A CANDIDATE for Alex Salmond’s new Alba Party has boasted its plan is to “manipulate” Holyrood’s voting system to get a supermajority for independence.
SNP defector Eva Comrie, who was one of the candidates unveiled at the party’s launch on Friday, later made the comment in a pro-independence blog.
Referring to the Holyrood’s mixed electoral system of constituencies and regional lists, she said: “The trick is to cover both. Manipulate it.”
Earlier today, another Alba candidate, SNP MP Neal Hanvey, admitted Alba’s supermajority plan might not reflect the voters’ wishes, only the voting system.
Nicola Sturgeon also condemned the idea, telling the Daily Record: "At the end of the day, we’ve got to win independence fair and square. We can’t game, or cheat, our way to that.”
READ MORE: Candidate for Salmond's Alba Party apologises after calling Sturgeon 'a cow'
Mr Salmond, 66, launched Alba last week with the goal of standing at least four candidates on each of the eight Holyrood regional lists in May.
The former first minister said Alba could pick up votes that would otherwise be "wasted" on the SNP under the parliament's proportional system, and so create a "supermajority for independence", with up to 90 of Holyrood's 129 MSPs elected on a Yes ticket.
He said the SNP was likely to be so successful at winning seats in May it might not get any top-up lists MSPs under the parliament’s proportional system.
Ms Comrie, a solicitor from Alva, had been the top-ranked candidate on the SNP’s Mid-Scotland and Fife list before switching to Alba.
In a post titled “A Strategy to Win Our Independence”, she explained the thinking behind the change on the Yours for Scotland blog this week.
She said: “The more you get on the constituency, the less you get on the list.
“The trick is to cover both. Manipulate it.
“Make it work to create the very thing that has the Tories trying to recreate Better Together.
“You win Independence by winning the constituencies AND the list.
"But you can’t do that with one party - you need two parties, one on the constituencies and one on the list.”
The comments emerged as several other Alba candidates were mired in controversy.
Boxer Alex Arthur was forced to apologise over social media posts mocking Romanian beggars as fat "pigs", and saying he didn't need to take the Covid vaccine as he had a "perfectly good immune system".
Economist Dr Jim Walker also apologised after calling Nicola Sturgeon “a cow” on Twitter.
He also liked another tweet calling BBC broadcaster Kirsty Wark “an auld bitter twisted unionist hag”.
Mr Salmond last week insisted all Alba candidates would be of a “strong calibre”.
Meanwhile, former SNP MP George Kerevan announced he was joining Alba alongside another member of the SNP’s left-wing Common Weal group, convener Craig Berry.
READ MORE: Brexiteer councillor Brian Topping unveiled as latest Alba Party defector from SNP
Welcoming the pair, Mr Salmond said: “George, Craig and the other members of the Common Weal Group bring with them a wealth of positive, progressive ideas.
“This will be a huge boost to our policy development as a party as Alba moves forward, especially in the areas of economics and environmental policy.
“We are delighted to welcome them and together help us work towards securing a supermajority of pro-independence MSPs at Holyrood.”
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