CONCERNED voters told the Electoral Commission they weren’t sure if they voted for the Scottish Greens or a “fascist front” party, we can reveal.
Independent Green Voice (IGV), whose candidates included an alleged Holocaust denier and two former BNP activists, were accused of “blatant electoral deceit” after the results of the Scottish Parliament election were revealed in May this year.
The party changed their logo from a forearm with a thumbs up to a leaf with the words “Independent Green Voice”, with Green in larger letters, on March 23, 2021.
There were concerns raised at the time that this may have cost the pro-independence Greens two regional list seats in Glasgow and South Scotland.
READ MORE: REVEALED: Independent Green Voice complaints sent to Electoral Commission
We previously told how the Electoral Commission (EC) said they had received almost 300 complaints from voters concerned about the party’s name and logo misleading voters.
And now, the National can exclusively reveal the content of some of those complaints after a Freedom of Information request to the EC.
The request was delayed twice after being logged on May 11. Once on June 4 while the FOI team conducted “public interest tests”, and for a second time on July 7 while they checked “further points”.
The National were finally given the documentation, regarding internal and external correspondence inclusive of complaints regarding IGV, on Wednesday July 14.
The EC provided 67 written complaints received up to May 11. When we contacted them in May, they told us there had been 283 complaints to them regarding IGV. The EC now say they consider these "queries".
Voters told the EC they were confused by the party's logo on the regional list ballot
Of the 67 complaints released, 61 mention concerns over the logo and name of the group being too similar to the Scottish Greens, and 60 complaints said they had either been misled themselves or they were concerned it may have confused other voters. A total of eight complaints called for an investigation.
The EC signed off on IGV’s logo change in March this year, and the party’s description also changed their tag line to “Independent Green Voice – Organic, Local, Democratic”.
However, the party didn’t even have a manifesto during the election, do any campaigning and flew under the radar until the results came in.
Alistair McConnachie, IGV’s Glasgow candidate, founded pro-Union group A Force For Good and is a former UKIP member who was investigated by the party in 2001 after he made comments about the Holocaust.
READ MORE: Independent Green Voice gets away with claims of vote-rigging
IGV won 2210 votes in Glasgow. The last time they put forward a list candidate was in 2007, where they won 496 votes. The Greens were 1000 votes away from taking a second regional seat which eventually went to the Tories.
In South Scotland, IGV won 1690 votes, where the Greens only needed 100 votes to take the final regional seat.
When the National dug deeper into the FOI documents there were some disturbing findings.
Two separate voters said their elderly mothers had been confused and voted for IGV instead of the Scottish Greens.
The Scottish Greens said the EC should review their processes in light of the complaints
One wrote: “My mother, in her eighties did not know or expect there to be two Green parties, and she voted for the Independent Green Party in error as a result.
“I suspect many more people may make the same natural mistake.”
Others noted that they had almost voted for the party or had heard anecdotal evidence that others had made a mistake.
One complaint said simply: “Independent Green Voice. I’m worried I didn’t vote for the Scottish Green Party.”
READ MORE: Hundreds complain to Electoral Commission over 'Green/fascist front' confusion
Another complainer claimed that they saw “spoiled ballots” at an election count where some ballot papers had voters next to IGV “rubbed or scored out” and put beside the Scottish Greens.
In a separate complaint, another person claimed a friend had accidentally cast a vote for IGV. They said: “She is a socialist who would never knowingly vote for a far right party.”
A voter, who said they are registered blind with low vision, also said they were confused by the party name and logo and that they “almost” voted for them.
They added: “This group seems to have intentionally misled voters and it is unacceptable that it should be allowed.”
Alistair McConnachie, IGV's Glasgow candidate, is a former UKIP member
Some voters also raised concerns over the EC allowing the logo change and not spotting the potential for misleading voters.
One said: “The Commission has failed to defend democracy from an actual fascist.”
While another wrote: “To allow such confusion to occur fails our democracy and sets a dangerous precedent for the future.”
A spokesperson for the Scottish Greens said: "These testimonies leave no doubt that the logo caused confusion among some voters and it is therefore clear the Electoral Commission’s processes should be reviewed.”
READ MORE: 'Fascist front' party hits out at Greens and denies global warming in bizarre livestream
A spokesperson for the Electoral Commission said: "The Electoral Commission’s duty is to register party emblems that meet the tests set out in electoral law. One of the statutory tests against which all emblems are assessed is the ‘likely to confuse’ test.
"There is a high legal threshold for this test and it is not equivalent to ‘may confuse’.
"Following a careful assessment process we were satisfied that we were required by law to register the emblem in question which was materially different from any other party emblems registered with us.
“We proactively encourage comment on all applications for new party emblems from political parties and members of the public and this feedback forms an important part of our assessment process.
"We received no comments at all in relation to the application to register the emblem in question.”
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