BOTH VOTES SNP IS STUPID AND SELFISH

BOTH VOTES SNP PUTS EVERY FRAGILE EGG IN THE ONE BASKET

I believe the both votes SNP policy is the most selfish suggestion I have seen in recent times. While it is certainly the most effective thing you can do for the SNP it is also the worst possible thing you can do to ensure a pro Indy, rather than pro SNP majority, in the Parliament. The overriding objective is a pro Indy majority, not necessarily a pro SNP majority. The recent policy priorities of the SNP make that the case.

It is a ludicrous and unnecessary gamble. The D’Hondt system was intentionally designed to STOP any one Party gaining a majority. It was selected for two reasons. Firstly the Labour/ Liberal Administration believed it would create perpetual coalition Government. To be exact, permanent Labour Liberal unionist coalition control. The second reason is that it punishes  those who succeed in the constituency vote to such a severe extent on the list it is virtually impossible to win that overall majority if you are relying on many list seats to do so.

In six out of eight regions of Scotland the SNP NEVER WON A SINGLE LIST SEAT in 2016 despite polling by far the most votes in every one. The system is so designed that parties who won a 7th of the votes of the SNP were rewarded with seats while those voters who followed the SNP both votes strategy last time would have been as well burning their list votes. Undoubtedly both votes SNP resulted in many more Tories and Labour seats being secured thanks to many hundreds of thousand SNP second votes being counted then reduced to being completely useless by the algorithm in use. In only two regions out of eight did SNP list votes have any impact, in South Scotland and Highland. Every other area of the country they were completely useless and wasted,

Far better results for creating a pro Independence majority in the Parliament would be secured if large numbers of pro Indy voters used their second votes not for the SNP but for a credible pro Indy alternative.

The question so far is there one? Well yes there is, or at least there could be. The Greens could be an alternative. The ISP and AFI could also be a serious alternative if   they could work out some way not to be in competition with each other. The opportunity exists, the question is whether the will exists to firstly work out who the credible alternative should be in each region. Once that is established then I think all the pieces could fit together very quickly. It would be unionism’s worst nightmare. The end of the road for a lot of them, Tories, Labour and Liberal.

So why do I say the SNP are being selfish about this? Well I say that and I justify it by making clear every person at senior level in the SNP knows what I have written above is the truth. They know advocating using both votes SNP guarantees that many hundreds of thousands of pro Indy list votes are made completely worthless, that they will be discounted and disqualified in region after region and that they open the door to a variety of unionists with far fewer votes being elected, entirely because the SNP cannot bring themselves to admit it would be more effective for delivering a Independence majority if folk used their list vote for another pro Indy Party. 

The hypocrisy is not lost on me either that their refusal to consider anything other than SNP 1 &2 is accompanied with an appeal to other parties to “lend” their support to the SNP in the constituency vote. Talk about having your cake and eating it!

God knows the SNP have given Indy supporters reason to look for a new home for their list vote this time round, all the internal selection fixes, a hopeless NEC, The Hate Crime Bill, GRA are all bad enough but to follow it up by demanding everyone must also follow the Unionist Playbook when it comes to list votes just spells out their desperation to remain the sole voice of Independence. Where they can continue to act as they wish because they believe people don’t have any alternative. They have pushed that too far recently and I think they are going to get a shock in May. I certainly hope so.

The SNP want to maintain being the only major pro Indy voice in the Parliament. Thus far it has worked but one of the biggest signals of the failure of Nicola Sturgeon’s leadership is the creation of not one, but several other pro Indy parties. No previous SNP leaders created such disillusion and disappointment as the current leader has and therefore this is a new problem that confronts the SNP for the first time. Can the rest of the YES MOVEMENT field a credible challenge on the list?

What I would suggest is that in the time left between now and the close of nominations at the end of this month those Yes forces outside the SNP put the maximum pressure on to force those capable a mounting a credible alternative to the 2nd vote SNP STRATEGY to get properly organised and convince those forces to work together not apart,not in competition, but with each other.

If that can be achieved then I believe we can be sure of a pro Indy Parliament after the 6th May, who knows we might even have some MSP’s not willing to just sit there doing nothing to advance the cause for another five years.

We have done enough waiting. It is time for action. It’s way past time to move .independence forward. We need determination, we need effort. An end to the divisive distractions. A new Parliament with a sharp focus on Independence is vital.

We must rebuild our economy post Brexit and Covid. We need all the powers of Independence to do so. The time is right, the time is NOW! I refuse to be other than optimistic this can be achieved. We simply must!

I am, as always

YOURS FOR SCOTLAND.

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