Greens in turmoil as senior official quits in contests row
"To clarify regarding the statement to the press on members' concerns about counting irregularities, this did not come from me as Internal Elections Officer and I am no longer in that post as of this evening," she posted on the party's internal communication channel last night.
Her resignation then prompted the party to release a second statement which said there had been "a misunderstanding about the sign-off" of the statement to The Herald and that the information was accurate.
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"Several people have been in touch today about the methodology which has been used for counting the votes in our candidate selection process. We're posting tonight to provide more information to members," senior officials Zoe Clelland and Carolynn Scrimgeour told members in a message posted last night on the party's internal communications platform.
"The content of the statement provided to and used by the press this evening is accurate, and had been shared with the Internal Elections Officer (IEO) in advance. Whilst there was clearly a misunderstanding about the sign-off that this had received which we apologise for, we stand by the content of the original statement and are therefore confident in its accuracy."
They added: "The party's Operations Manager and former Internal Elections Officer were in contact with our external voting provider throughout our selection process, including to agree how votes were to be counted. Under our Selections Procedure, our candidate lists must be counted under a Single Transferable Vote (STV) system.
"Upon receiving a number of enquiries today – it has been verified that the count was conducted using the Scottish STV system, specifically the Weighted Inclusive Gregory method, and was done as a bottom-up iterative process.
"This is the process that the voting provider was asked to use. As the results came in from the provider, and before they were published, they were verified by the IEO and the rest of the Selection Board. The external voting provider have explicitly confirmed this included transferring the preferences of excluded candidates at each stage. We are content, therefore, that the voting process, and the results it produced, complies with the selections procedure.
"We recognise the spreadsheets provided by the supplier may not be very easy to follow, even for members with experience of STV election results. We plan to ask the supplier to provide further guidance and detail to ensure the results can be examined with maximum transparency. Please bear with us while we explore this with the external voting provider.
"To be clear, the party body responsible is satisfied that this process and the methodology used is compliant with our Selections Procedure; as such, all regional lists stand as they have been published."
Shockwaves were sent through the Scottish Greens when the results of the candidate selection contests were announced.
The race saw MSP Maggie Chapman ousted from the top place on the party's north east list by member Guy Ingerson.
With polling suggesting the Greens will get just one MSP on the north east list, it means Ms Chapman, who was party co convener from 2013 to 2019, is unlikely to be re-elected to Holyrood in May next year.
Ms Chapman came second behind Mr Ingerson, who used to work in her office. There has been tension between the pair since Mr Ingerson lodged bullying complaints against her.
He claimed that Ms Chapman had badmouthed him to his new employer, Friends of the Earth Scotland — insinuating he was 'untrustworthy' and should be 'watched' — and had broken the party's code of conduct.
The contest also saw the [[Scottish Greens]] co-leader Patrick Harvie see off a challenge from a radical faction in Glasgow to oust him as the party's top candidate in the city. The other co-leader, Lorna Slater, and Mr Harvie's ally Ross Greer also warded off challenges from radical Greens, claiming the top spot in Lothian and the West of Scotland respectively.
Meanwhile, the party's leadership election is underway following a decision by Mr Harvie to stand down from his role as co-leader.
Mr Greer is seen as the favourite to succeed him though he may face a challenge from the same group of Scottish Green eco-socialists, known as the Glasgow faction, who opposed Mr Harvie in Glasgow.
They have been critical of how the Greens have operated in recent years, and opposed the Bute House agreement, which was a power-sharing deal between the SNP and Greens.
It is understood that Ellie Gomersall, who was second placed on the Glasgow list, had concerns some votes were not transferred to her from candidates who were knocked out in earlier voting rounds.
"Ellie has raised it with the party. She has asked for the count to be reviewed," one source told The Herald yesterday.
Shetland Councillor Alex Armitage raised concerns about the count in the north east.
"There's something that makes me feel uncomfortable and I want to flag it here," he wrote on a party internal communication channel which has been seen by The Herald.
"I'm concerned about the selection process in the North East region, which I think should be thoroughly investigated by the party as soon as possible."
The Scottish Greens and Ms Gomersall was contacted for comment.
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