Tuesday May 12th 2026
Written by Glasgow View Reporter, Liam Eunson
The Scottish Greens have called on the Electoral Commission’s Chief Executive to resign after they accused the right wing fringe party, Independent Green Voice (IGV), from blocking votes and ‘securing a second MSP for the Mid Scotland and Fife region’.
Despite winning a record 15 seats at the election last week, the Scottish Green’s believe that they would have won another seat if IGV did not stand.
IGV, who have a similar name to the Greens, was founded by a former Ukip organiser with Greens co-leader Gillian Mackay labelling the party as a ‘far right spoiler party’, accusing them of incorporating Greens into their name as a logo to confuse voters.
On polling day, the Green party co-leader Ross Greer shared a video on his social media platforms where he highlighted IGV’s name on the ballot, urging Scottish Greens voters to not make a mistake on their ballot, explaining ‘we cannot afford to let actual fascists to cost us more seats in parliament’.
Saying that ‘Greens’ is incorporated in IGV’s logo to ‘cause confusion with voters’, the Scottish Greens have written to the Electoral Commission about the issue multiple times warning that this would happen, with the Commission refusing to take action.
The Scottish Greens have said that IGV incorporated 'Greens' into their logo to confuse Scottish Greens voters
Following last week’s result, Scottish elections expert Ballot Box Scotland wrote “The Greens were 0.3% short of beating the Conservatives in Mid Scotland and Fife, but IGV won 0.87%. Something has got to be done about this before 2031. Whatever you think of the Greens, it cannot be the case in a fair and democratic society that one party, and only one, is the victim of a deliberately and malicious spoiler campaign.”
The IGV received 2,490 votes in the region, and 20,000 nationally, despite doing no campaigning and having no manifesto.
The Scottish Greens also explained that in 2021 the same confusion caused them a seat in South Scotland and Glasgow.
The Hillhead Council by-election in 2023 added further weight to concerns, with IGV coming ahead of the Liberal Democrats despite never standing before.
Greens co-leader Gillian Mackay explained that ‘there must be accountability’, adding that it ‘s time for the commission to ‘take action’.
She said: “The IGV is a far right spoiler party that has nothing in common with the Scottish Greens and has set out to trick voters.
“They are not Green, not progressive and not connected to us in any way, but their presence on the ballot has clearly confused voters and cost Mid Scotland and Fife a second Scottish Green MSP.
“This is exactly what happened in 2021 and what we warned would happen again. It has irreversibly altered the results and cost the people of Mid Scotland and Fife the Green MSP that they voted for.
“The fact this has been allowed to happen again and again undermines our democracy and the integrity of our election results. The Electoral Commission is there to ensure that people get the results they vote for, and they have failed to do so.”
Tweet Share on Facebook
