George Galloway to stand as candidate at Scottish Parliament
Speaking exclusively to The Herald following a party summit meeting in Scotland, Mr Galloway said his party plans to contest Glasgow Southside, the seat of Nicola Sturgeon, who is stepping down in May.
He said: "We're going all out for it and we've got a lot of support."
Asked if he was confident of winning, he said: "I wouldn't say confident."
He added: "We're hopeful that we can win in it. We're going to put everything into trying to do so."
He added his party had a growing movement in Glasgow, but had also had people come forward to ask if they can stand in seats in Inverness and Edinburgh.
"But these seats in Glasgow are our current and number one target," he told The Herald, adding: "We're strong there."
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Mr Galloway founded the Workers Party of Britain in 2019, have previously led the now defunct Respect Party.
He was a number of the Labour Party until 2003 and had served as an MP across five different constituencies, including Glasgow Hillhead between 1987 and 1997 and Glasgow Kelvin from 1997 to 2005.
He then was elected in the Bethnal Green and Bow constituency in 2005 before losing losing in the 2010 general election. He returned for a three-year stint as MP for Bradford West, winning a by-election with Respect.
The 70-year-old shocked in February 2024 with a by-election with in Rochdale, after he focused his campaign at Muslim voters. He lost the seat at the July 2024 general election.
His Holyrood campaign will strongly focus on the crisis in Gaza, and the end to Israel's campaign.
The veteran politician has also said he would back a second referendum on Scottish independence.
He has been a long-standing opponent of Scottish independence and toured the country in the run up to the 2014 referendum to back to 'no' campaign.
While he still does not back independence, he said Scots have a right to a referendum, with Mr Galloway pledging his party would run the election on a mandate for the plebiscite.
This is not the first time he has contested a seat in the Scottish Parliament.
He stood as a candidate for a regional list seat in Glasgow in 2011.
He is a close ally of former first minister Alex Salmond, writing on X that his Workers Party would "shake things up".
He wrote: "After the demise of Alex Salmond Scottish politics became a dull place. Lilliputian politicians whom nobody would cross the street for. But we are back and ready to shake things up."
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