65000 members of the Green Party of England and Wales (GPEW) are in the process of choosing their Leader, a Deputy Leader and members of its Executive Committee. With voting closing in 7 days on 30th August at midday, both candidates for the leadership role Adrian Ramsay/ Ellie Chowns MPs and Zack Polanski appear to be concerned that many members have still not registered their vote.
As a reminder from the Ellie/Adrian co-leaders’ campaign messaging, the turn out for such internal elections is usually low. In 2021, less than a quarter of members ( 21.7% ) took to take part in the ballot for the Leadership.
With a repeat of such a low turn out, the entire result could indeed hinge on the choice of just a few hundred members. This is all the more likely to be the case as the insurgent “eco- populist” candidate Zack Polanski has sought to upend the race with his social media driven campaign, targetting left leaning new recruits to beef up his vote. In 2022, 12% of members took part in the Deputy Leaderhsip contest which Polanski won with 2631 votes.
How many new members have joined the Party since Polanski launched his social media campaign on 19th May is unknown. This is due to a Party rule not to publish membership figures during elections. Judging by the tone of Polanski’s campaign organisers latest postings what has been considered by some members of the leadership team as his “hostile takeover” may not be quite the done deal as predicted by his identinarian supporters and friendly media commentators.
This is neverthesless an exciting campaign and an exciting time for the GPEW. Hopefully, many more members will now be galvanised to take an interest in this election and do register their vote before the 30th August.
As the immediate and medium term future of the party is potentially fraught with difficulties, not least financial, constitutional and organisational, electing a strong and united Executive team may be even more important than who actually becomes Leader of the Party; a role which is also just one year.
Having conducted our research with assistance from The Green Light blog subscribers and supporters from Local Parties, Regions and groups, we are now in a position to assist members looking for recommendations as to who to vote for in this important internal democratic exercise in the life of the Party.
The Green Light team support the Adrian Ramsay/ Ellie Chowns candidature for Co-Leaders and Chas Warlow (the only true ecologist ) for Deputy Leader.
For the Executive roles as advertised on the members’ site, here are the candidates we believe will best serve our Party with the two roles where we felt nominations should be re- opened (RON) .
Chair Judy Maciejowska
Campaigns Co-ordinator Hayd Osborne-Brookes
Election Co-ordinator Brian Candeland
Equality and Diversity Co-ordinator Aasiya Bora and Debra Cooper
External Communication Co-ordinator Jonathan Kent
Finance Co-ordinator Imtiaz Ali
Internal Communication Co-ordinator Vix Lowthion
International Co-ordinator Peter Allen
Local Party Support Co-ordinator Nicole Haydock
Management Co-ordinator Kate Souper
Policy Development committee Anne Gayfer
Publication Co-ordinator Edward Milford
Trade Union Liaison Officer RON
Policy Development committee (5 ) Martin Blake
The Green Light 