ASH Regan has called for SNP members who have already voted in the leadership contest to be able to change their vote after the party's chief executive and head of communications in Holyrood resigned last week amid turmoil inside the party.

The Herald revealed on Saturday, before the resignation of Peter Murrell as the party's chief executive, that consideration was being given inside her campaign whether to seek an interdict to pause the race with the team speaking to lawyers. 

Over the weekend calls from other figures in the party argued for the race to restart because of fears over transparency and trust in the process.

It is understood that instead of re-issuing ballots, which could cause disruption and a delay in the contest, due to end next Monday, if the party approved allowing members to vote again it would be done via the online ballot whiich can enable them to "edit" their vote.

A precedent for the use of the provision was set in the party's 2015 internal contest to select a candidate for Dumfermline and West Fife.

One of the candidates standing, Michelle Thomson, was selected for Edinburgh West and once she was selected for that seat, her name was removed from the Dumfermline and West Fife contest with members then allowed to update their vote.

Distrust intensified last week in the ballot after coming under pressure from all three candidates — Ms Regan, the health secretary Humza Yousaf and finance secretary Kate Forbes — the SNP revealed its membership now stands at 72,000, down from almost 104,000 in 2021, the most recent figure made publicly available.

The publication of the updated figures first lead to the resignation of Murray Foote, the SNP head of communications at Holyrood to quit on Friday night, suggesting he had been misled by senior figures in the party having forcefully denied newspaper reports on an exodus of members. It then prompted the resignation of Mr Murrell on Saturday.

The party’s press office said reports in the Sunday Mail last month that the membership had fallen by about 30,000 were “not just flat wrong [but] wrong by about 30,000”. Mr Foote, a former editor-in-chief of the Sunday Mail, amplified that denial on Twitter, calling the report “drivel”. The newspaper’s report proved to be accurate.

Ms Forbes and Mr Yousaf have since said they are comfortable with the integrity of the leadership ballot. Talks are continuing between Ms Regan and Michael Russell, the party president and interim chief executive.

In a statement today, Ms Regan said the move to allow members to change their minds could be arranged via the online Mi-Voice system being used by the party. She went on to back the integrity of the contest.

READ MORE: Salmond claims Murrell and SNP 'systematically lied' over member stats

She said the proposal would allow people happy with their vote to remain with that decision while enabling others to change their minds.

"Due to the volatile nature of recent events Ash Regan has held off from media to forge a path forward in conjunction with SNP HQ," she said.

"The campaign team thanks Mike Russell for stepping in and understanding the situation.

"There has been a surge in traffic in our campaign mailbox and social media from concerned members, looking for guidance on whether the ballot will go ahead unaltered or if the ballot will be reset.

"My team have put forward proposals that provide assurance to members with minimum disruption to the election process that we can move ahead constructively on.

"In 2015 selection contests for Westminster candidatures had varying end dates.  In some cases, candidates were removed from the ballot before a race ended, where this happened members were able to update their vote. The facility exists within the Mi-Voice system.

READ MORE: Ash Regan team discuss court action to pause SNP leadership contest

"This would have the benefit of not disrupting members who are happy with their vote while providing an opportunity to reconsider for those who are not.

"In addition each candidate would be allowed to send one email to the members using the SNP mailing system - allowing a last minute updated message that reflects current events.

"We thank Mike for taking this suggestion seriously and lend our support to the integrity of the ballot. It is important that all parties respect the outcome of the ballot and give full support to the new leader of the SNP."

Yesterday a former SNP communications chief at Holyrood called for the race to restart in the name of "transparency and legitimacy" repeating his view this morning.

Fergus Mutch, who was a former aide to Alex Salmond before taking up his press office role, backed the SNP to restart its leadership election ballot.

He said most members would have voted almost immediately after voting opened last Monday, meaning the events of the past few days would have little impact on the outcome.

“Opening the ballot for a fresh process, with the interim chief executive in place, is probably quite a good idea just in terms of transparency and legitimacy,” he told the BBC.

Mr Mutch said it would be "very easy" for the party to run the election again as most of the voting was done online.

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His demand came as Mr Russell admitted yesterday the SNP was in a "tremendous mess" following the row over its membership numbers and the resignation of Mr Murrell who is married to First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and had been the party's chief executive for more than 20 years.

Mr Mutch, who worked in Alex Salmond's constituency office before serving as head of the SNP press team in Holyrood, said there were "legitimate questions" about how the process to choose a new leader was being conducted.

READ MORE: Kate Forbes: SNP leadership contest 'should not be rerun'

Mr Russell told the BBC yesterday that he had spoken to Mr Regan twice on Saturday about her concerns over how the race was being conducted.

Voting in the contest opened last Monday and is due to close next Monday. The new leader is due to be announced later that day. 

Speaking to the BBC today Mr Mutch said he did not think his comments yesterday were actually "that controversial".

"I merely stated a fairly reasonable opinion, I thought, that there have been obvious challenges with this leadership election. That is a statement of fact.

"A lot of this is centred around the size of the SNP membership, the size of the electorate in this contest.

"And as a result of the party being less than forthright on that question Murray Foote, the head of comms and research of the party at Holyrood, decided his credibility had been totally shot because of the unfortunate position he was put in. He resigned.

"He was put in that position by party HQ lead by Peter Murrell who resigned too."

Mr Mutch added: "The point I made yesterday is that one way to put the whole process beyond reproach is to have a reset.

"Cancel the ballot, reset it, restart it."

Commenting on calls for a reset journalist and independence supporter Ruth Wishart noted on Twitter today: "It's probably fair to observe that many SNP members may have voted differently had they known the top echelon of their party was about to implode."

Responding to Ms Regan's proposal, an SNP spokesperson said: "The SNP take suggestions from candidates very seriously and will, of course, consider those put forward by Ash Regan."