Greens admit ‘error’ in vote count to select candidates for Holyrood election

The Scottish Greens have revealed a “software error” led to issues with the party’s internal votes to elect candidates for the 2026 Holyrood elections.

Concerns were raised about the veracity of the party’s candidate rankings after a party election official stood down.

Some raised questions after Maggie Chapman, a serving MSP at Holyrood, failed to top the party’s regional list in the North East.

Meanwhile, co-leader Patrick Harvie, who is stepping down, narrowly saw off a campaign to replace him as the party’s top candidate in Glasgow.

Kate Joester, an internal elections officer, later quit due to an “anomaly” in the results.

On Wednesday, the Greens admitted a “software error” was to blame for the issue, which has now been fixed with a revised recount having taken place.

However, the party said the recount has led to no changes to its lead candidate list, although there are some changes to those selected lower down in the rankings.

It said in a statement: “The Scottish Greens are a proudly democratic party that gives every member a voice in our decision-making.

“We sourced a third-party provider to host and count the ballot papers for this year’s selection process for the Holyrood election.

“Following concerns raised by members who had reviewed the voting data, party officials sought advice from the third-party provider on Monday afternoon.

“The party was assured that the counting had been completed and confirmed to meet the standards requested under our internal party rules.

“During further investigation by the third-party provider, they later discovered a software error in an external programme used to count votes.”

The spokesperson for the Greens said they were reassured by Mi-Voice, the company used to run the internal elections, on Monday that all counting had been completed and verified.

They said they were made aware of the software error on Tuesday morning.

The spokesperson added: “Following a full revised count with oversight and verification from current party officials and those involved in previous Holyrood selections, we can confirm our full list of candidates for the Holyrood 2026 campaign.

“All of the previously announced 15 lead candidates remain duly selected and will continue to lead the party’s campaign to elect a record number of MSPs.

“We would like to thank the volunteers and staff who worked to identify and resolve this situation under extreme pressure and to Mi-Voice for their cooperation in resolving the error.

“We understand that this has been a stressful process for candidates and members, and we thank them for their vigilance, patience and trust.

“We are looking forward to working with our strong Green candidates in this election campaign, in which we’ll present our positive vision of a better future where people and planet are put above corporate greed”.

Simon Thomson, director of Mi-Voice, said a review found that anomalies were due to a “technical fault” with the vote-counting software provided by a “trusted third-party supplier, which was used in place of the Mi-Voice counting system due to the specific STV rules required”, the type of voting used by the Greens.

He added: “We acknowledge the concern this has raised for party members and candidates. We understand the frustration and confusion, and we sincerely apologise for the inconvenience and concern it has caused.

“To ensure this does not happen again, we are reviewing our internal quality control measures and introducing enhanced checks, particularly for scenarios involving candidate withdrawals to facilitate the production of ordered lists.

“We remain committed to transparency, responsiveness and continuous improvement.”

The full list of candidates following the recount are:

Central Scotland and Lothians West