Ash Regan suggested that party members who were not happy with the vote they had cast should be allowed to change it
One of the candidates in the SNP leadership contest says party members should be able to “edit” their vote before the poll closes next week.
Ash Regan believes that those who had “buyer’s remorse” after voting should be allowed to change it via the online system.
Her suggestion comes in the wake of turmoil over the voting system.
The SNP’s interim chief executive Mike Russell insisted all three candidates could have confidence in the contest.
He spoke to the BBC after taking on the role from Nicola Sturgeon’s husband, Peter Murrell, who resigned on Saturday over misleading statements to the media about membership figures.
Mr Russell reported that two leadership contenders, Kate Forbes and Humza Yousaf, had “absolute confidence” in the contest’s integrity.
Online system
However, Ms Regan continues to have reservations, saying that a number of party members had asked for the contest to be re-run.
She acknowledged that this might not be possible and instead unhappy voters should be allowed to make a change.
Ms Regan told BBC Scotland: “Members should be able to edit their vote.
“So, for those people who feel that they have buyer’s remorse now and they would like to change their vote – and I am not saying that that will be everyone. So, if you have cast your vote and you are quite happy with your vote you don’t have to do anything.
“But if you have cast your vote and you want to change it you can go into the online system and edit it.”
Mr Russell said there was no need to re-run the ballot, despite concerns that some party members would have cast their vote before events of the last few days.
Mr Murrell, who is married to outgoing leader Nicola Sturgeon, resigned a day after Murray Foote quit as the SNP’s head of media at Holyrood.
Mr Foote had described press reports about falling SNP membership as “drivel”, before the party confirmed a big drop in numbers to 72,000.
Mr Murrell took responsibility for the misleading information on the figures.
Now Mr Russell, who was previously SNP chief executive for five years prior to Mr Murrell, said he was brought in to “steady the ship”.
Mr Russell previously told BBC Scotlands there was “a tremendous mess” in the SNP
He told BBC Radio’s Good Morning Scotland a “whole host of things” had gone wrong, but his focus was on getting to the end of the leadership contest “in much better form”.
“Two of the three candidates have confirmed their absolute confidence in the integrity of the contest and confirmed they want it to go ahead,” he said.
“The third candidate, Ash Regan, has raised a series of questions which I want to answer.
“I want to make sure everybody has confidence in completing this process, and getting us through to the end of it. We need to move forward in an orderly fashion.
“A new leader has an opportunity to start afresh. I don’t think anybody would have wanted it in these circumstances, but they will have that opportunity and I am sure they will take it.”
Image source, Getty Images
Peter Murrell is married to outgoing leader Nicola Sturgeon
Ms Regan said she had suggested two proposals that would “provide assurance to members” over the election process.
The first would be to allow SNP members who have already voted to change their vote, if desired.
The second proposal would be to allow candidates to email SNP members, using the party mailing system, with an updated election message that reflected “current events”.
The SNP said it took suggestions from candidates “very seriously” and would consider Ms Regan’s ideas.
Ms Regan said: “It is important that all parties respect the outcome of the ballot and give full support to the new leader of the SNP.”
Mr Yousaf poured cold water on Ms Regan’s suggestion that members should be allowed to change their vote.
“I don’t think in the last seven days of this contest, we need to be reopening ballots or changing the process,” he told the BBC.
The health secretary also said that as far as he could see, all three candidates now had “no issues with the integrity of the ballot, and will respect the outcome”.
“I think what the people of Scotland want us to do in the last seven days is to talk about the policies that matter to them,” he added.
‘Internal reform’
Mr Russell said he did not know how many SNP members had voted so far, and was “assured” that no-one in the party had access to those figures.
He said he would not bring in outside auditors to oversee the ballot process.
Mr Russell added that whoever succeeds Ms Sturgeon would have to focus on reforming the SNP’s operations.
Kate Forbes told the BBC she was “very confident” in the party’s ability to complete the leadership process, despite previously calling – along with Ms Regan – for an independent third party auditor.
She said that while she had trust in the process, she was “very conscious other people didn’t”.
Ms Forbes added: “I strongly believe that the events over the last few days – which have of course hurt, and I think bemused, a lot of SNP members – have confirmed my calls from the very beginning of the contest, which is that we need change in the SNP, and we need change in government.”
Mr Yousaf has also promised an internal shake-up of the party, telling the BBC: “There needs to be internal reform within our headquarters, of that there is simply no doubt.”
Nicola Sturgeon’s successor is due to be announced on Monday 27 March.
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