Background
Harvie had held one of the leadership positions for a total 17 years, having first become Co-Convener of the party in 2008 and subsequently Co-Leader in 2019 following the adoption of a new party constitution. Harvie and Slater jointly led the party into the 2021 Scottish Parliament election at which the Greens achieved their highest share of both votes and seats in any election to that parliament. Negotiations with the Scottish National Party (SNP) following the election led to the Bute House Agreement which saw the Greens enter government for the first time with Harvie and Slater appointed to junior ministerial roles.
In April 2024 rising tensions between the SNP and Greens, and dissatisfaction amongst some Green members with the agreement, led to the Greens calling an extraordinary general meeting to vote on whether to continue in government. [4] Whilst both the Green Co-Leaders and then-First Minister Humza Yousaf initially stated their preference for the agreement to continue, one week later Yousaf unilaterally ended the agreement by sacking the Green ministers from his government. [5] This triggered a government crisis in which the Greens stated that they would join the other major parties in Parliament and vote no confidence in Yousaf as First Minister, following which Yousaf agreed to step down rather than risk losing that vote.
Continued infighting within the Greens led to Harvie warning members against "toxicity" in his final speech as Co-Leader at the party's 2025 Spring Conference [6] , whilst media reports termed internal disputes a "civil war". [7] [8] [9] In July 2025, the party held votes to select their candidates for the next Scottish Parliament election, and sitting MSPs such as Harvie and Ross Greer were challenged by candidates presenting themselves as more radical options. [10] Members nonetheless re-selected six of the seven sitting MSPs, including Harvie and Greer, as the top candidates on their respective regional lists, though Maggie Chapman was ranked second behind a challenger in North East Scotland. [11] [12]
Following internal questions about the results, the party's Internal Elections Officer resigned after admitting her failure to spot "software errors" that the e-vote contractor Mi-Voice claimed responsibility for. The corrected results did not impact on any of the lead candidates but did cause some changes lower down the lists the Edinburgh and Lothian East and South Scotland regions. [13] [14]
By August 2025, the party had decided to work with Civica Election Services instead of Mi-Voice for the leadership election ballot. [15]
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