The Scottish Greens are today in shock after the party's former co-convener Maggie Chapman was effectively deselected as a candidate for next year's Holyrood elections.
Activists told The Herald her failure to be elected to the top slot on the party's list rankings of candidates for the regional list vote had come as a "massive surprise."
Ms Chapman served as the party's co-convener along with Patrick Harvie from 2013 to 2019 when she lost out to Lorna Slater, who is currently co-convener.
She is the party's equalities spokeswoman in Holyrood and also sits on the Scottish Parliament's corporate body, the cross party responsible for running the Scottish Parliament's day to day affairs.
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This year's internal elections saw her lose out to rival candidate Guy Ingerson, who is co-convener of the Rainbow Greens, the party's LGBTQ+ wing, for the top ranking on the party's north east list.
With polling suggesting it is unlikely the Greens will get two MSPs in the north east, it means ms Chapman is unlikely to be re-elected to Holyrood in May next year.
Controversially, the party decided against any gender balancing mechanism in the selection contests.
"It is a massive surprise to see any incumbent not get selected. We were really sad not to see the gender balancing that we've had in the past," said one senior member.
"If there had been gender balancing she would have been top ranked."
Another senior member told The Herald that controversies surrounding Ms Chapman in Holyrood could have seen her pushed to number two on the list of candidates in the north east.
She was censured by the party in October 2023 after tweeting that the Hamas terror attack on Israel was “a consequence of apartheid, of illegal occupation and of imperial aggression by the [[[[Israel]]]] state.”
Party brass refused to back her, with co-leader Lorna Slater telling the BBC she had spoken to Ms Chapman about her tweet.
Ms Chapman apologised for ‘any upset’ in a subsequent post.
Further controversy followed in the spring of 2025.
Speaking at a rally in Aberdeen, Ms Chapman said the Supreme Court’s ruling on the definition of a woman was based in ‘bigotry, prejudice and hatred’.
She was criticised by top lawyers and narrowly survived a vote to oust her as Deputy Convenor of Holyrood’s Equalities Committee in April - after voting for herself to remain in post.
"There is shock across the party today. I think Guy got selected as the lead candidate as the party in the north east needs a refresh and Maggie's had a difficult parliamentary term," a second senior member told The Herald.
Ms Chapman was first elected as an MSP in 2021 when she was the lead candidate on the North East regional list for the Scottish Greens, and was the first Green MSP in the region since Shiona Baird lost her seat in 2007.
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