AN internal row has broken out within the Scottish Greens after an Edinburgh councillor was selected as the party's top Holyrood candidate in the north east.
Maggie Chapman will be stepping down as a Leith councillor after she topped a selection ballot to become her party's number one list candidate in the region, which at Holyrood elections takes in Dundee and stretches north to Aberdeenshire.
She revealed that she will be moving to Dundee shortly as she focuses on the fight to become an MSP, but some Green members already in the north east are said to be upset at the decision with 20 signing a petition calling for her to be deselected. Signatories are said to include Shiona Baird, an ex-MSP and former co-convenor of the party.
While the Greens face an uphill struggle to win constituency seats, polls have predicted that the party could return as many as 10 MSPs next year through Holyrood's list system. However, one of the party's two current parliamentarians, Alison Johnstone, has the top spot in the Lothian region.
Ms Chapman, who moved to Scotland from Zimbabwe in 1998 and is Rector of Aberdeen University, admitted that her selection had upset a "handful" within the party.
She said: "I was asked to put myself forward and I did so, and won the internal selection process overwhelmingly. I think a handful of people are disgruntled and disappointed that they didn't get further up the list or their friends didn't. I can understand that but it's a function of our internal party democracy."
Ms Chapman said she was looking forward to fighting a "strong and positive" campaign next year and that the region's strong association with the oil and gas industry was not necessarily a hindrance to a Green candidate.
"It's really important that we make sure we don't compromise jobs and employment in the region," she said. "Longer term, we're going to be in a situation where jobs in oil and gas no longer exist so it's important to put a transition in place."
Regarding the complaints over her selection, a spokesman for the Scottish Greens said: "This internal matter will be discussed by the party in the very near future."
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