CIVIL servants in the Electoral Commission (EC) have taken 62 working days – twice their average time – and are no closer to a final decision on a name change for indy party Action for Independence (AFI).
In response to a freedom of information (FoI) request from The National, the EC said AFI’s first application to register Alliance for Independence as a political party was refused on September 1 after seven objections from six individuals.
However, a second application substituting Action for Alliance is only at the third of a five-stage EC process with no early decision in sight. In an email to AFI on November 17, the EC said: “Unfortunately we have not been able to complete this assessment within our aimed for six weeks which passed on November 13.
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“This is in part because we have been dealing with an increased work load relating to the renewal deadlines for several hundred parties and because of the relative complexity of this assessment compared to most assessments.”
The first two EC stages are assessment processes and stages three to five relate to their approvals board discussions, where a decision is usually reached within 12 working days.
Interim leader of AFI, Dave Thompson, said the party – which will be campaigning to maximise the Yes vote on the Holyrood list vote in May – blamed “deliberate prevarication”.
He told The National: “I am absolutely shocked and disgusted that a public body like the EC has already taken more than twice the average time to deal with AFI’s application and is still only at stage three of its five stages.
“The EC normally takes 29 working days to make a final decision on an application but has already taken 62 working days with AFI’s application and still has some way to go.
“Given the EC track record in dealing with us I am now extremely concerned that we may not get a final decision until February, just 12 weeks from the Scottish independence election.”
Thompson added: “This smacks of deliberate prevarication, as I believe that the UK establishment is scared stiff of AFI’s Max The Yes concept of uniting the smaller independence parties on the regional list in May, and worry that pressure has been applied to the EC to look for any means to damage AFI prior to that election.”
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