Greens did not act over party it claimed deceived the voters
The Scottish Greens failed to complain to the Electoral Commission about a party they criticised as having undertaken “blatant electoral deceit” during the 2021 Holyrood election, it can be revealed.
A row between the party and the elections regulator continues to rumble on following a revelation that the Greens did not complain about the name oremblemoftheindependent Green Voice party prior to the election.
Scottish Greens accused the Independent Green Voice of deliberately misleading voters in an attempt to gain votes, pointing to a lack of a manifesto and campaigning prior to polling day.
In a response to a request from The Scotsman, the
Electoral Commission confirmed no complaints had been lodged by the Scottish Greens during the period in which the public could comment on the application from the Independent Green Voice to change its logo.
Emails released by Electoral Commission officials in response to the freedom of information request show no concerns were raised internally around the new emblem.
However, the Scottish Greens said: “While the party spotted the worrying logo too late to comment directly to the Electoral Commission, its own guidance states that they should reject an emblem if it could mislead voters. In this case, almost 10,000 people voted for a party that did not campaign, had no manifesto, no online presence and changed their logo ahead of the election to try and mislead voters.
"For those who voted IGV by mistake, the Electoral Commission failed in its duty, and it’s disappointing that the many voters who complained appear not to have been taken seriously.”
In May’s election, the Scottish Greens blamed the Independent Green Voice party, which they labelled a “front for facists”, for their narrow failure to win two additional MSPS on the regional list and take their representation up to 10 MSPS in Holyrood.
Had 900 of the 2,210 votes received by the Independent Green Voice in Glasgow and 115 of the 1,690 the party received in the South of Scotland gone to the Greens, Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater’s party would have won additional list seats in the region.