GREENS LAUNCH ELECTION CAMPAIGN:
For a better Scotland - FIRST VOTE GREEN
By George Baxter
The Scottish elections this year could be yet another bit of history in the making for Scottish Greens. Building on the election of the first UK Green parliamentarian, Robin Harper, in 1999, to the seven MSPs elected in 2003, the party has set its sights on double figures. We also look forward to Green Councillors – for the first time the elections to local authorities will be conducted using proportional representation.
The campaign was officially
launched at a campaign rally in Glasgow in early March. A
central campaign message was unveiled, ‘First Vote
Green’. The party declared its top priority as climate
change and set out other key campaign issues that
include: more support for local business and social
enterprise, young people, public services, building
stronger communities and tackling poverty.
Robin Harper, MSP and Green’s co-convener, addressed the campaign launch with an upbeat appeal to activists and voters. He said: “This is our time, and I look forward to us gaining more MSPs and Green Councillors. A sustainable, secure, healthy environment and economy - and a decent quality of life for all - this is what voters are looking for - and this is exactly what we promise. We are ready for government and we will get out there and win.
“The other parties are worried, not so worried that they will eradicate their contradictory policies and inconsistencies, but worried enough to attempt to cover themselves in green ‘camouflage’. Every single other political party in Scotland does not stand up to scrutiny - and the electorate will see right through their coat of green paint.”
Mark Ruskell MSP, 2007 election campaign director, also speaking at the campaign launch, said: “Back in 1999, Robin Harper, the first UK Green parliamentarian, was rightly hailed as the green conscience of the Parliament. Since 2003, the seven Greens have been hailed as THE conscience of the Parliament – now it’s time for us to become the backbone of government in Scotland, forcing action now. “If voters want a greener, fairer Scotland they should first vote Green. If people want serious action on climate change, they should first vote Green. If voters want stronger local businesses, not more power to mega-corporations, they should first vote Green. “Voters will smell a rat with Labour, the SNP and the LibDems – all of whom support a massive road building and airport expansion programme - now claiming to be “green”. “
In 2003 the Scottish Green Party used a ‘2nd Vote Green’ message. However, the ballot paper for the Holyrood elections has been changed, swapping the second or ‘regional/party’ vote with the first or ‘constituency’ vote. Ironically, the ballot paper change will make it easier to campaign for votes for Holyrood and in the simultaneous council elections. The STV system for council elections invites people to rank candidates 1, 2, 3 etc, and we will be calling for as many number 1 votes as possible.
Robin Harper, MSP and Green’s co-convener, addressed the campaign launch with an upbeat appeal to activists and voters. He said: “This is our time, and I look forward to us gaining more MSPs and Green Councillors. A sustainable, secure, healthy environment and economy - and a decent quality of life for all - this is what voters are looking for - and this is exactly what we promise. We are ready for government and we will get out there and win.
“The other parties are worried, not so worried that they will eradicate their contradictory policies and inconsistencies, but worried enough to attempt to cover themselves in green ‘camouflage’. Every single other political party in Scotland does not stand up to scrutiny - and the electorate will see right through their coat of green paint.”
Mark Ruskell MSP, 2007 election campaign director, also speaking at the campaign launch, said: “Back in 1999, Robin Harper, the first UK Green parliamentarian, was rightly hailed as the green conscience of the Parliament. Since 2003, the seven Greens have been hailed as THE conscience of the Parliament – now it’s time for us to become the backbone of government in Scotland, forcing action now. “If voters want a greener, fairer Scotland they should first vote Green. If people want serious action on climate change, they should first vote Green. If voters want stronger local businesses, not more power to mega-corporations, they should first vote Green. “Voters will smell a rat with Labour, the SNP and the LibDems – all of whom support a massive road building and airport expansion programme - now claiming to be “green”. “
In 2003 the Scottish Green Party used a ‘2nd Vote Green’ message. However, the ballot paper for the Holyrood elections has been changed, swapping the second or ‘regional/party’ vote with the first or ‘constituency’ vote. Ironically, the ballot paper change will make it easier to campaign for votes for Holyrood and in the simultaneous council elections. The STV system for council elections invites people to rank candidates 1, 2, 3 etc, and we will be calling for as many number 1 votes as possible.
Scottish Elections
The next elections to the Scottish Parliament will take place on 3 May 2007. Elections will be held in each of the Parliament’s 73 constituencies and 8 Parliamentary regions. This will result in the election of 129 Members of the Scottish Parliament.
Scottish Parliamentary elections use a type of Proportional Representation called the Additional Member System (AMS).
AMS is an electoral system which combines first-past-the-post with an element of proportional representation which means that the number of seats allocated to parties and individuals in the Scottish Parliament seeks to reflect their share of the overall votes cast.
With AMS, each voter has two votes: a regional vote and a constituency vote.
Alongside elections to the Scottish Parliament, elections will also be held to each of Scotland’s 32 councils on 3 May 2007. All 1,222 council seats in Scotland will be subject to an election.
The system for electing councillors will change to a form of Proportional Representation known as Single Transferable Vote (STV), replacing the previous first-past-the-post system.
The size of the council ward will be increased and either three or four councillors will be elected to each ward.
The candidates voted for may be from the same party, from several different parties or be independents – but every single choice counts!
If your first choice has already won enough votes to be elected, or is eliminated as a result of having the least number of votes, then your vote is transferred to your second choice and potentially on to your third choice and so on, until either three or four candidates have been elected, depending on the size of the ward.
Information taken from:
www.electoralcommission.org.uk
Local Council campaign
It will be the largest local council election campaign ever run by Scottish Greens. The landscape of local government is being reshaped, with over 1200 single member wards currently elected by first-past-the-post being replaced with 353 new wards, each with 3 or 4 members, elected by Single Transferable Vote (STV).
Around 100 Green candidates will contest these seats in around 20 of Scotland’s 32 councils. Much has been learned from our sister parties - from England about the need to target to win; and from Ireland, about vote management in a STV election.
22 wards have been identified as “target to win”. In line with our constitution, 40% of all candidates and 50% of target candidates are women.
Building on our record
The seven Green MSPs entered parliament in 2003 gaining immediate recognition by winning the Scottish Politician of the Year award for best election performance – and also ended this parliamentary session with the award for best political progress. Over the last four years Greens MSPs have won the most votes in the chamber of any opposition party and not just on environmental issues, but they led the parliament on ID cards, on asylum issues, on torture flights and on civil partnerships – issues which four years ago would have never been credited to the Greens. Faced with the prospect of holding the balance of power after May 3rd, we have been assessing how to influence power and how to hold it responsibly. The SGP has not ruled out Coalition but is considering a ‘Confidence and Supply’ model of coalition government used elsewhere in the world, where the party would gain significant concessions to party policies in return for providing stability for a minority government. The additional benefit of the approach for the next term of Parliament would be to ‘bring to life’ the original vision for the Parliament by making parliamentary debate really matter.
Mark Ruskell MSP addressed the issue of independence head on at the campaign launch, saying: “Labour of course want to make independence the only issue in this election because they have nothing positive to say on any other issue, but even the SNP now are backing away from talking about independence because they rightly know that the electorate have got other more pressing issues on their minds.
“The people of Scotland are not naive, they know that independence is something which will need time for debate and consideration over a number of years before they themselves decide on the question, not the political parties.
“The future of our devolved Scottish Parliament lies in the hands of the Scottish people, not at this election but in a referendum that would give the people the choice over the status quo, more devolution or full independence within the EU. Our message to voters is to look to the next generation, your children and your children’s children. Don’t shut down their future, vote for action to put the green agenda first in government – first vote Green.”
For more information go to www.scottishgreens.org.uk
George Baxter, Convener, Election and Campaigns Committee, Scottish Green Party
