Alba Party Q&A
Who arE thE alBa party?
The party was only founded in January this year, however it was registered on February 8 by the Electoral Commission. Its aim is to maximise the Yes vote for independence across Scotland. It will be contesting regional seats at the election, not constituency ones after being founded by former TV producer Laurie Flynn. At its launch the party said its aims were: “National Independence for Scotland as an immediate necessity, and overwhelming priority, achieved by democratic means through a vote of people resident in Scotland. “The promotion of all Scottish interests, and the building of an economically successful, environmentally responsible and sociallyjust independent country, through the pursuit of a social democratic programme. “The acceptance by the Scottish people of a written constitution for the newly independent country; defending the rights, liberties and equality of all citizens before the law.”
Who iS thE lEadEr?
Alex Salmond is the new leader of the Alba Party after the announcement.
At the launch of the event Salmond said: “We expect to field a minimum of four candidates in each regional list and are hoping to elect Alba MSPs from every area of Scotland.
“Today I want to introduce you to the party to its aims and to some of our very first candidates.”
hoW arE thEy approachinG thiS ElEction?
The new party will not compete in constituencies. So what does that mean?
Scotland is divided into 73 constituencies and each constituency elects one MSP. These are known as constituency MSPs and are elected by ‘first past the post’ in exactly the same way as MPs are elected to Westminster.
This is the elector’s ‘first vote’. The ‘second vote’ is used to elect 56 additional members. Scotland is divided into eight parliamentary regions and each region elects 7 regional MSPs.
In the second vote, the voter picks a party, rather than a candidate. The parties are then allocated a number of additional members to make the overall result more proportional. The regional MSPs are selected from lists compiled by the parties. These MSPs are also sometimes referred to as List MSPs.
Who iS StandinG For thE alBa party
Salmond introduced three candidates for the regional “list votes”, Eva Comrie, Cynthia Guthrie and councillor Chris McEleny. He said the party intends to stand list candidates in every region of the country. Salmond will stand in the North East region and lead the party.
Lawyer Comrie will stand in the Mid-Scotland and Fife region. She was previously an SNP candidate for this list, but was unlikely to win a seat. Businesswoman Guthrie, CEO of the Guthrie Group, will stand in South of Scotland. Guthrie described herself as having a passion for business issues, and her company has been involved in supplying PPE equipment. McEleny, an SNP councillor in Inverclyde, has resigned from the SNP to stand in the West of Scotland region. He is a left-winger who disagreed with SNP policy on securing Westminster approval for a second IndyRef.