Politics

Ex-Britain First deputy got just 46 votes in Scottish Parliament election and people found it hilarious

<p>Jayda Fransen</p>

Jayda Fransen won just 46 votes in the Glasgow Southside election

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Far-right bigot Jayda Fransen was left humiliated after she won just 46 votes in the Scottish Parliament election and people couldn’t help but laugh.

A clip of the count read in Glasgow Southside – where Fransen was standing as an independent – has been widely shared online due to the audible sound of laughter that can be heard as Fransen’s embarrassing results were read out.

The outcome was even more hilarious because of the heated confrontation Fransen had with SNP leader and First Minister Nicola Sturgeon – who won the Glasgow Southside seat – during the campaign on Thursday, when she accused Sturgeon of supporting “mass immigration” and “Marxism”.

Sturgeon, for her part, told Fransen she was a “fascist and a racist” and warned: “The Southside of Glasgow will reject you.”

Evidently, Sturgeon had her finger firmly on the pulse on that one – though 46 votes is a pretty meagre effort, even by Fransen’s standards.

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Speaking after winning her seat, Sturgeon kicked the boot in further and said: “Yesterday, not for the first time, the constituency was targeted by far-right thugs.

“The far-right thug who led that confrontation got 46 votes and I’m proud that once again Glasgow Southside has shown the racists and the fascists that they are not welcome in Glasgow Southside, they are not welcome in Glasgow and they are not welcome anywhere in Scotland and let that be a note of unity.”

Hear, hear.

Fransen cuts a controversial figure. She was sentenced to 36 weeks in prison in 2018 after being found guilty of religiously aggravated harassment and believes Islam should be banned.

She has also been permanently banned from Twitter, which is useful because Donald Trump got himself into trouble for retweeting Islamophobic videos she shared.

And in 2014, Fransen stood in the Rochester and Strood ­by-election and garnered just 56 votes. She was even outpolled by the Monster Raving Loony Party. Lessons clearly weren’t learnt..

The video of Fransen’s loss has a lot of people talking and sharing their glee.

Incredibly, Fransen wasn’t the only controversial candidate in that seat.

Liberal Party candidate Derek Jackson – who arrived at the count with supporters wearing black suits, yellow stars and armbands – was kicked out of the count after members of the anti-vaccine party had made a “beeline” for Scotland’s Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf, before members of other political parties joined the SNP to confront them.

Mr Yousaf said they asked him about “child rape victims in Pakistan” as well as the Scottish Government’s Hate Crime Bill. Mr Jackson and his supporters later said they were wearing yellow stars and armbands to be “love marshals”.

Mr Jackson, who is also known as Deek Jackson, stood for the Liberal Party – a small group unconnected to the Liberal Democrats.

After the incident, he was was suspended from the party and will not be allowed to re-join. Party spokesman Kayed Al-Haddad said “his actions in no way whatsoever resonate with any of the party’s values”.

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