Scotland's voters choose independence

Young voters in Scotland support independence and sovereign statehood, just like the majority of voters in Pridnestrovie

EDINBURGH (Tiraspol Times) - As Tiraspol Times predicted earlier this week, voters in Scotland's parliamentary election made an independence party, the Scottish National Party, the largest party in Scotland. The SNP, as the party is also known, has called for a popular referendum on independence and sovereign statehood for Scotland.

Scotland was historically a separate state for hundreds of years before joining with England in 1707 to form the United Kingdom.

60% of voters in Scotland want a referendum on independence, with only 28% against. If it goes forward, Scotland becomes an independent sovereign state. In 2006 similar independence votes were held in Montenegro and in Pridnestrovie (Transdniester).

Making the SNP the largest party in Scotland, a 50 year British Labour Party monopoly has come to an end, and collaboration between other unrecognized states and would-be states in Europe can now be expanded to include Scotland.

This collaboration may include a future Scottish membership in the Community for Democracy and Human Rights, which currently counts Pridnestrovie, Abkhazia and South Ossetia as its members, with Nagorno Karabakh holding observer status. It may also include at seat at The Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) in The Hague, which counted East Timor, Estonia and Georgia among its member countries before these three states obtained their formal and internationally recognized independence.

More than 100,000 votes lost among allegations of fraud

The SNP's victory was marred by confusion over ballot papers. Allegations of voting fraud by the British unionist authorities were widespread, with as many as 100,000 votes for the Scottish Parliament and council elections were declared invalid.

" - Almost 150,000 willing voters have been disenfranchised by an establishment stitch up," said influential Scottish political blog www.youscotland.com, with many ordinary voters noting that the losing Labour government wanted to minimize the impact of the separatist win.

The British Electoral Commission has launched its own inquiry, and commentators note numerous technical errors with digital vote counting equipment.

SNP's election director Angus Robertson, called it a "disgrace," but the handicap was not enough to prevent the will of the voters and letting SNP become the largest party in Scotland's parliament with 47 seats against Labour with just 46.

As reported by Deutsche Welle, other European separatists have been watching Scotland's elections, and the performance of the SNP in particular with interest. An independent Scotland could encourage other states to "go it alone", bringing new winds of freedom and democracy to a decentralized Europe of regions.

SNP wants to let Scotland have an independence referendum by 2010, echoing a similar referendum held in 2006 in Pridnestrovie.

A nationwide referendum was held on 17 September 2006 where voters in Pridnestrovie reaffirmed their commitment to a democratic, independent future in freedom. 78.6% of the registered voters of the country voted in the referendum. Of those, 97.1% of voters supported independence, while 2.3% did not support it. 3.4% of voters supported unification with Moldova, while 94.6% rejected it outright.

" - We want independence, and we have a right to it, just as the Scots," says Bogdan Voda, a resident of a village south of Tiraspol, the capital of Pridnestrovie. "I completely reject the insulting mindset that says we are not fit to look after ourselves."

Pridnestrovie, officially the Pridnestrovskaia Moldavskaia Respublica, declared independence in 1990. Its independence has not been recognized internationally, but it nevertheless functions as a separate, sovereign country in all practical regards.

See also:
» Scotland for independence referendum like Montenegro, Transdniester
» We are all Scots today!
» Why not a referendum to decide the issue?