List MSP calls for the Holyrood list voting system to be overhauled
Stephen Kerr MSP says there needs to be a ‘national conversation’, accusing the Scottish Greens of gaming the system.
A Scottish Conservative MSP is calling for the Holyrood list system to be overhauled, despite being elected on the list system themselves.
Stephen Kerr MSP says there needs to be a “national conversation” about the Scottish Parliament election system, as he says the Scottish Greens “gamed it” to get a “disproportionate” number of MSPs.
MSPs can either be elected to a constituency using a first-past-the-post method, or to a list seat using the d’Hondt system.
The Scottish Greens stood in only six constituencies, but managed to elect a record 15 MSPs thanks to this system. Often, winning a constituency counts against a party when it comes to the list vote.
Mr Kerr, who is a Mid Scotland and Fife list MSP, told the Daily Express the Greens have “disproportionate numbers” and said “there’s too many of them”.
He said: “They play the system. We need to have a national debate about d’Hondt as they currently use it.
“This is my personal opinion, but there is something wrong if you’re voting in a democratic system that you can’t explain in a simple sentence.
“My view is that the list system is not right. It’s overly complicated.”
He added: “We need to have a national conversation about a better voting system, and if somebody thinks it’s a sacred cow, then I’m all up for dealing with the sacred cow of the voting system.
“We need to be talking honestly about whether or not it fulfils its purpose. I think it’s a poor system.”
He said there should be one vote at constituency level when it comes to the Scottish Parliament.
Mr Kerr said: “The whole point of the additional member system, because that’s what it’s supposed to be called, was that you stood in the constituencies and then there was a top up.
“If you don’t stand in the constituencies, it’s not a top up … so people that don’t stand in the constituencies are gaming the system, and that’s why we’ve got 15 Greens.
“I’m not sitting here advocating that I know the answer, I just want something better than d’Hondt, simpler than what we currently do.”
In response, the Scottish Greens said “it’s a massive blessing” Mr Kerr has “not had any influence or achievements” during his tenure as an MSP.
A spokesman for the Scottish Greens said: “It is especially interesting to hear his thoughts on the d’Hondt system and the need to change it when he himself was only elected because of it.
“Most of his Tory colleagues in Holyrood were elected as regional MSPs through Scotland’s modern and democratic proportional representation system.
“By Stephen Kerr’s own logic, the Tories have disproportionate influence, even with as little as 12 MSPs.
“If Scotland moved to an anti-democratic Westminster-style first-past-the-post system, it would only mean that voters in Stirling would reject him again as they did in the 2019 Westminster general election, where he lost his seat, the 2024 Westminster general election where he was rejected once again, and in 2026’s Holyrood election in Stirling, where he lost again.”
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