Independent Green Voice | |
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Founder | Alistair McConnachie |
Leader | Alistair McConnachie |
Founded | March 2003 |
Registered | 14 March 2003 [1] |
Headquarters | c/o Clyde Offices 2nd Floor 48 West George Street Glasgow Scotland G2 1BP [1] |
Ideology | |
Political position | Far-right [3] |
Colours | Black and white |
Scottish Parliament | 0 / 129 |
Local government in Scotland | 0 / 1,227 |
Website | |
www | |
Independent Green Voice (IGV) is a minor far-right political party in Scotland. Founded by Alistair McConnachie, [4] it was registered with the Electoral Commission in March 2003. [5] Following the party's performance at the 2021 Scottish Parliament election, there were suggestions that voters may have confused IGV with the Scottish Greens and voted for IGV in error. It was speculated that this could have cost the Scottish Greens two seats in the Scottish Parliament. [6]
Independent Green Voice was founded by Alistair McConnachie, a far-right activist and former Scottish organiser for the UK Independence Party (UKIP). UKIP refused to renew his membership for questioning the Holocaust. [7] [8] In 2012, McConnachie founded a pro-Union group called 'A Force for Good'. [9] It was also reported that two candidates, Max Dunbar and John Robertson, were former British National Party activists.
On 23 March 2021, the party registered a new emblem with the Electoral Commission that consists of an image of a leaf and the words "Independent Green Voice" in capital letters, with "Green" being in a larger font than "Independent" or "Voice". [10] Following the results of the 2021 Scottish Parliament election and the party's surprise performance, there were suggestions that voters may have confused IGV with the Scottish Greens and voted for IGV in error. [11]
The Scottish Greens were 1,000 votes short of gaining a list seat in Glasgow (where IGV received 2,210 votes) and 100 votes short of gaining one in South Scotland (where IGV received 1,690 votes). [3]
The Scottish Greens reported that they had complained to the Electoral Commission about the name when IGV was first registered, although reports note they did not raise concerns about the emblem prior to the election. [12]
On 22 May 2021, the Electoral Commission ruled out a review of the name or emblem, stating "No concerns were raised with us in relation to this application to add an emblem to a long-registered party. We are satisfied that there are clear and sufficient differences betwee the two party's registered names, descriptions and emblems to avoid confusion." [13]
Election | Constituency | Regional | Total seats | +/– | Rank | Government | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Votes | % | Seats | Votes | % | Seats | |||||
2003 | 1,300 | 0.1 | 0 / 73 | 0 / 129 | ![]() | Not in parliament | ||||
2007 | 496 | 0.00 | 0 / 56 | 0 / 129 | ![]() | Not in parliament | ||||
2021 | 9,756 [14] | 0.36 | 0 / 56 | 0 / 129 | ![]() | Not in parliament | ||||