2019 Scottish Green Party co-leadership election

The first Scottish Green Party 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]

Scottish Green Party co-leader election
1 August 2019
Turnout801
 
Candidate Patrick Harvie Lorna Slater Maggie Chapman
Popular vote 345 242 139
Percentage 43.1% 30.2% 17.3%
 
Candidate Guy Ingerson Graham Kerr
Popular vote 60 16
Percentage 7.5% 2.0%

Other positions

Changes to the party's constitution create a few new positions which are available for election.

The eco-socialist Green Futures 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 gotten 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]

Candidate 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.

References
  1. McKenzie, Lewis. "Scottish Greens to announce result of first co-leadership election". The Sunday Post. Retrieved 2020-05-19.
  2. "Scottish Greens to announce new co-leaders". Holyrood Website. 2019-10-04. Retrieved 2020-05-19.
  3. Jarvis, Chris (2019-08-04). "Changes at the top of the Scottish Green Party - UK Green news round up week 31 | Chris Jarvis". Bright Green. Retrieved 2020-05-19.
  4. "These are the people in the running to lead the Scottish Greens". The Canary. 2019-06-22. Retrieved 2020-05-26.
  5. "Scottish Greens elect Harvie and Slater as leaders". BBC News. 2019-08-01. Retrieved 2020-05-26.
  6. Jarvis, Chris (2019-06-30). "Who will be the next leader of the Scottish Greens? - UK Green news round up week 26 | Chris Jarvis". Bright Green. Retrieved 2020-05-26.
  7. "Chapman ousted in Scottish Greens election as members vote to change co-leaders". The National. Retrieved 2020-05-26.


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