and they have failed to do so."

The IGV manifesto says it wants to build more social housing, bring down the cost of living and "break the power of the bond markets".

It includes proposals for a public vaccine harms inquiry to investigate "problems and illnesses related to the coronavirus vaccines".