2019 Scottish Greens co-leadership election

Last updated November 09, 2024

The first Scottish Greens co-leadership election occurred during the summer of 2019, following a newly adopted constitution by the party. One article of the constitution stated that the positions of co-conveners would be abolished in favour of the newly established positions of co-leaders. It also said that at least one of the co-leaders had to be a woman.^[1] Both of the former co-conveners, Maggie Chapman and Patrick Harvie, contested the election, but when the results were announced at the Out of Blue Drill Hall in Edinburgh on the 1st of August 2019, only Patrick Harvie was elected, alongside Lorna Slater. All Scottish Green Party members were eligible to vote.^[2]

Other positions

Changes to the party's constitution created several new positions which were available for election.

The eco-socialist Green Future Group faction did not nominate a candidate for the co-leader position but contested for the other positions. All seven nominations from the faction were successful in their contests.^[3]

Candidates

Lorna Slater

Lorna Slater was the first person to announce their candidacy, via Twitter. Her work experience comes from renewable energy engineering, and she had been second on the party's list for the 2019 European Parliament election. During that election, she had been known to be a strong debater and a good speaker when it came to the media. When announcing her candidacy, she stated that the party was ready for a "fresh new start."^[4] Upon winning, she said that she wanted to get more women and non-binary people elected, and to gain more seats than ever before at the 2021 Scottish Parliament election.^[5]

Graham Kerr

Green activist Graham Kerr from North Lanarkshire was the second person to put their name forward. He had been a candidate in the 2017 Scottish Green Party co-convener election, and said that he decided to run again because of the encouragement that he had got. During his campaign, he was a critic of austerity.^[4]

Guy Ingerson

Guy Ingerson announced that he would be running on 22 June. He had a background in the oil industry, but he said that at the peak of the 2015 oil crash, he decided that the world needed to change their economic future. During his campaign, he criticised the SNP on a number of different issues, such as LGBTQ+ rights, housing, transport and the environment. He stated that the Scottish Greens offered a “progressive and pragmatic” alternative, and that he wanted the Scottish Greens’ success to be similar to that of other Green parties around Europe.^[4]

Maggie Chapman

The former co-convener Maggie Chapman was a front runner in the election, with her campaign based on her former profile in being head of the party.^[6] Upon losing, she said that she was “disappointed” not to have got the job, but was happy for Slater and Harvie.^[7]

Patrick Harvie

Patrick Harvie was one of the last to enter the race. He said that it was important that the leadership remained with an MSP, so that “[the] whole party [would be] ready for the next big test in [the] 2021 [Scottish Parliament election].”^[7]

Results

The voting system used was single transferable vote.^[3]^[7]

	Number of first preference votes	Percentage of first preference votes
Patrick Harvie	345	43.1%
Lorna Slater	242	30.2%
Maggie Chapman	139	17.3%
Blank/spoilt ballots	95	11.9%
Guy Ingerson	60	7.5%
Graham Kerr	16	2.0%

Because Lorna Slater did not have a seat in the Scottish Parliament, the leaders in Scottish Parliament remained Patrick Harvie and Alison Johnstone. She has since become a regional MSP for the Lothian region.

Related Research Articles

The Scottish Greens are a green political party in Scotland. The party has seven MSPs in the Scottish Parliament as of May 2021. As of the 2022 local elections, the party sits on 13 of the 32 Scottish local councils, with a total of 36 councillors. They held two ministerial posts in the first Yousaf government following a power-sharing agreement with the SNP from August 2021 until the end of the Bute House Agreement in April 2024, marking the first time Green Party politicians formed part of a government in the UK.

Fergus Stewart Ewing is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician who served as the Scottish Government's Cabinet Secretary for Rural Economy and Tourism from 2016 to 2021, having previously held two junior ministerial posts. He has been a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) since 1999, representing Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber until 2011, and then its successor seat Inverness and Nairn.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robin Harper</span> British politician (born 1940)

Robin Charles Moreton Harper, is a Scottish politician, who was a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Lothians region (1999–2011).

Eleanor Roberta Scott is a Scottish politician and physician. She was Scottish Greens Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Highlands and Islands from 2003–2007, then female co-convener of the party from 2008–2011 with Patrick Harvie.

Patrick Harvie is a Scottish politician who served as Minister for Zero Carbon Buildings, Active Travel and Tenants' Rights from 2021 to 2024. He has served as one of two co-leaders of the Scottish Greens since 2008, and is one of the first Green politicians in the UK to serve as a government minister. Harvie has been a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Glasgow region since 2003.

Unlike in the Parliament at Westminster where there is an Official Opposition to the government of the day, all parties in the Scottish Parliament that are not in government are all technically on the same footing as 'opposition parties'. With the Scottish National Party (SNP) currently in government, the Scottish Conservatives and Scottish Labour each have a shadow cabinet composed of Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) and prospective parliamentary candidates.

The 2021 Scottish Parliament election took place on 11 May 2021, under the provisions of the Scotland Act 1998. All 129 Members of the Scottish Parliament were elected in the sixth election since the parliament was re-established in 1999. The election was held alongside the Senedd election in Wales, English local elections, London Assembly and mayoral election and the Hartlepool by-election.

Alison Johnstone is a Scottish politician who has served as the Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament since 2021. Elected as a member of the Scottish Greens, she relinquished her party affiliation on becoming Presiding Officer. She has been a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Lothian region since 2011.

Maggie Chapman is a Scottish politician and lecturer who is a Scottish Green Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for North East Scotland. She was co-convenor of the Scottish Greens from November 2013 to August 2019, serving with Patrick Harvie, and was the party's lead candidate for the 2019 European election.

Ashten Regan is a Scottish politician. She has been the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Edinburgh Eastern since 2016. Initially elected to parliament for the Scottish National Party (SNP), she defected to the Alba Party. Regan served under First Minister Nicola Sturgeon as the minister for community safety from 2018 until she resigned in 2022 in protest against her government's Gender Recognition Reform bill.

Lorna Slater is a Scots-Canadian politician in Scotland, who served as Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity in the Scottish Government from 2021 to 2024. She has been co-leader of the Scottish Greens, alongside Patrick Harvie, since 2019, and was one of the first Green politicians in the UK to serve as government ministers.

The next Scottish Parliament election is required to be held no later than Thursday 7 May 2026, to elect 129 members to the Scottish Parliament. It will be the seventh general election since the parliament was re-established in 1999.

The 6th Scottish Parliament was elected at the 2021 Scottish Parliament election. It was opened with the Escort to the Crown of Scotland Parade and Speech from the Throne on 2 October 2021.

The 2021 Green Party of England and Wales leadership election was held from August to September 2021 to select a new leader or leaders of the Green Party of England and Wales. It was triggered by Jonathan Bartley's announcement on 5 July 2021 that he would be standing down as party co-leader. Bartley had been co-leader of the party since 2016, initially serving with the party's Member of Parliament (MP) Caroline Lucas. Sian Berry, who had served as co-leader with Bartley since 2018, did not seek re-election with a new co-leader or by herself.

The Bute House Agreement, officially the Cooperation Agreement between the Scottish Government and the Scottish Green Party Parliamentary Group was a power-sharing agreement between the Scottish National Party (SNP) government and the Scottish Greens which was agreed in August 2021 to support the Third Sturgeon government and then was reaffirmed to support the First Yousaf government.

The co-leaders of the Scottish Green Party are the leaders of the Scottish Green Party. The incumbents are Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater who were elected in August 2019 as the inaugural co-leaders. The co-leaders are responsible for the political leadership of the party, and act as its principle spokespersons.

Our Republic is a political campaign for a Scottish republic calling for the abolition of the monarchy. It was founded in 2021.

The Scottish Greens is a centre-left to left-wing green political party in Scotland that was founded in 1990.

In April 2024, Humza Yousaf, first minister of Scotland and leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP), faced a confidence challenge following his termination of the Bute House Agreement between the SNP and the Scottish Greens, which meant that Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater, co-leaders of the Greens and their only government ministers, were removed from government. This was following changes to landmark climate policy by Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Net Zero and Energy Màiri McAllan, after which a planned Greens vote on the continuation of the agreement was announced. Facing a motion of confidence in him Yousaf announced his intention to resign as first minister and party leader on 29 April.

References

↑ McKenzie, Lewis. "Scottish Greens to announce result of first co-leadership election". The Sunday Post. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
↑ "Scottish Greens to announce new co-leaders". Holyrood Website. 4 October 2019. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
1 2 Jarvis, Chris (4 August 2019). "Changes at the top of the Scottish Green Party - UK Green news round up week 31 | Chris Jarvis". Bright Green. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
1 2 3 "These are the people in the running to lead the Scottish Greens". The Canary. 22 June 2019. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
↑ "Scottish Greens elect Harvie and Slater as leaders". BBC News. 1 August 2019. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
↑ Jarvis, Chris (30 June 2019). "Who will be the next leader of the Scottish Greens? - UK Green news round up week 26 | Chris Jarvis". Bright Green. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
1 2 3 "Chapman ousted in Scottish Greens election as members vote to change co-leaders". The National. Retrieved 26 May 2020.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] McKenzie, Lewis. "Scottish Greens to announce result of first co-leadership election". The Sunday Post. Retrieved 19 May 2020.

[2] "Scottish Greens to announce new co-leaders". Holyrood Website. 4 October 2019. Retrieved 19 May 2020.

[:0-3] 1 2 Jarvis, Chris (4 August 2019). "Changes at the top of the Scottish Green Party - UK Green news round up week 31 | Chris Jarvis". Bright Green. Retrieved 19 May 2020.

[:1-4] 1 2 3 "These are the people in the running to lead the Scottish Greens". The Canary. 22 June 2019. Retrieved 26 May 2020.

[5] "Scottish Greens elect Harvie and Slater as leaders". BBC News. 1 August 2019. Retrieved 26 May 2020.

[6] Jarvis, Chris (30 June 2019). "Who will be the next leader of the Scottish Greens? - UK Green news round up week 26 | Chris Jarvis". Bright Green. Retrieved 26 May 2020.

[:2-7] 1 2 3 "Chapman ousted in Scottish Greens election as members vote to change co-leaders". The National. Retrieved 26 May 2020.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]