WE are being told by many in the media, including some with an axe to grind, that this election is about two vain, blustering, washed-up incoherent has-beens. The non-partisan truth is that both men are a political and presentational disaster for the side they claim to support.
Every vote Galloway siphons from the Tories and Labour helps elect a more pro-indy parliament, and every vote Salmond siphons from the SNP (he is loathed by Green voters) reduces the number of pro-indy MSPs elected. The pro-indy majority in the next session will be made of MSPs from just two parties: the SNP and the Greens. Between them, Salmond and Galloway poll below the Liberal Democrats, and so between them they deserve less coverage than Willie Rennie, even if they both start posing with animals and disproportionately large deckchairs.
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The best thing that can come out of this is a shift to a proper proportional electoral system, where the best thing to do is always to vote for the party you agree with, not for some tactical sham. That’s the best route to building a real pro-independence majority. Let the past be the past.
James Mackenzie
Edinburgh
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