The real vote is quite different from the published vote for one thing. Also, the Greens and Socialists were 'list' candidates - many of the SNP gains from Labour came from the constituency votes. Also, the Socialists destroyed themselves in inter-necine fighting. And the Greens inactivity helped them also to fall below the magic 6% barrier too.

But it wouldn't be like the English press to under-simplify anything would it ? I met a Scotsman reporter last night who admitted 'We were taught at university not to let the truth stand in the way of a good story' and I was gob-smacked, I had never considered such a thing.

A mainstream reporter went to university !? I assumed they were all 'New Deal'.

Then explain the very long list of spoils?

===================================
Vote Nobody was there in droves IMHO!

SNP becomes largest party

Earlier, the SNP leader said Labour no longer had the "moral authority to run things".

If the results are confirmed by final counts, his party will have ended 50 years of Labour dominance north of the border - but no party will have an overall majority when the new session convenes.

The SNP leader - who came from third to win the Gordon seat, in north-east Scotland - also condemned the confusion that resulted in up to 100,000 spoilt ballot papers, saying he wanted a "rigorous and robust" investigation.

He said the number of spoilt papers "reduces confidence and trust in the whole process". The electoral commission said it would investigate the issue as a "matter of urgency".

n some constituencies, the number of spoilt papers, thought to stem from confusion among voters, was higher than the majority achieved by the winning candidate.

The SNP's deputy leader, Nicola Sturgeon, finally beat Labour's Gordon Jackson in the Glasgow Govan constituency at her third attempt with a majority of 744, but 1,220 papers were rejected.

In Edinburgh Central, where the deputy environment minister, Sarah Boyack, led by 1,193 votes, there were 1,501 spoilt papers.

The number of spoilt papers in Airdrie and Shotts was 1,536, while the Labour majority over the SNP was just 1,446. Meanwhile in Glasgow Baillieston, the total number of rejected papers - 1,850 - made up more than 10% of the votes accepted.

"And then you've then got the voters, up to 1,000 and more in each constituency, whose votes have been discounted because of uncertainty. This does need to be looked at in detail."

 http://politics.guardian.co.uk/localgovernment/story/0,,2072877,00.html

Seems clear that human error on purpose played a roll in the 'rejected' papers. Plenty of evidence for it! Sure some errors by other means but a lot of people 'rejected' the ballots. Go the ants......

 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/04/368818.html?c=on#c172877

Yeah, very droll, but the truth is you weren't here. There wasn't a single Vote Nobody poster in Scotland. I haven't even met or heard from a single anarchist in Scotland who didn't vote.

Now some people will have spoiled their ballot papers up here deliberately - maybe more than normally do. Their protest has been swamped with the accidental mis-votes combined with what I assume must be deliberate mis-reads of perfectly good votes.

And I have to question why you keep claiming these 100,000 votes were deliberate - even if you are just joking it is not funny. For a start, if I am right and there has been massive electoral fraud then surely it is in your interest as an anarchist to point that out and not to confuse the issue. I was dubious of your campaign from the start as every anarchist I know is also a peace protestor and is also anti-nuclear so had decided to vote this once.

Blair and Bush made a big deal of how many Iraqis risked death to vote in their election. Blair and Bush were missing the point that it was their responsibility as occupiers to ensure a safe voting environment. The Scottish people didn't miss that point. Wikipedias article lists the main issues in this election as "healthcare, education, council tax reform, pensions, the Union, and more powers for the Scottish Parliament"

This is bullshit. What they don't want an US audience to know is there were only three issues on every doorstep I knocked on. Iraq, Trident, Labour party corruption. And that is what we voted on, up here these are 'local issues'. Our kids are IED fodder in Iraq. Trident is housed here. And Labour USED to be dominant here.

Now the huge number of spolied ballot papers is just one fraction of the electoral shennanigans that went on up here - hundreds of thousands of postal votes were lost in key seats, people who registered to vote in time were denied their votes by administrative delay, all the tabloid press launched an amazingly anti-SNP PR campaign, and MI5 conducted a smear campaign against top SNP names. The Scottish National Liberation Army even reared their ugly head - they are actually a dept. of MI5, noone has heard of them since the last time the Nats were winning in the polls in '79.

These aren't my words but this would shame a banana republic. But Blair has no shame. So how can I differentiate you from a MI5 campaign ? Cos I'm sure the thing MI5 would have most wanted is left-wingers not to vote, not to participate.

So please, don't joke about this but I don't find it funny, this is deadly serious to me. This is Iraq now and while Scotland today stands in solidarity in Iraq your campaign has helped Wales stand in solidarity with NuLabour. Big round of applause to the comedians.

This is the question that has had many people in Scotland hopping mad even before the polls closed- well, the polls couldn't be closed in a timely fashion because of this very problem.

Funny how when it was Jeb Bush was in Florida rigging an election it was of utmost importance, but when very serious anomalies occur slap bang in the middle of an election in Scotland, an election with potentially monumental constitutional implications for the UK, it is somehow a joke.

"Seems clear that human error on purpose played a roll in the 'rejected' papers. Plenty of evidence for it! Sure some errors by other means but a lot of people 'rejected' the ballots."

Well, I guess you must be Inspector Knacker's golfing pal (perhaps the one who took his clubs to the vote in Edinburgh) since no-one else in Scotland with any inside knowledge has indicated any conclusion yet.

And no given, given the series of electoral fraud cases over the last few elections, I don't think it is silly and paranoid to suggest that a situation where 10% of the ballots were nulled in certain polls should be treated as suspicious.

"A Labour candidate may take legal action over the Scottish parliament election results, the BBC has learned. Former minister Allan Wilson, who narrowly lost in Cunninghame North, is discussing the possibility of a court challenge with Labour party solicitors."

Oh, the brass-neck of the man. I am surprised at the audacity of Labour complaining about this result. After 10 years in power, well, 50 years up here, they rig an election and still get kicked out. Alex Salmonds first speech after winning says his first act as First Minister will be to hold a judicial review as opposed to Labour party silence and the Electoral Commission 'review'. I hope the police keep a close eye on Mr Wilson, remember Lord Mike Watson who started burning down hotels when he lost his Labour seat. (He is still in the Lords on the Labour benches, I hope their robes are fire-retardent).

I had a talk with a computer lecturer who is in the SNP last night about the electoral shennanigans. I also learned more about the way the poll was (mis)counted on the night from people who were there. I also discussed this with a top London lawyer who has experience of similar electoral fraud in Northern Ireland. I hope in future elections in the free state of Scotland that votes will be counted by hand and will be writing a report why that should be the case. I'll be keeping shtumm about it on IM from now on in case I do have to act as a technical witness.

I caught the interview on Sky News (!) with McConnell. He appeared to be trying to throw as much distance between the Scottish Labour Party as an organisation and any actions of "the candidate and his agent". He made it very obvious that the Scottish party & UK party has no interest in getting embroiled in this and wanted to change the subject. He in fact stated that the SNP are "the majority party".

I would have expected the head of a political party to be spitting fire if they got diddled out of a seat! I'd be expecting Downing Street to comment on it too.

Why the silence? Why the distance? Could it be a case of Jack wishing to let sleeping dogs lie? I doubt they want any annulments and re-runs. McConnell has been very reticent on the subject of an investigation full stop.

Anyway, I look forward to reading more on what happened.

Look at the logo, the "friendly" voter cross ?
it is a Swastika, a nodal rune inverted from which the Swastika is made
Do not be fooled !
the EU favour the SNP because they are to allow Scotland to become a "region" and it will bring devolution, once this is complete they will destroy the SNP, despite this it is still a Nazi party and to turn a blind eye is foolish in the extreme.

Lord Kinnock of Bedwellty, a Labour lord and former leader of the Labour party, is a director of DRS, the company that counted the votes in the Scottish elections. Or rather the company that discounted 100,000 of the votes. It isn't exactly a conflict of interests, it is a perfect coming together of labour party interests.

Had one E too many at those raves? The only resemblance that logo has to a swastika is purely the fact that two lines intersect. When you look at the ampersand (&), the plus symbol (+) and the crucifix (use your wild imagination) do you also see swastikas? I always thought the logo looked like a Saltire (Scottish flag) with a big saggy arse.

The "National" in SNP alludes to the party's desire for national independence not "national socialism". And has bugger all to do with right-wing politics. Since when has ethnic identity been a polar political issue? Does that make the Palestinians "nazis" too? The Basques? The Catalans? The Irish? etc.

I'm half English, part Irish, part Dutch and my clan came to Scotland from Norway via Ireland (and back to Ireland then back again). I still consider myself a Scot and no-one has ever suggested otherwise. In fact, I consider anyone with a Scottish accent to be a Scot irrespective of where they were born and what colour their skin may be. This is a very common attitude in Scotland.

We're not an exclusive club. Come live here for a few years, lose your accent (and most people do eventually) and voila you are Scottish. We have had 300 years of population loss, so we need all the new recruits we can get.

The BNP did shamelessly try to confuse SNP voters into voting for them. Their symbol up here on the ballot papers was a black thistle. It was also the symbol chosen by a number of supposedly 'independent' ( as opposed to pro-independence ) candidates whose political allegiances I'm now going to review for links to the BNP. What the BNP probably don't know is this symbol has been used by a Scottish anarchist group previously as a signature on a number of actions which will hopefully now get pinned on the BNP.

The SNP are of course heavily anti-fascist and this seems to be part of the ongoing electoral shennanigans. I'm afraid my posts about Neil Kinnock being an executive director with DRS isn't a 'scoop', I just got a chance to read yesterdays Scotsman which mentions the fact in passing. I've no idea why they just mention it in passing - a Labour Lord gets his company awarded a £9 million contract to count votes in an election, screws it up and then Labour threaten to go to the courts. They should certainly go the courts - then directly to jail. Do not pass go, do not collect £9,000,000.