SNP rivals rigged ballot with influx of family and friends, says councillor

AN SNP councillor of more than 20 years’ standing has quit the party, claiming a “rigged” vote led to his failure to be selected as a candidate in the forthcoming local government election.

The row has erupted in the key SNP target council of North Lanarkshire following the claims by Campbell Cameron, who has blamed a “jobs for the boys” culture for his deselection as an SNP candidate.

Mr Cameron said his SNP rivals defeated him in an internal ballot to decide who will stand for the SNP next month after Alex Salmond’s party witnessed a sudden influx of their family and/or friends, who then voted against him.

After 21 years as an SNP councillor, Mr Cameron was defeated for the SNP nominations by Sophia Coyle, the daughter of the Airdrie and Shotts SNP constituency convener Michael Coyle, and Patrick Rolink, who works as a stand-up comedian.

Both Ms Coyle and Mr Rolink insist there was nothing improper about the way the ballot was conducted, dismissing Mr Cameron’s claims as “sour grapes”. But Mr Cameron, who intends to stand on 3 May as an independent, said a high proportion of the 37 people who voted in the ballot to decide who will fight the Airdrie North ward for the SNP were close to his rivals.

“By name recognition, I counted that 19 were either friends or family of Sophia Coyle or Patrick Rolink,” Mr Cameron said.

“A lot of family and friends had been co-opted on to membership in the last year and a half. When I saw the list of members I was surprised, because half of them you have never seen at any branch meetings. So they were co-opted on for a reason. I certainly say that they have rigged it. This is jobs for the boys.”

Mr Cameron has also claimed that a letter he wrote to constituents was doctored to suggest that he was calling on people to vote for a Labour candidate. He has asked SNP HQ to investigate.

Last night Mr Rolink said the ballot had been fair. “It was a vote conducted by post and checked by the Electoral Commission,” Mr Rolink said. “I can understand his disappointment.

“My wife and my daughter are members, and my mum and my sister, and that’s all in my family. At one point he was telling people that I had double-digit members of my family. They have been in the branch for a wee while, they have not all joined recently.”

He added: “It is nothing but sour grapes and it’s a pity.”

Ms Coyle, whose father Michael and mother Agnes are standing for the council in another ward, said she had no family members who were eligible to vote because none of them lived in the Airdrie North ward where she is standing.

Ms Coyle said: “I don’t like this accusation and I am totally insulted by it. I have stood as a candidate for Westminster and the Scottish Parliament elections. My name was popular and well-known and unfortunately Campbell’s was not.”

An SNP spokesman said: “At no point prior to, or during the ballot process, did Mr Cameron question the eligibility of those who received ballot papers.”