Voting begins – but the SNP leadership race is still wide open

After a tumultuous two weeks, voting is now open for the SNP leadership elections until 27 March. But are members any closer to knowing who they’ll vote for?

At the Glasgow hustings, Michael Russell, president of the SNP, urged members to get their votes in as soon as possible. But while the Scottish National party appears keen to see the majority of votes cast within the next few days, it is worthwhile remembering just how many ‘undecideds’ there were in the last SNP member poll. A third of those questioned by Savanta didn’t know who they’d be backing, while another third expressed their support for Humza Yousaf and a quarter said they’d back Kate Forbes.

This mirrors polling of the wider public, which shows that large numbers of voters don’t know who their preferred candidate is. A Panelbase poll found that as many as 49 per cent didn’t know who they’d like as leader while a poll by BIG Partnership revealed 31 per cent of their participants were undecided.