Election count gets underway
Thousands of residents across Perth and Kinross headed to the polls yesterday to elect the region’s next Scottish Parliament representatives.
Four are vying to replace former Perthshire South and Kinross-shire SNP MSP Roseanna Cunningham, who has stood down after more than 25 years as a parliamentarian.
They are: Julia Brown (Scottish Liberal Democrats), Jim Fairlie (Scottish National Party), Janine Rennie (Scottish Labour Party) and Liz Smith (Scottish Conservative and Unionist).
In the Perthshire North constituency, John Swinney is once again defending for the Nationalists while Murdo Fraser (Scottish Conservative and Unionist), Ryan Smart (Scottish Labour Party), Peter Barrett (Scottish Liberal Democrats), and Don Marshall (Scottish Family Party) are all hoping to unseat him.
Perth and Kinross Council will oversee the counting and verification of votes for both Perthshire South and Kinross-shire and the neighbouring Perthshire North constituency at Bell’s Sports Centre in Perth.
The Perthshire North seat is set to be declared later today (Friday), while Saturday will see the Perthshire South and Kinross-shire seat declared a day later, in another pivotal period in Scottish politics.
As votes were being cast yesterday, one party received particularly heated attention from a local group.
Posters protesting many of the Scottish Family Party’s (SFP) policies appeared in Perth throughout the afternoon.
The notices were put up by a group made up of “representatives of a collective of musicians, promoters, artists and creatives in Perth”.
The posters use the comic image of famous Father Ted characters Father Ted and Father Dougall, and list vehement criticisms of the party’s policies on the LGBT+ community, abortion, schools sex education and hate speech.
The group say they were also reacting to images projected by the SFP around Perth in April, criticising the insertion of LGBT+ content into the school curriculum.
A spokesperson for the group, named as C Anne, said: “The creative/music scene in Perth is diverse and accepting.
“We feel that an attack on the LGBT+ community, women’s rights and horrendously backwards ideals, such as the anti-abortion policy put forward by the Scottish Family Party to stand in the Scottish election, is an attack on us all.
“When they chose to target Perth city with their transphobic and homophobic images, telling us that sex education in schools is corrupting for our children and that LGBT+ education will lead to ‘unhelpful experimentation,’ we felt they deserved a response.”
In response SFP leader Richard Lucas said: “We value human life in the womb.
“We receive all manner of abuse and mockery because of this position, but we are happy to endure that as the sanctity of life is a vital principle.
“Men and women, on average, tend to have different priorities and interests.
“We do not want to squeeze the sexes into uniformity but to support men and women as they fulfil their own vision for their lives.”