Letter: SNP list absurdity

There could be no better illustration of the absurdity of the Holyrood list system than your report on those SNP MSPs likely to lose their seats at the next election by not gaining a high enough place on their respective lists (28 September).

The voter has no say in who goes on these lists; party apparatchiks in fact decide who will make and pass laws affecting all of us.

When I hear the cries of protest that the chosen still have to be elected I ask: what percentage of Scots voters could name a single list MSP supposedly representing them? I would venture less than one in ten.

Alexander McKay

New Cut Rigg

Edinburgh

If the SNP is seriously to fight next May's Holyrood elections then it needs to fight with both hands and not tie one behind its back in promoting all the same faces in the now discredited list ranking system. There are still too many cronies and old timers lurking on the SNP list system who may again slip into Holyrood without a democratic vote.

This is also an opportunity for Alex Salmond to show his mettle and get some new faces into his cabinet and take a fresh approach to the battle ahead.

Dennis Grattan

Mugiemoss Road

Bucskburn, Aberdeen